Had composer Louie Ocampo not won second prize at the Second Metro Manila Popular Music Festival in 1979, he might not have been allowed by his parents to pursue music-making as a profession, or even as a college degree.
They might have not allowed him to go to the United States in 1981 to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Ocampo’s dad is an engineer who loves classical music.
It was upon coming back from the US that a prestigious and prodigious music-making career kicked off for the engineer’s son. And that son celebrates his 45th year as a composer, musical director, musical arranger, and film scorer in the two-night concert Louie Ocampo: Composer Ka Lang on 4-5 February at The Theater at Solaire.
About a dozen of the country’s top-rated singers have committed to sing the extensive Louie Ocampo songbook.
It was actually Ocampo’s engineer father who made him take piano lessons on weekends at the age of 10. But because the boy would rather play basketball or marbles in the neighborhood, he would feign sickness to skip his piano lessons.
There really was no escaping music for the young Ocampo, though. During his childhood in the ‘60s and ‘70s, his family lived close to the Cultural Center of the Philippines and his music-loving dad required him to go with the family to every classical concert held there. Their radio at home was always tuned in to classical music, and the son heard all that his dad listened to.
Eventually, seeing that his son didn’t enjoy sitting before the black and white keys of the piano, the father offered him, in his early teens, the opportunity to study playing the electronic music keyboard known as Yamaha (a brand, actually). True enough, the musical instrument’s high-tech looks, along with the tempo and pitch buttons that lighted up around the keyboard, impressed the young Ocampo, prompting him to attend his classes seriously at the nearby then-St. Paul’s College in Malate (which eventually became a university).
MAESTRO Louie Ocampo.
First hit
The parents realized that the teen was finally getting serious about music when, upon graduation from high school at De La Salle-Taft, the young Ocampo informed them that he would like to be a musician.
But, “When I told my parents that I wanted to be a musician, natakot sila!,” recalled Ocampo.
“’Sigurado ka? Anong kakainin mo? Why don’t you try and enroll and take business management,’” said his parents.
“I told them, ‘I want to go to the States and study music.’ “
“Long story short, I didn’t enjoy myself, and my parents realized I was willing to do anything for music, so I studied at Berklee College in 1981 and majored in Film Scoring,” added Ocampo.
By this time, Ocampo hadn’t only won at the Metro Pop. At 17, he had composed a song, “Maghihintay Ako Sa ‘Yo” (melody only), that Anthony Castelo recorded soon after he heard Ocampo playing it at a Yamaha store in Malate. The lyrics were by one of the country’s much in-demand lyricists, Baby Gil, a music company executive. It became a hit in the late ‘70s.
Boy wonder
Ocampo is some kind of a boy wonder of pop music, almost like the lyricist of that Metro Pop-winning song — the acclaimed young concert pianist Rowena Arrieta, who was also his girlfriend then. In fact, he wrote the song for her, though she ended up writing the lyrics for it. Its title was simply “Ewan.” The ditty was about their young love.
“Maghihintay Sa ‘Yo” was also meant for Arrieta, whom Ocampo had begun to court in the late ‘70s. They were classmates in a music school, but Arrieta, only 15 at the time, was scheduled to go to Moscow for a piano scholarship.
So in love was Ocampo with Arrieta that he was moved to do his first composition with guidance from his teacher (as well as Arrieta’s), the renowned music maestra Carmencita Guanson Arambulo. The composition was originally meant to be an entry in a contest sponsored by a local distributor of a certain electronic keyboard.
Arrieta’s scheduled departure was what inspired the young Ocampo to write a song that vowed he would wait for her to come back to the country — and to him.
He has two other songs composed in his younger years (he is now 62) for another 15-year-old girlfriend who mysteriously broke up with him over the phone while he was on the way home in a plane from the US, where he did a concert with Kuh Ledesma and the band Music & Magic.
One is “Tell Me,” first popularized by Joey Albert and re-recorded by others; and the other is “Anna,” made famous by the Apo Hiking Society. “Anna” was the girlfriend’s name. Ocampo was already 25 at that time.
Albert also became his girlfriend, and he wrote many songs for her, including the monstrous hit “Yakapin Mo Ako.”
Hundred-plus songs
Just how many songs has Ocampo written in the last 45 years?
“Probably close to a hundred plus; I’d say 50 of them were released and became hits,” he said.
“If they haven’t been released, kasi wala pang lyrics or siguro hindi pa ako tapos. Like now, I have some instrumental pieces close to my heart na hindi ko pa nagagawa.”
Ocampo wasn’t only into love songs. He also composed the theme song of the children’s TV show which was famous for a decade or two, Batibot. He composed it in 1984 and the show started in 1985 on the network then known as RPN 9.
He also got commissioned to create commercial jingles, including those performed by hit singers.
Did he ever get to use his formal education in film scoring?
Yes. Many of us may not be aware that he was the musical scorer of the films Lagarista (2000, starring Piolo Pascual), Baler (2008), and Felix Manalo (2015). Though absolutely well-known for composing heartbroken ballads, Ocampo has one hit song that sounds almost a novelty piece: “Si Aida o si Lorna o si Fe?” popularized by Marco Sison. Its lyrics are by Allan Ayque, who also put together the words for other Ocampo-composed melodies.
The engineer’s son hardly writes lyrics for his melodies. He is thus very thankful to lyricists. Said Ocampo: “I feel very fortunate to have worked and to still be working with very good lyricists. I owe them a lot.”
Among these lyricists have been the late George Canseco (“Ikaw Kung Nasaan Ka Man”), Martin Nievera (“You Are My Song,” “Don’t Say Goodbye”); Freddie Santos (“Yakapin Mo Ako,” “Points Of View”); Edith Gallardo, “I Can,” “Ngayon Bukas At Kailanman”).
Star-studded concert
Those who have committed to perform in Ocampo’s concert are Sharon Cuneta, Basil Valdez, Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano, Marco Sison, Katrina Velarde, Janine Tenoso, Lyca Gairanod, and Jim Paredes and Boboy Garovillo of the Apo Hiking Society on 4 and 5 February; Zsa Zsa Padilla and Sarah Geronimo on 4 February; Regine Velasquez on 5 February; and other surprise guests.
Ocampo has long been happily married (since 1990) to top banking executive Jojo Marquez, about whom he once quipped: “The exes (former sweethearts) never bothered her. In fact, she would always say you have to be thankful because, without them, you wouldn’t have written the heartbreak songs.”
They have four children, all grown-ups now — three girls and one boy.
At 62 and after 45 years, Ocampo has no plans of retiring. “Retirement is not part of my vocabulary because I enjoy what I do. Honestly, I would like to write songs, collaborate with younger lyricists and artists, and hopefully give new life to my soul,” he said.
Ocampo is indeed composer “lang” — but of the soundtrack of our lives.
Tickets to his two-night concert are available at www.ticketworld.com.ph. Or call 8891-9999.