00:00 Maybe I really have some talent.
00:03 [MUSIC]
00:13 [MUSIC]
00:23 We're ten brothers and sisters, and I'm number nine.
00:38 So my brother had a band, so he loved to sing in the house, and his friends would be there.
00:43 And all of us could sing in the family.
00:48 And I remember my mother would invite people to the house, and I was maybe about even four years old.
00:56 And she would ask all of us to sing for the guests in the house.
01:00 Parang kami bon trap family.
01:02 That's how I remember it.
01:03 We were always singing, and for me it was natural that everybody could sing.
01:08 And then I picked up the guitar.
01:11 At age 11, my sister asked me for what I wanted for my birthday.
01:15 I bought a guitar in Lumanog.
01:17 It was 100 pesos, would you believe?
01:21 It was not a great guitar, but, you know, steel strings pa.
01:25 And my brother knew some chords, and he taught me a few chords.
01:31 I met Danny in college, and, you know, Apo had so many members.
01:36 So we would sing in the counselor's office.
01:40 Basil was there, and Danny was there.
01:42 He wasn't even from high school.
01:44 He came from another school.
01:45 And all of a sudden, he was like hanging around with us.
01:49 Noona, parang, sino ba 'to?
01:52 Parang he insinuated himself.
01:55 That's how I, you know.
01:57 He had a good voice, and he said, "Hey, you know, we're getting along very well."
02:01 So that's how we met him.
02:03 Boboy, I had known him since, you know, since grade one.
02:08 I would sing, but I never talked to him until high school.
02:12 He had his own band in Ateneo.
02:14 He was a drummer, you know.
02:17 And then when we would be in the same high school, yung pag-gitara, gitara,
02:21 si Lito de Hoya, Boboy, and I were like the three, you know, guitarists.
02:29 Every lunch, we would be playing there.
02:32 I was into school.
02:39 Philosophy, history, you know, even literature, English lit.
02:47 But we were so politicized during that time because 1972 was martial law, declared martial law.
02:54 1973, we graduated.
02:56 But prior to that, it was really building up to it.
02:59 When we would have a school, a class, for example, and the teacher would say,
03:05 "Please give me the summary of, you know, let's say, Midsummer Night's Dream."
03:11 Tapos may tata yung activist na.
03:13 "What's the relevance of that when the Sakadas are starving in Bacolod?"
03:20 "Yeah, that's right." Ganun.
03:22 The teacher was lost, didn't know what to answer.
03:25 So, and early, ganun.
03:28 Tapos may rally na bigla sa ano.
03:30 Parang ganun ang buhay nun.
03:32 It took me a long, long, long while to be able to take a compliment
03:41 because I always thought that, you know, let's say you come up to me,
03:44 "Oh, Jim, ang ganda nung ginawa mong ano.
03:47 When I met you, super ganda, everything."
03:50 I would agree with you, "Thank you, thank you," ganun.
03:53 But in my mind, I always doubted na siguro bebentahan ako nito ng encyclopedia or Tupperware or something.
04:02 So, parang I wasn't comfortable.
04:05 I would find an excuse to leave because until it was only during the midlife crisis ako na natanggap ko na,
04:14 maybe I really have some talent.
04:17 That was my midlife crisis.
04:20 Until it was so spiritual, the whole thing was so spiritual,
04:25 I wrote four books during the midlife crisis.
04:29 I took up Zen also during that time.
04:31 Parang, you know, the here and now, and what do you call this?
04:38 Tapos nagbibid life ka, you feel that the software that you've been living,
04:43 running your life with, is not up to date.
04:46 It needs an upgrade.
04:49 I discovered depth.
04:53 I think malalim na ako dati, pero at that time parang,
04:56 lalo na I went scuba diving because I think I needed to physicalize what I was going through internally,
05:04 that you go into yourself.
05:06 Basta ang philosophy ko sa music nun, sa hanggang ngayon,
05:12 when everybody likes something, don't go there.
05:16 Because you'll sound like everybody else.
05:19 So, I never buy tough 40, I never buy ano.
05:22 I want my influence to be non-traceable.
05:25 So, there was 14 years in my life where I didn't even listen to English music.
05:31 I was listening to Latin, I was listening to even Mongolia, mga ganun,
05:37 just for enrichment, 'di ba?
05:40 That's where I discovered world music.
05:42 And I started teaching it at the Ateneo, world music,
05:45 history of world music, OPM, mga ganun, ganun.
05:47 So, parang I wanted to marinate myself in music of all types.
05:58 I think the whole idea of being a creator, writer, whatever, kahit na priest ka pa,
06:04 kahit na writer of books, kahit na lecturer, kahit na ano,
06:07 is to take your audience to a place where they've never been.
06:11 And you can only do that, so far, by what Hollywood's been doing,
06:17 through surprise and delight, or shock and awe.
06:20 It affected my children so much, in the sense na they apply for a job, they get it,
06:28 kasi anak ni Jim Paredes.
06:30 Sabi ko, that's why I brought them to Australia.
06:33 'Cause when we moved to Australia, sabi na ako, "Why are we transferring?"
06:36 Sabi ko, "Because I want you to experience a society that's egalitarian, okay?
06:43 Where you really have to earn your own reputation and name."
06:47 Eventually, things worked out for them, no?
06:50 Now, I can't claim anything about what they've done.
06:54 I mean, they've built their own lives, and I just say, "Great for you."
06:57 And which went with my philosophy of raising kids.
07:02 Sabi ko, "I think you raise kids for them to outgrow you, not to be a mirror of you."
07:08 As a parent, as a person, I always say, I went through all my schooling four times.
07:17 One, my own experience.
07:19 Tapos ako nagturo sa kanila ng ABC at saka 123.
07:23 Throughout high school, I was helping them do their homework.
07:27 College, term papers, akong reference, walking encyclopedia ako.
07:32 "Pa, what is this?" Ganyan yan.
07:33 So parang I experienced it four times.
07:36 I have three children of my own.
07:37 I never gave them money for luho.
07:40 Never.
07:41 It was my wife who would do that.
07:43 "Just don't tell papa na lang."
07:46 Ako, sabi ko, "You know, be resourceful.
07:50 Kung gusto mong ganito, save up for it.
07:54 I'll help you."
07:56 Siguro I'll start with my father's death.
08:00 I was five years old.
08:02 Parang, hindi ko maintindihan yun.
08:05 Sabi ko, "I don't understand why it happened to me."
08:08 Until much later on when I was reading a lot of books na.
08:11 Medyo, mahilig akong mag-discuss ng books.
08:16 Tapos nabasa ko si Joseph Campbell.
08:18 Sabi niya, "Rule of life.
08:20 Everybody's born in Eden, but everybody gets kicked out."
08:23 And the rest of your life, you're trying to find your way back,
08:27 but you can never go back.
08:29 Yun sinabi niya.
08:30 So sabi ko, "I got kicked out of Eden at age five."
08:34 I had father hunger.
08:37 Always looking for my dad hanggang high school na.
08:40 Nagdadesal pa ko sa tatay ko.
08:43 Sinisisi ko pa siya kung situation ko.
08:46 Kasi nawala ka ng maaga, kaya wala akong ganito.
08:49 And I would always dream of him pag magtra-travel na ako,
08:53 makikita ko yung image na.
08:55 Always in a coat, always coming out of, parang ito yung horizon,
09:00 lalaba siya ganun.
09:02 Kumisan, lalaba siya from a plane that crashed and just dusting his suit.
09:07 "O, anak, kamusta ka?" Ganun.
09:10 I had those.
09:12 And growing up with that, grade three,
09:15 nalala ko, pen teachers meeting.
09:21 Everybody had a dad there. I didn't have a dad.
09:24 You know, the reason why I figured it out,
09:31 the reason why there's so many people who separate,
09:33 is because they think love is something na,
09:36 kailangan tumitibok pa yung puso mo,
09:38 kailangan yung naglablash pa siya,
09:40 kailangan yung ano, and you thrill her with every flowers
09:43 and that diamond ring, whatever it is,
09:45 until you realize, you know what,
09:47 the depth of romantic love allows true love to enter.
09:52 Wala na yung physical, wala na yung thrills, wala na yung ano,
09:54 hindi mo na kailangan yun, di ba?
09:56 Kailangan mo lang yung ano.
09:58 Kumisan yung, yung ano lang, presence niya lang, di ba?
10:05 Tapos yung hindi mo na kailangan sabihin, "I need you,"
10:07 pero alam niya, kailangan siya, di ba?
10:11 But what I would like, kung mamatay ako,
10:14 gusto kong may maliit na plaza, anywhere in the Philippines,
10:17 maliit na plaza na merong ano,
10:20 may statue kami na nag-gigitara.
10:23 And people just gather around there, you know,
10:26 para, okay na sakin 'yun.
10:29 Kahit na, kahit na saan, kahit na hindi Metro Manila, ganun.
10:34 Some little town just remembers Apo, okay na 'yun.
10:37 Some little town just remembers Apo, okay na 'yun.
10:41 [no audio]
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