Filipino musician and entrepreneur Ramon "RJ" Jacinto has been influential in the development of rock and roll music in the Philippines. Here, Jacinto sits down with us to talk about his journey and his enduring legacy in the music industry.
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00:00So I'll be going, I'm going to tail and Mary Bottle could jump,
00:03pretending I was playing the piano on the podium.
00:04You got a lot of fun, baby.
00:06Oh, baby.
00:06I want this side of the glove.
00:08Yeah, baby.
00:09Woo, baby.
00:12When I'm on classical, oh, oh, hip hop.
00:31I learned the ukulele at age eight.
00:35I was in Baguio.
00:37We were living then with my grandfather.
00:40We had a condominium of four units there,
00:43and we shared it with some uncles.
00:46And I went to the garage, and this driver of my lolo,
00:51his name was Onorio, I still remember,
00:54was playing the ukulele.
00:57That's how I learned.
00:58I learned a few chords from him.
01:00Then I shifted to the guitar when I was about,
01:03I think about 11, 10, 11.
01:08And my first guitar had a very high action.
01:12You know, the action is the space
01:14between the string and the fretboard.
01:16I just bought a guitar from Raon,
01:19Lumano Guitar Yata.
01:22Lumano Guitar Yata.
01:25Nasusugatan ako.
01:27Lalaki ng mga strings.
01:29Wala pa ng YouTube, mahirap talaga.
01:31I don't really remember, I just,
01:33I guess just by looking at movies or whatever,
01:37people knew the chord A and D, so that was not too hard.
01:41But the real hard one was the technique.
01:44How could they bend the string like this?
01:48If the string was so large, you know,
01:51they invented strings that were very thin.
01:54First they used banjo strings dito sa,
01:57to bend, mga blues players.
02:00Anyway, that's another story.
02:02So we were not, kasi in the Philippines,
02:05you could not really learn from anybody rock and roll,
02:08because we were the pioneers.
02:10And even in the States, sila Elvis,
02:12yung mga gitarista ni Elvis ako.
02:14So wala kami, just no peers to look at,
02:17how do you do this?
02:19I don't know, I guess we developed slowly, you know.
02:22I would say that we were really the pioneers,
02:25like the Ventures, Shadows, yung mga gano'n.
02:27Yung full electric man instrumental.
02:30So I liked instrumentals,
02:32because you sounded like a foreign, a foreign band.
02:37Baiso hindi narinig ang boss mo, hindi narinig ang accent mo.
02:40So when they hear, ayan ba yung Ventures or something?
02:44Pero kami yun, maysa.
02:47So, I mean, it was our way
02:50on how to open up to the universal.
02:53I made my first hit when I was actually 15,
02:57because after my gig in Ateneo,
03:00which was December 5, 1960,
03:03at that time, the fever,
03:06the combo fever swept the country, garage bands.
03:10So everybody was putting up instrumental bands.
03:14The Ventures in America were the most famous instrumental band.
03:19Now they call it surf music.
03:22They called it surf music, but it was not like that.
03:26And then the Shadows in England.
03:38I made my first hit when I was 15,
03:41Weightless, instrumental number.
03:53Simple na.
03:55So Weightless, it sounded like space, so I called it Weightless.
03:58It became a big hit, released by Dyna Records, James D.
04:03So I had my first record when I was between 15 and 16, yeah,
04:071961, and my own composition pa.
04:10At that time, we were just recording sa bahay.
04:13Yung mga stereo sets ng parents ko,
04:16kino-convert ko sa recording studio.
04:18Pero it worked, no?
04:20But the first multitrack came out.
04:23Multitrack means maraming tracks, no?
04:25You saw that multitrack there upstairs?
04:27Yung tatlo?
04:28It was only first, it was mono-rall and then stereo.
04:31That was the first multitrack, patlo lang.
04:33The Beatles came, four track na.
04:36The Beatles recorded on four tracks,
04:38that was the first one.
04:40So I convinced my mother, you know,
04:44to buy me a recording studio.
04:47So I sent her a studio because she knew that it was my passion.
04:52And my father played piano, so he encouraged me.
04:54Like recording John Marie Chan, Sepulita,
04:57the advertising agencies.
04:59So we were, and then Cinema Ojo was already a good recording
05:04owned by John Jose Marie Gonzalez.
05:08But we were the first ones that had that multitrack.
05:17In the backyard of our home, near the swimming pool,
05:21there was a lanay.
05:23And in one of the dressing rooms,
05:25kino-convert ko into a radio station.
05:29At that time, pa nay AM pa eh.
05:31Walang FM.
05:32There were only about, I don't know, maybe 10 stations
05:35in the whole Philippines, AM.
05:38So wala pang FM noon.
05:41So I leased a station, a frequency.
05:45And then one or two years after,
05:49I got a franchise.
05:53Alone na, I went to the congressman,
05:55I said, can you sign my petition for a franchise?
05:58So, you're the son of Don Fernando Sinto?
06:02You're the son of Fernando Sinto?
06:04What are you doing here?
06:05Well, I want to put up a radio station.
06:07Can you sign my petition for a franchise?
06:09Yun.
06:11So eventually I owned my own station.
06:21I was grade 7, and my classmates,
06:24couldn't watch for a deal.
06:26One of my classmates texted me what happened.
06:28One afternoon, I was grade 7.
06:31I don't know how old I was, maybe 11.
06:34The teacher was late.
06:35It's noon time.
06:37High school kami ah.
06:394th year high school.
06:403rd or 4th year high school.
06:42All of a sudden, I find myself pounding on the,
06:46punta sa podium.
06:47Kasi we were milling around eh.
06:49So, they were there.
06:53Sabi ko,
06:55Pretending I was playing the piano on the podium.
06:58You got a lot of fun, oh baby.
07:01Yeah, baby.
07:03Woo!
07:04Baby.
07:06Gonna have some fun tonight.
07:09One ng mga klasiko.
07:10Oo, oo, okay pa.
07:1212 years old Yun.
07:14Because little Richard really hit me.
07:16Yun ang talagang malaking influence sa akin.
07:19He started me in rock and roll.
07:21Real rock and roll.
07:25I was, I finished college when I was 19.
07:29Yeah, I had a degree.
07:31Economics, yeah.
07:33B.S. economics.
07:34And then, I joined.
07:36I was also training in security bank.
07:38We owned security bank there.
07:40And also as into steel.
07:42The number one roof company.
07:46And then in legal steel,
07:48I became vice president for purchasing.
07:52About 20, 20 years old.
07:5420, 21.
07:56And I helped my father build the steel mill there in Iligan.
08:02We would purchase the, we purchased the, we built it.
08:06As the senior vice president for sales and operations.
08:11Under me were about 3,000 people.
08:14I was very young.
08:15I was 20, 22, 23, yeah.
08:18I left my music at that time.
08:20I could not, I could not do it.
08:22And my radio stations were run by, by my bandmates.
08:27Alan Oster, Double A.
08:29And that became the legendary Rajo Manila.
08:32And they were, we had this, the building in Santa Mesa
08:37where June Keith Lee called the people to EDSA.
08:41Mesa Santa Mesa, that's an iconic building now.
08:44That's a historical place.
08:46DCRJ was there in the, on top.
08:49There was a little, like a flying saucer.
08:51So, my DJs, while I was in the steel mill,
08:59while I was in the steel business,
09:01my bandmates ran the radio station and became DJs.
09:04And they made it famous.
09:07While I was gone and the radio stations were, or were sequestered,
09:16they, they, they made it Rajo Manila.
09:20And then they discovered Pepe's,
09:23Juan de la Cruz, Sampaguita.
09:26They gave way to, because my, my philosophy was always,
09:29I don't want to be played at other stations
09:31because it keeps repeating itself.
09:33And at that time, the payola business was still big.
09:37So I said, I'd like to set up a radio station
09:39that you don't have to pay for.
09:42Basta kung sino kukuha na o mahusay na music.
09:46Record them and give them the chance to be exposed.
09:50So that's how it became Rajo Manila, became very, very famous.
09:53We discovered marami, Maria Cafra and all these rock bands.
10:00We coined the word Pinoy rock.
10:03So, you see, we, we built the steel mill.
10:08In 1969, kumatakbo na yan, kumikita na ng pera.
10:14And in 1972, I was, I happened to be abroad.
10:20Marcello was declared.
10:22Kinuha sa amin. Kinuha sa amin.
10:25Marcello. So, ganun na niya.
10:28So, so from 1960, I guess 1965 to 70, mga seven years.
10:33We had restaurants in New York
10:36and joined venture with Mitsubishi.
10:39Pero mga maliit na negosyo.
10:41Maraming restaurants lang just to have some businesses.
10:44Yan ang puntahan ng mga, no, ng mga exiled.
10:56We had a lot of American executives then
10:59because it was a big organization.
11:02So, natrain ako in business talaga.
11:05And what I learned is walang libre.
11:13You only harvest what you plant.
11:16So, you have to go the extra mile.
11:18You have to be disciplined.
11:20You have to be a professional in anything you do.
11:24That's what I learned.
11:26So, ganun, it taught me work ethic.
11:29Because maraming nagtatunog, ano ba formula to be successful?
11:33E kung may formula, hindi lahat tayo successful.
11:35So, nabi ko, instinct at saka luck, I guess, timing.
11:38Because I followed what I wanted.
11:42And I saw a need.
11:44Kasi walang variety pinapatutog sa air.
11:48So, always find a need and see if you can fill it.
11:59Learn English for free www.engvid.com