‘Laki sa layaw’: ‘Jeprox’ generation returns in musical
The decade of the 1970s was lived under the shadow of martial law. Some artists and writers went underground, and the crony press materialized in the form of the Daily Express, Bulletin Today, and Times Journal.
Pinoy folk and Pinoy rock came of age at this time, with the protest song “Bayan Ko” sung during Masses and in folkhouses, along with Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” and the nationalistic songs of the bands Asin and Heber Bartolome’s Banyuhay.
The mid-1970s saw Ryan Cayabyab’s “Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika” winning the top prize in the First Metropop Music Festival, edging out Freddie Aguilar’s “Anak.” It was the latter song, though, that became a breakout international hit.
A rock singer-guitarist from Leyte, Mike Hanopol, also burst into the musical scene with his signature song “Laki sa Layaw (Jeprox).”
The ditty became some kind of anthem, however negative, for the youths of that era, the survivors of whom are now in their 70s or 80s.
Cool, laid-back
A “jeprox” was a cool, laid-back young man, street-smart and easygoing, and born to middle-class comfort. Something of a spoiled brat, he cultivated vices, drank, was lazy, and made a general nuisance of himself. What he wanted was always given to him, and yet he remained unsatisfied.
Hanopol succinctly captured this sense of juvenile drift in “Laki sa Layaw’s” lyrics: “Lahat ng gusto niya, ibinigay na sa kanya, ngunit wala pa rin siyang kasiyahan” (Everything was given to him, yet he was still unhappy).
The singer-lyricist wondered if there was still hope for someone brought up like this, and left the issue open: “Meron pa kayang pag-asang magbago, ang taong lumaki sa layaw?” (Is there still hope for someone who grew up spoiled?)
Hanopol would go on to compose many other songs, like “Himig Natin” and Beep Beep,” and produce 20 albums, three of them gold and three Aliw Award winners. But it is the song “Laki sa Layaw (Jeprox)” that has remained in the national consciousness.
Now 79, Hanopol lives in semiretirement, performing occasionally. Interestingly, he has converted to Messianic Judaism (a faith that combines elements of Judaism and Christianity), and tends to his small congregation in Antipolo City.
Musical play
Comes now “Jeprox the Musical,” a play inspired by the songs of Hanopol and starring David Ezra as the rocker-songwriter (Miko to his family); Jett Pangan as Tatay Paking, the father; Geneva Cruz as Mike’s mother Liwayway, who dies early in the story but whose presence is felt even after her demise; Jeffrey Alejandro and Nino Alejandro as band members Willie and Paulo, respectively; and Sheila Ferrer as Paz, the love interest.
This new Filipino musical play is directed by Frannie Zamora and written by Nick Pichay, with Jed Balsamo as musical director.
“The very good script by Nick is not predictable. The music is the most integral part of the production and we have a live eight-piece band. I want to make it [the show] as realistic as possible,” said Zamora in a recent interview.
The story traces the main character’s differences with his father, “a conservative man who did not believe in concerts, and this causes tension between him and Miko,” said Pangan. “All of this is presented with the music of Mike Hanopol, but it is not his life story. It’s about the struggle of living in an uncertain time; you don’t know what will happen.”
Added Pangan, “The theme is very universal and the music is important. The relevance of the song (‘Laki sa Layaw: Jeprox’) has never left us from the time it came out, and I think it’s even more relevant today. It is a message of hope.”
A production of Tanghalang Una Obra, “Jeprox the Musical” runs till Nov. 30 at GSIS Theater, CCP Complex.
