Instead of getting gifts for his birthday, multi-award-winning singer/songwriter Joey Ayala gives the world a new song to depict the current state that the Philippine’s is in right now. Titled “Oh What A Nice Surprise (Instant Noodles w/ Rice)” the song brings out a whimsical tune and unfolds a very important lesson that we should learn during these uncertain times.
According to the former Chairman of the Music Committee of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), “The song describes the events of the day that I experienced receiving food aid, which I later passed on to someone who needed it more than I did,” Joey said. When asked about the inspiration for the whimsical melody of the song. Joey explains,” Oh yes. I always try to feel and fill the vacuum. I always ask myself "What is it that is not being done" and then I try to do it. In this case I thought of posing a challenge to write something light about a heavy topic so I also asked myself ‘What if Yoyoy Villame* were to write a quarantine song’ and ‘ What if this quarantine were a Broadway musical?’”
Aside from the acoustic, electric and bass guitars, synthesizers and drums that he can play, Joey always incorporates Filipino ethnic instruments in his music such as the two-stringed Hegalong of the T'Boli people of Mindanao, the Kubing, the bamboo jaw harp found in various forms throughout the Philippines, and the 8-piece gong set, Kulintang, the melodical gong-rack of the indigenous peoples of the southern part of the country.
If you are fond of sing-alongs, here are the lyrics of his new quarantine song:
'OH WHAT A NICE SUPRISE (Instant Noodles With Rice)'
Here’s a song that I am writing
In this time of quarantine
COVID-19 is the virus that’s to blame
For the lockdown of the planet
People trying not to panic
Hoping something good will come our way
Then the doorbell starts to ring
And my heart accelerating
It’s my neighbour wearing N95*
Telling me to get ready
To receive emergency
Food assistance to keep us all alive
Then a vehicle arrive there’s a driver and another
And the megaphone was talking very loud
There’s a woman with a clipboard and she makes me sign a form
And then she gives me a heavy plastic bag
REFRAIN:
Oh what a nice surprise, instant noodles with rice
We’re so lucky there’s sardines, it’s food for kings and queens
To survive the quarantine
And now in the big city so many unhappy
Cannot work no money only pandemic
And even if you have money
You cannot eat currency
While in the farm you have kangkong and kamote
So Instead of waiting
Better if you plan something
And maybe write a song about frontliners
Wash the dishes
Wash the clothes
Wash your hands
Don’t touch your nose
Wash your hands again and watch your gulay grow
When the garbage truck arrives
You can smell it and its noisy
And the garbage man is not wearing a mask
They say can we have some rice
And some of your food supplies
And I so give to them the heavy plastic bag
Repeat Refrain
So now everyone is waiting for the science and the vaccine
That will give us the go signal to go out
To develop immunity and socialize with impunity
But till them we’ll keep our mouths and noses covered.
You may think I’m symptomatic
And am only just allergic
But I blow my nose inside the shirt I’m wearing
This is common courtesy just protecting you from me
So we do not overload the healthcare system
Some may think its bio warfare
Others say urban congestion
Does it matter please don’t stand so near to me
Social distance is new normal
Even if it feels abnormal
As I give you this heavy plastic bag
Repeat Refrain
This is not the only time we’ll have crisis and disaster
This is not the climax of calamity
Time and time and time again
Civilization will depend
On what’s inside
Repeat Refrain
Though it seems that it simply chronicles a day in the life of someone receiving the “ayuda” the song carries a deeper message beyond the tongue-in-cheek musicality, “Be thankful for the efforts of everybody, for the small graces, for the chances to help others and improve the experience of reality,” Joey ends.
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*Yoyoy Villame is a Filipino singer, songwriter and comedian. Villame blended Filipino folk melodies, popular tunes and nursery rhymes for his music and then added witty, comedic lyrics that mixed Tagalog, Cebuano and English in a form of grammar that he concocted. He became a national figure in 1977 with his near-anthemic "Mag-exercise Tayo", which has been adopted by government agencies and public schools as the official music for their Monday morning exercise after the flag ceremony. (Wikipedia)