Manny Cabase

Mahnee (Manuel) Cabase was born at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve in San Nicolas, Cebu City to Ireneo Cabase and Apolinaria Kabahar...Year 1921. His father was a good guitar player and composed love songs and humorous songs of the day. His mother had an angelic voice and often sang with her brother, organist-composer Justo Kabahar. Justo's oldest son was Piux Kabahar, composer of now legendary song: "Wasay Wasay". Mahnee and Piux are first degree cousins.

Growing up in San Nicolas, Cebu (home of good musicians, Mahnee was exposed to good music among others. There was the Comparsa Rondalla the San Nicolas Band and the Flora Orchestra which later on became the Floratema Orchestra. His brothers were also members of all three musical groups. At about age five, a neighbor's piano awakened his desire to study music. He relentlessly trained himself and at age six learned to play the guitar and when he found out that he could learn piano through his guitar, the following year he had taught himself to play his dream instrument: the piano. This learning process continued until he was twelve when he played piano in a passenger ship that plied between Manila and Cebu. Paid fifty centavos a day per trip, to the young Mahnee Cabase, this was wealth indeed. At this point, the only thing that absorbed his interest was music so he studied all the musical instruments he could lay his hands on. There was no stopping him.

Mahnee's first gig with an orchestra at age thirteen was as guitarist/vocalist. Blessed with a good singing voice, he became the favorite of the "in crowd". There were no tape recorders then, so what Mahnee did for himself was sit in a movie house and watch musicals over and over again until he had all the featured songs memorized. Unbeknownst to young Mahnee, this activity developed his musical prowess very rapidly.

Mahnee was fourteen when he was hired to play in a Cabaret for one peso and ten centavos a night. That, for him, was part of his chance to learn all the other instruments owned by the band members, his co-musicians, who habitually left their instruments in a room under the stage built mainly for storage. Because the nightclub janitor was a personal friend, Mahnee could come to work two hours early to practice on any of the available instruments that owners didn't lock. On occasions when all instruments were locked and unavailable, there was always one instrument that was unlockable, thus available - the drums.

One day his brothers along with other good musicians wanted to organize the best swing band in the land and Mahnee was picked as one of the guitar players because he doubled on piano. That was the birth of the "Cebu Swingmasters". Mahnee was only fifteen. For him, it also was another dream come true, to be playing music with his brothers. He sang trio with them, played guitar,piano,bass and drums with them, but Mahnee's most heartfelt wish - to play sax with his brothers never happened. Asked why, Mahnee relates: "Our band became the best in the Visayas and Mindanao until my brothers were lured by KZRC, the only radio station in Cebu at the time. I was left with the Cebu Swingmasters. I thought I wasn't good enough to be hired with my brothers and that prompted me to study deeper into music. I became the band's youngest Pianist, Composer,& Arranger. My collegues in the business used to call me The Nineteen Year Old Sensation. Anyway, my brothers were onboard the SS Corregidor, at the outbreak of the World War II were on their way home to Cebu from Manila when tragedy struck the ship. Narding, who was now the bandleader of the KZRC Orchestra was lost among many Cebuanos who wanted to spend their Christmas in Cebu. Thankfully my other brother Siux survived with the other KZRC Orchestra members, but I never got to play the saxophone with both my brothers. I miss Narding."

During the war, Mahnee played trumpet at The Oriental Grill with his brother Siux and later on at The Great Eastern Pavilion .He married his friend Sheila Campugan from Tuburan. Their love for music and the piano brought them together. He wished his kids to be good musicians with very high "IQs" and Mahnee knew Sheila was the right partner to fulfill that wish.

Then the much-awaited Americans bombed Cebu City and another chapter ended.

The war years found the couple in the hinterlands of Barili where Mahnee sometimes played the accordion for the Saturday dances. One night the stipulation was that the musicians, three of them, would get one half of the evening's earnings. their fundraising bit was twenty centavos a ticket to get in. The final count of ticket sales showed three pesos, so one peso and fifty centavos had to be divided among the three musicians. There was no small change so they decided to buy bananas at one centavo each. Mahnee earned fifty bananas for one night's gig.

At the end of the war Mahnee played with his brother Siux then formed his own "Manny Cabase and the Music Makers". The band composed of young musicians his age. The P.C. and the Army liked his boys and he was left alone again. A good steady job was always an offer they couldn’t refuse. Then he was hired to play at the Yarrow Beach Resort in Talisay, Cebu. He worked for this place on and off for seventeen years.

In 1951 the birth of Visayan-Cebuano Movies took some unexpected turn of events for the Cabase couple. Iyo Carpo, or Ben Zubiri, the composer of the Visayan national anthem, "Matud Nila", a great fan of Mahnee's music introduced Mahnee to the Visayan Movie Producers as Musical Director. His first film was produced by Mrs. Asnar (Asnar family matriarch who owns Cebu's Southwestern University). The film was called "Leon Kilat". Soon the movie titles poured in: "Mapa-it Ang Bala-od", "Carmen", "Inahan", "Gihigugma Ko Ikaw", et. al. The Mahnee Cabase name then became synonymous with beautiful music for Visayan movies.

Mahnee's reputation as the consummate Bandleader was now established. He was very strict with his band’s performance on or offstage. No second rate musicianship for him. No hotel or nightclub opens without sounding him off first whether he had the time and the inclination to work for them. His audience and his employers knew they were guaranteed quality music and performance.

Mahnee was playing at the Yarrow Beach Resort in Talisay when a talent scout from Manila heard about him. He was hired to play at Sportsman's, one of the better night clubs on Dewey Boulevard He became the bandleader there at a very early age, the only Cebuano to achieve such a feat. His stint lasted three years.

Back in Cebu, Mahnee organized the Manny Cabase Sextette. They played at the classy Tiara Room owned by Las Suerte Hotels . Then after his contract there, he found himself back to the Yarrow Beach Resort After some five years there, he was hired to play at The Keyboard in Fuente Osmena. A Hotel Magellan bigwig, heard and hired Mahnee to work for them at the sleepy Sandtrap. Mahnee and his band certainly woke up the place. Soon they had to turn people away at the door. Long lines formed especially on weekends. This gig lasted five years. A waiter's strike closed the place down giving Mahnee and his band the chance to perform on An Evening with Pilita. Fae Corrales, Pilita's brother invited the group, all expenses paid.

The Sandtrap never reopened but soon another nightclub, owned by Sonny Osmena was offered to Mahnee and his band. Osmena offered Mahnee and Sheila partnership in the business. Mahnee's following soon filled the Temptation. One night an impressed talent scout (Attorney Sabater) offered Mahnee and his group the opportunity to work at the Manila Hilton on Luneta. From the Hilton, they went to work at Hotel Intercontinental. All these Hotels were supplied music by Ching Imperial whose right arm was Attorney Sabater. At this point Mahnee and Sheila's daughter, Amapola, was fast becoming an accomplished musician herself, and Mahnee decided to turn over the leadership of the band to her, and this was the birth of Amapola and The Sounds. Under Mahnee's tutelage and direction, Amapola and the Sounds became the country's sensation. The exposure at the plush Hotel Intercontinental was tremendous. The group played at the El Castellano until the Hotel Manager decided that the band should have their own showroom converted the hotel's piano bar the Le Boulevardier into one. Amapola and Manny, became tourist attractions and locals were scrambling to hear them on a regular basis. Amapola's Vibraphone and Vocal prowess with Mahnee's piano expertise became nightly treats. Then, President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in the Philippines. Amapola left for America in 1972 as one of Imelda Marcos' Ambassadors of Goodwill. In 1979, Mahnee with his wife Sheila and their family joined their daughter Amapola in San Francisco, California.

That was the end of a glorious musical moment in the Philippines. Mahnee soon joined Amapola and her group at the Tonga Room of the Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill, San Francisco and "Amapola Presents Show" on Channel 20, KEMO-TV.

Asked what he will be doing in ten years, his reply was....."study music"

Visit Manny Cabase's website at www.cabase.com