Rubie Rizza: The gem of original Kinaray-a music

This article appeared in fittopost.yahoo.ph and Vera Files in January 2011.

The best female artist at the recently concluded first Ilonggo Music Awards in Iloilo City is not an Ilonggo but a Karay-a. Singer and composer Rubie Rizza comes from neighboring Antique province, but her song “Ti ano karon?” (So what?) won the votes from the Ilonggos, making her the true diva of original Kinaray-a music (OKM). “Ti ano karon” is, undoubtedly, her first hit single.

It took more than two years for her song to break into the airwaves. It was first heard at the 5^th Original Kinaray-a Music (OKM) Awards in San Jose, Antique in 2007, when it won the top prize. It surely levelled up Kinaray-a music from mainly ditties and ballads that local composers have been dishing out. It is perhaps the first Kinaray-a jazz.

“Ti ano karon” is a song about a woman who may not have the looks, but has the heart and the brains, and if these are not enough to attract men, she simply doesn’t care. The first stanza is a candid admission: “Bukut ako it gwapa, medyo may arikis, dapa akun irong, lawas ko daw tiwis” (I am not pretty, I have scabs, my nose is flat, my body is thin), yet there is enough humor and confidence in the voice that cries beauty is not only skin deep.

In reality, the song belies what the singer really is. Rubie Rizza was crowned Lin-ay kang Antique (Miss Antique) in 2005, despite her insecurity with her physical attributes. “I was too thin and flat-chested,” she described herself. But thanks to her singing and vivacious personality, she stood out among the finalists that year, despite appearing like a Las Vegas showgirl during the festival costume parade.

As a Lin-ay kang Antique, she went on a trip to Thailand. More than shopping in Bangkok’s night markets, she cherished the opportunity to share Antique’s culture and original Kinaray-a music to students at Srinakharinwirot University. Her stint as co-host in a regional television show prior to the beauty contest helped her hone her performing skills. The students there thought she was a star in the Philippines, which she is in her own right.

At the Rainforest World Music festival in Sarawak, Borneo in 2009, Rubie Rizza volunteered to perform during one of the open mike side events and chanted in Kinaray-a. That is the kind of spirit she has when it comes to performing. “I think my friends and I were the only Karay-a in that event. There were many people of different nationalities. It was my way of making people from other countries hear Kinaray-a,” she explained. She believes Kinaray-a music is sophisticated enough to be heard around the world.

That’s why she devoted to writing her own songs. So she wouldn’t simply be known as a pretty songbird; she wants to write songs that have something to say. They may be funny, but they hit some vein. Right now, her next project is to come up with her own album. She has written a couple more songs, and plans to do covers of some of the best Kinaray-a love songs, including that perennial folksong “Lumabay-labay nga daw aso” (Ephemeral as smoke), which appears to be her favorite of the Karay-a folksongs. She learned and mastered the song for one planned but unfortunately never-materialized trip to the United States, supposedly to be an ambassador of goodwill to the Antiqueños there – a responsibility that comes with being a Lin-ay kang Antique. She considers that one occasion of lining-up at the US Embassy, applying for a Visa, and not getting approved as one of her life’s little jokes.

Aside from writing her songs and singing, she juggles between her day and night jobs. By day, she is Mrs Rubie Rizza Estaris-Villavert, youngest bank manager in the province of Antique. By night, if three-year old son Kiv doesn’t miss her much, she does guest relations for the bistro she runs with husband Mark. Her distinctive touch in the interior, the menu list, service, and events, has made Café Amistoso one of the night spots to be in San Jose, Antique.

It takes a great sense of humor and confidence to be singer, beauty queen, wife, banker, mother, composer, and businesswoman – roles that Rubie Rizza has taken on so well, so far.