Jazz critic Roger Crane writes: “Like Mark Murphy whose singing he at times resembles, [Mon] David can swing you into bad health and then, turn around and break your heart with a ballad.”
“Mon David is no ordinary singer. He is an artist with the command of music theory, as well as an understanding of the larger socio-cultural/historical milieu that shape the songs he sings. And he’s humble and down to earth.” – Nonoy Alsaybar, Ph.D., retired teacher of music and a former violinist for the Manila Symphony Orchestra
These quotes describe the interior alignment of Mon David, synchronized within, to give his best to the decades-long craft of composing, making music, and singing jazz, a fusion of music theory and practice. But not without personal cost to his family time.
“When our four kids were toddlers, Mon was busy earning a living, doing shows with Apo Hiking Society, as their vocal coach, drummer and music arranger. They did shows around the Philippines and travelled around the world for a decade. He wasn’t able to devote as much time to the kids as he does now to our grandchildren. Mon is such a loving, caring and a very patient grandpa. ’Every child should feel the love and warmth of a grandparent,’” Mon’s wife Ann wrote to me.
David’s genius nurtured by parental harmony and by a caring ecosystem
Holy Angel University’s March 2023 Award to Mon David
There is no dissonance in what Mon does, as the Holy Angel University‘s vetting process, which included the university’s trustees, concluded how in early decades, Kapampangan songs were casually sung prior in school programs, in church hymns, liturgies, novena festivals, karaoke parties, and played in radios and streets and in pirated CDs.
Enter Mon David, “The Kapampangan equivalent of Elvis Presley,” who elevated the Kapampangan music to national and international stages of Japan, London and the United States, with high quality and sustained excellence. He was granted the Juan D. Nepomuceno Award for Cultural Award for Kapampangan Arts on March 8, 2023, the day after International Women’s Day, celebrated for and to elevate women’s rights around the world with Andy Alviz receiving the award on Mon’s behalf.
The award was named after Juan D. Nepomuceno, the Old Man Nepomuceno who literally built Pampanga, its electric plant, its subdivisions and even served as one of the presidents of Holy Angel University.
To be recognized in the same light as the award was named for, should guide one’s awareness that Mon David’s excellence is considered a strong pillar of cultural development in Pampanga, but also in the U.S. and around the world.
Today, Holy Angel University serves as a training incubator of academic excellence in Asean-based universities and has used technology and appropriate infrastructural building changes to provide current realities and simulations in different industries like hospitality, animation, digital arts, communications and more to prepare their thousands of students to be highly competitive in the real world.
Every human talent is influenced by both genes and experiences, writes Angela Duckworth, Ph.D., in “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.” much like Mon David. He grew up listening to his parents sing together.
“I did not see them fight,” Mon said. “Iinstead, I heard them sing a lot, I remember as early as five years old.”
Beyond ancestral genes and a caring ecosystem, Grit’s author describes 67 traits of geniuses, but synthesized grit as the combination of persistence of motive: working actively towards a definite goal, without seeking change, nor the tendency to abandon tasks from changeability, instead a degree of will and perseverance to stay the course and the passion to not abandon the task, in the face of obstacles and of course, the power of experiences, where grit is learned from overcoming struggles of climbing the mountain and after ascent of the summit after struggling, a confidence is gained to try something harder, something new.
Who other than his caring and loving spouse, Ann, would witness this evolution of grit through several decades in Pampanga, Manila, London and several countries in the world?
Ann described to me in a message at early dawn: ”Mon recorded ‘Himno Ning Capampangan’ which is considered the Kapampangan national anthem sung in schools and government institutions after the Philippine National Anthem, ‘Lupang Hinirang.’ He also recorded the now iconic ‘Kapampangan Ku!’ with the musical theater group ‘ArtiStaRita’ founded and directed by kabalen and friend Andy Alviz who wrote it and was one of the past recipients of this excellence award. Mon has also recorded several anthems like ‘Himno Ning Sto. Tomas’ (his hometown at Himno Ning Candaba. Three Kapampangan albums were made by Mon. This is while immersing himself in different genres (classics and jazz pop), all while nurturing his love for the Kapampangan language, songs, poetry which explains his latest CD, ‘Tagimpan’, poems that he transformed into songs.”
Mon’s jazz CD, “DNA (David Nelson Agreement),” released August 7, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, was a beautiful collaboration with Josh Nelson. The synchrony within Mon comes alive with Josh Nelson, and together they become a singular unit, not overtaking or swallowing one another, tackling life’s ascents and descents with their craft of creative musical expressions, making Roger Crane’s observations quoted above, so alive and so relevant, as Nonoy Alsaybar’s.
How many of us felt broken down by the pandemic that we seemed frozen, enumerating the deaths around us?
I was one of those, after nearly a 28-year career in the public health arena, where we believed one death was one too many and where urgency was our work response. Yet, I slowed down from submitting 52 articles in the last 12 years to 10 articles in the pandemic years as an Asian Journal columnist.
But, there’s no slowing down with Mon David!
Not this 2006 London International Vocal Jazz Competition winner, vesting this recognition, amongst a hundred singers who competed around the world.
Nor this 2017 Los Angeles City Council’s Recognized LA Living Jazz Giant.
Nor this March 2023’s Holy Angeles University’s Juan D. Nepomuceno Awardee for Excellence in Kapampangan Arts.
Dianne Reeves with Mon David at Jazz Excellence Awards at The Citadel
Seeking motivation to inspire and to keep his creative juices going, he sang Let Go, at JEXA Excellence Awards night on March 5, 2023, a stage he shared with five-time Grammy winners: Dianne Reeves who sang “I am all Smiles” and “Skylark” and received the JEXA Jazz Vocal Artist award, while Dionne Warwick handed 5 Young Artist Awardees: Kahlil Childs – alto sax; Alexander Flores – piano and tenor sax; Daniela Lopez – jazz vocalist; Taichi Okumura – alto sax; Kaman Richardson – percussionist and emerging artist award to Kenneth Brown.
At my dinner table was Daniela Lopez, a jazz vocalist winner, Antonia Bennett, daughter of the legendary Tony Bennett who inspired Mon David in his early musical career years, and my retired violinist friend, Nonoy Alsaybar, who performed as a backup orchestra to this icon singer in the 1970s, as a violinist for the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
When Mon got on stage, with Kevin van den Elzen and a 17-member VDE Big Band, with confidence and vigorous enthusiasm, he sang ‘Let Go’, music and lyrics he composed:
Let go of all your hang-ups
Let go of all your fears
Let go, now’s the time
Let go!
Let go of all ill feelings
Embrace all that is good
Let go, start your life anew
Well it’s about time you
stopped holding back
There’s no need to worry
‘bout what you may lack
Let go of all “I should
have…I could have done that”
It’s never too late my friend
Live your life, move on
Let go!
Uncommonly good man: Loyal to faith and family
In the music world, we hear addictions to drugs, alcohol, and womanizing.
Yet, in the jazz community that Mon lives in, there are no addictions nor sensationalized controversies.
Cathy Segal-Garcia in 2019, said, “Mon David is, as I‘ve always said, royalty. This human being is so huge and generous; he’s overwhelmingly deep and dear to me. And it comes through his music, and that is why people are so moved by him. He’s a consummate musician, dedicated and committed to art, quality and communication. His family and friends are the obvious result of him. He touches my heart, and I will always consider him one of my truest friends.”
The David family embodies love and friends’ support. Roy, a 72-year-old fan, lovingly calls himself Mon’s jazz wife, sometimes with Roy’s wife in attendance, watching Mon’s concerts, while some fans fly in from the Bay Area and sometimes, from Japan to watch him perform.
My classmates — Lolita (San Francisco), Elsa (Oceanside) and Natimarie (Chicago/Temecula) — recently traveled to watch Mon perform alongside his children, Nicole and Carlo.
Mon sang a trio with his children, at Gardenia in Hollywood, where their rendition of Joey Ayala’s “Walang Hanggang Paalam (Never Ending Goodbye)” symbolic of forever love, got us sobbing. They dedicated it to Linda Rozales, 71, our high school classmate at St. Rita College, who recently died.
Jazz critic Roger Crane writes: “Like Mark Murphy, whose singing he at times resembles, David can swing you into bad health and then, turn around and break your heart with a ballad.”
Mon has that “heartbreaking” effect as an authentic performer fused in dedication to his God, his faith, and his beautiful family, sweet and loving wife Ann, with four children (Paolo, Nicole, Carlo and Mika), to include five grandchildren. If you include their spouses and partners, 16 are tightly woven in play, walking trails, playing puzzles, watching concerts together, and celebrating every family member’s milestones, including an upcoming wedding of Mika to Dallas.
I particularly love the twins: Nico and Leo, just 5 ½ years old, both quietly paid attention to their mom, Nicole and their uncle, Carlo sing at “Siblings Revelry.” When I asked Nico how he felt watching them, he said: ”I loved it.”
Especially endearing was catching Jake, Nicole’s husband, with adoration and smiles, watching Nicole sing.
Lolita, the grandmother and matriarch (Ann is Lolita’s daughter), asked to pose with me for a photo. After, she shared that she is filled with joy watching her children and grandchildren perform, supportive of one another. “I admire how they all get along.”
Like a well-tuned orchestra in harmony, all the component chords of the David family are well-adjusted to the frequencies of sounds and they are all on pitch!
The effervescent, warm and welcoming Loida remembered my husband and I. What I liked about her was when she saw a long line of folks, she asked Belle who bought 50 copies and brought 25 to be signed, Loida requested that for every 5 books she signed, she wanted one person from the long line to come up.
Lora Nicolas Olaes read from the liquidity crisis chapter of Loida’s book and one more that escapes me. She then answered the questions.
One pertained to how she raised her biracial children. She said she does not look at them as biracial, instead she teaches them values of do your work, show respect to everyone, and determination.
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a New York-based national organization founded in 1974, protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) works with Asian American communities across the country to secure human rights for all. What compelled you to be one of the co-founders? ———— NaFFAA National Federation of Filipino Americans Associations promotes the well-being of the four million Filipinos and Filipino Americans throughout the United States. NaFFAA envisions a unified Filipino American community that is culturally, economically, and politically empowered and engaged. Its vision is to serve as the voice of all Filipinos and Filipino Americans by uniting, engaging, and empowering diverse individuals and community organizations through leadership development, civic engagement, and national advocacy. Caring for others is a running thread in your well stitched life anchored in moral alignment. What compelled you to be socially conscious to co-found NAFFA?)
She had an acronym: goal setting, obedience to a code of ethics and determination no matter what, the first letters constitute GOD.
The last question came from me, read page 131, followed by how do you keep an expansive heart?
Loida’s answer was her friend told her to read St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians describing Love is kind, Love is patient, Love does not keep a record of wrongs. She said that she changed love into Loida, repeating it to herself: Loida is kind, Loida is patient, Loida does not keep a record of wrongs. She told her husband he could do no wrong.
It was short, sweet, efficient. The library at CSUN preordered 25 copies and they were all sold out plus 50 folks who attended also brought their own copies to be signed.
I love Filipinos – when they like your character and personality as an author, they buy more than a dozen to give as gifts to others. In Loida, they talked lovingly about her and one person bought 50 copies. I bought 3 copies, 2 copies to give to my spiritual mentors: Fr Rodel and Fr John.
It was a nice reception of cheese board, roasted vegetables, fresh fruits, bibingka bites with egg and brownies and cookies.
When the owner of a highly successful bakery opts to deliver personally his baked goods – the very best ensaymadas in the US – you are just so humbled by his selfless gesture. Thank you so much Miko Zuñiga.
Even humbled when the owner of a highly successful accounting firm personally oversees services for your benefit and meets you in the firm’s office on Saturday – you ask- how did I deserve all these gestures of goodness?
Then you stand up to claim #graceupongrace because you are molded by the goodness of family members, relatives, friends, classmates and community.
Your spouse even offers to drive you to pick up dinner and you know your small universe is just so aligned in goodness.
So, when your 5 decades’ best friend requests more granola as she gave them as gifts to her in-laws you put on your apron and start the process and inspired, you get done in 2 hours. Batch 32 is half sold.
While having dinner, you think of your beautiful daughter expressing breastmilk to feed your congenial, interactive, and affectionate #maharlikala2023 you text her and ask if she wants kfc… yes, our favorite korean fried chicken and she says yes! She gets dinner delivered to her on time.
It started with a beautiful conference call from a loving friend three-way hooking us with another great friend to have lunch for his birthday. He too said yes! We are all in synched.
Then a beautiful call to my goddaughter and we exchange our lives’ tidbits, she educates me about homeschooling and I clarify through texting how I am going to write about my next article about a brilliant artist and his contributions recognized by Holy Angel University in 2023 and by LA City Council’s 2017 Living Jazz Giant and his highly supportive loving wife.
Thank you for this movement of goodness for a #gentlehumanity!
“About ten years ago, I sat at a table with some colleagues to discuss producing an evening of music with Tia Carrere. The idea was to feature her in a one-woman journey of songs that she loved singing, that she wrote and that she could have fun performing. Well, last night at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato, that vision came to fruition.
Much to the delighted surprise and immense enjoyment of the audience, Tia simply dazzled!!!…performing a repertoire of songs from Blondie, the Pointer Sisters, a quick nod to Bobby Caldwell, some Hawaiian classics and a few original songs she wrote. Backed by a tremendously talented band (props up to Tina the trombone player!) who also provided some backup vocals, Tia performed the evening’s set list showing off her natural vibrato and effortless ease in jazz, pop and American standard tunes.
She ”sultried” her opening Sarah-Vaughan classic “Whatever Lola Wants” which, of course, led to her rendition of the Pointer Sisters’ classic “Fire” (competently joined by the entire audience yelling that one word during the chorus!). Inspired by Linda Ronstadt’s version, she “torched” through the Gershwin standard “I’ve Got Crush on You” and echoed that charming appeal when she performed Irving Berlin’s haunting “What’ll I Do”…..then, she did a complete 180 and “slow funked-up” the Carpenters “Close to You” with an arrangement that absolutely killed!
Thankfully for this audience member, Tia performed (probably for the first-time ever at Vibrato!) some Hawaiian songs from her Grammy winning CD;’s (she won the Grammy for “Ikena” in 2009 and a second Grammy for “Huana Ke Aloha” in 2011). For brief moments during the evening, we were all transported to paradise as Tia sang “He Nani”, “Hanalei Moon” and even the famous “Aloha Oe” (which she performed in “Lilo & Stitch”) but which also holds much significance to the Hawaiian people.
I almost fell off my chair when the band came back from break and started playing a Calypso-inspired rhythm only to have Tia come out and get the audience (and few of the wait staff!) dancing to Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” (whomever did THAT arrangement needs a shout out!). THAT was followed by the Dobbie Brothers’ knockout “Listen to the Music” in which Tia mini-morphed into ‘Cassandra’ from “Wayne’s World” (she rocked out on that vocal!)
But my most unforgettable musical moment came she performed her original song, “I’m a Junky for Your Love”, a modern day torch song about the angst of insanely loving someone, which included a sampling of Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love”….just stupendously performed! As the penultimate song, Tia sang “I’ve Never Even Told You” from the ‘Batman’ soundtrack, something I’ve never heard her perform prior.
With Tia, as I’ve learned over the years, expect the unexpected! Her talent is limitless, her personality and stage presence is thoroughly enjoyable, and her voice is solid, playful, strong and soaring! Much mahalo, “sistah”, for giving the audience a warm-hearted, enthusiastic, and convincing journey through your musical wonderland!”
Thank you Ted Benito for allowing me to post your review.
‘Our Faith is an Adventure’ by Rev. Fr. Dr. Rodel G.Balagtas (Pastor), Monsignor Lorenzo Miranda (Director of the House of Prayer for Priests), and Sister Leanne Hubbard, Faculty at St. John’s Seminary.
Three powerhouses of theological theory and practice seduced me to devote a Friday evening (a surprise favor from my hubby to drive me, wait for me and later, dinner) and an entire April Fool’s Day for a lenten retreat.
The day started with a bright orange sunrise bidding us all to be joyful as Thanksgiving is due to the Lord. How many times did we ignore a God so loyal to us?
300 folks anointed this Lenten retreat by praying for us to be filled by the Holy Spirit, said Msgr. Miranda, with beautiful sacred songs sung joyfully, in harmony and on pitch, by the Heart of Jesus choir group – a stellar group of musicians which greeted us. Friday, 49 came and Sat, 69 attended.
The altar was spectacular inside the school Auditorium. It was decorated with white and pink flowers reminiscent of April’s cherry blossom season, a wooden carving of Jesus on the cross, and a line of lighted candles.
Even better was the registration table manned by staffers and volunteers who were warm, courteous, and welcoming us with smiles, genuinely conveying we are happy to see you.
A folder, a journal, a green pen and an agenda were given. It was a full day of prayers, lectures, small group discussions, sharing with larger group and plenty of songs to uplift us all plus lyrics of water, winds, and more to dance with. It was as if our hearts are being awakened.
Even the breakfasts and lunches were carefully chosen: yogurt, granola, fruits, zucchini cake; tuna, ham and cheese, and vegetarian options with salads, fruits, chips and cookies. Those were just perfect choices!
Lent is time to pause and asking what’s going on with my life – the crux of my existence.
By noon, the answers came to me in the form of a beautiful prayer of a reflective, somber, meditative Jesus about to lose his life (as hundreds and thousands now being lost in Russia-Ukraine wars and in over 200 schools where random massacres happen in America, and multimillion deaths from #CoronaVirus that have occurred in the world, in no less than 200 countries combined – my add) and on the back of the prayer card: thoughts exhorting us to reach out to those different from us, encountering humanity, praying for unity, praying to end divisions in the world, realizing we are not better than others, praying for gift of dialogue and recognizing the brevity of life and the cultivating the capacity to listen.
It was as if we are being re-taught in prayers, in thoughts, in discussions, in our actions to be morally aligned in the practice of radical love and radical listening and ultimately, a sense of humility.
Msgr. Miranda, a tall, thin built and joyful man, shared many manifested miracles in his life, including appearances of his mother and his brother whom he lost to a tragic accident. His mom said to him that she will always be praying for him while his brother said, “I made it.”
I was curious about how the apparitions occurred, he heard those through his heart, through the ears of his soul. It gave him a feeling, instead of sorrows and sufferings, feelings of upliftment and a sense of peace. “When you listen to Jesus, burdens become beautiful to carry.” I believed his testimonies as the radiance reflected on his face, as the warmth in his being, an extra lift, if you may, to keep sharing animatedly.
“It is time to discover humility, he said, “a friend of truth. Who am I really? You can’t find God if you don’t face your truth. Humility is the number one trait to have a relationship with God, it opens the gates of heavens.”
“Lent is the happiest season because that’s when God wants to heal us from our sufferings and underneath our sufferings are our spiritual treasures. The heart of our faith comes out of the Eucharist. It is the summit of Christian life and everything must be brought back to the Eucharist,” he said.
In our small group discussion, a mother shared her son, Jaime was diagnosed with a hole in his heart. She prayed fervently for 120 days. On the 120th day, she heard, as she was half dozing:”Daughter, don’t worry. Your son is healed.” Come the day of her son’s surgery, the hole in the heart had closed.
I am sharing the illustrations from Sister Leanne which simplified Incarnation, Redemption, the Paschal mystery and the Journey of Purification descending to the depths of heart, God’s love for humanity.
She shared her feelings of being less than, of running away from dark places in her heart, but when faced, she said to ask for grace so you are not hiding anything from God and allow the Lord to do His work in you.
In our small group discussion many more shared their revelation of hearing God in their deep reflections in response to the question of encountering Jesus in the Paschal mystery.
Dave described what a priest who was a clinical psychologist told him about his experience of apparition, and others chimed in, too.
* If it’s God, it’s all good
* there has to be synergy in you and what you encountered, not dissonance
* it flows, there’s harmony
* it has to bring you closer to God, and others
Last question for reflection is “What does it mean to live in the spirit? Can you drink the cup, as Henri Nouwen wrote, in a beautiful homily for Palm Sunday by Fr. Rodel, shared in advance to us? Go to the website to read its entirety – it’s beautifully written, excerpted in part:
Nouwen argues that these questions have the power to crack open the hardened heart and lay bare the tendons of the spiritual life.
And so, as we start Holy Week this Passion Sunday, I’d like us all to reflect on these questions. I’d like us all to raise the cups of our lives—holding them, lifting them, and drinking them to the full in all their joys and sorrow, success and failures, peace and anxieties.
As we raise them, I’d like us all:
–to say “yes” to our sufferings and pains as Jesus did on his way to Calvary
–to say “yes” to keep living and serving bravely despite life’s uncertainties
–to say “yes” to leading courageously, stepping into the arena of life in all its complexities, messiness, and insecurities
–to say “yes” to surrendering our lives to God, allowing him to take care of everything!
I want us all, faithful parish members, to say a firm “yes” to our vision of being a joyful, welcoming, and faith-filled Catholic Christian Community as we journey together to eternal life with God.” -Fr. Rodel Balagtas
In essence, he asks: can you descend and ascend life? Its challenges, its triumphs? Can you live in hope, despite uncertainties? To bring life to another?
To me, are we transmitting the Risen Christ to others?
One question caught my attention:”How have you experienced yourself as saved?”
It created a dilemma for me, ‘saved,’ as if we become arrogant Catholics free to sin again because Christ has died for our sins. That feeling of superiority leads some to be arrogantly judgmental towards others, particularly if they don’t parrot the teachings, as stated verbatim in the bible.
A fellow attendee re-asked my question and rephrased it: “Can you say, with and in humility, that you are saved?”
One recent convert to Catholicism said in annoyance ‘to just accept it as a gift’.
I was not content with that answer until Sister Leanne said that we are saved this moment in time. Why? It makes us lazy unconscious Catholics to simply say we are saved, but what about others? The rest of mankind?
For me, we progress daily asking for that grace, living in kindness and in humility to stay in that sacred zone of grace, that moment in time that we are being saved.
I wrote ten pages of notes. I could have written more but, my right hand was getting tired.
As I kept writing, my reflections would jump out as my own experience of Juan Diego’s apparition to me at Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2000.
I was sobbing as I lighted the candle. I felt a weariness from battling white male supremacist’ hyper scrutinized, toxic workplace in a state agency. A guy wearing a burro hat, thin muslin white shirt approached me and patted my shoulder: “Things will get better,” he said, as he handed me a small prayer card to Our Lady of Guadalupe. He smelled of both gardenias and sampaguita. When I looked up, a feeling of lightness and burdens uplifted came over me.
Fast forward to November 2022, I paid homage to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City by joining a five day pilgrimage headed by Fr. Joel O. Bugas who starts our daily pilgrimage with a prayer to the Holy Spirit and a Holy Mass.
My takeaways: TRUST, STAY PRESENT, SURRENDER, PEACE and REST in God!
I wrote a letter to the Lord in my journal, another shared her poem composed in that journal exercise.
It was an extraordinary gift of best intentions from the Trinity of retreat masters: Fr. Rodel, Msgr. Lorenzo and Sister Leanne.
Friday evening, Fr. Rodel spoke of his Lenten season’s gift from the Lord of being more prayerful, of looking forward to being still to hear the conversations from God. As if by synergy, the first line in MIHO museum’s website is about prayer and prayer symbols. Then, just before bedtime, my book about ‘Goddesses in Older Women’ is about Sophia hidden in the bible, the Goddess of Mystical and Spiritual Wisdom and that “feminism is anchored in spirituality.”
What a beautiful gift of Lenten retreat from the Holy Spirit. Even my latte from Proof Bakery had double hearts.
Jazz master, 2017’s LA City Council Jazz Living Giant and 2023 Holy Angel University’s Cultural Icon @mondavid5 remarked:”Mareng Prosy, galing nitong dinner, snacks, merienda. Healthy pa. Sarap nito!”
His wife’s Ann texted: “Here’s Mon enjoying oatmeal with granola mix during rehearsal break!! Congratulations on your awesome product made with forever love!”
I am starting Batch #28 tomorrow with 8 bags preordered already. I can accept more orders – just text me, IG or messenger. I can ship to you.
