Monday, 22 September 2025

50 Years Past, Mon Torralba's Music Continues to Charm

Volume 7, Issue No. 16
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . 

Our latest as of Monday, September 22, 2025 

~ There's no slowing down for this heartthrob of generations. His landmark music remains entrenched in our hearts, withstanding the test of time, freezing instant affection for someone we fell for from a distance - our unrequited "Pers Lab." That that song endures is testament to the universal message its composer, Ramon "Mon" Torralba, propagates through the last five decades.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  


RAMON 'MON' TORRALBA
There's No Stopping This Musician
Who Takes Us to a Joyous Swoon 


By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ 
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel


"A great song should lift your heart, warm the soul and make you feel good." - Colbie Caillat


TORONTO - Remember. Reminisce. Relive. Rejoice.

Those euphoric and sometimes dark moments in our youth are sure to come up again in one setting when the low-key heartthrob of generations past reclaims his star in the global firmament.

Luck smiles on us for having in our midst a composer, lyricist, musician, and musical director who goes by endearing nicknames Mon, Ramoncito, and "Pers Lab" - the latter both a charm and recognition of universal love his composition champions.

The community celebrates Ramon Torralba, a long time Toronto resident, who shot to fame for the romantic and engaging songs he wrote for and collaborated with the Hotdog band, notably "Pers Lab" whose lyrics vocalize unspoken affection for someone seen for the first time yet unmet.

Try to imagine feeling like ice cream melting under the sun while your heart peeks out of your chest every time one sees the person of one's yearning passes by? That's how poetic it is. 

Perhaps the strength of that song lies in its ability to relate to the first flaunting of raw emotions - first love or adolescent love, Pers Lab in Torralba's figurative language - which manifests, according to Filipino folklore, in pimples in the face and blamed on unmeasured inspirations.

One other person who gave flesh to the song is Ella del Rosario, the colegiala of yesteryears who graduated magna cum laude from the all-girls Maryknoll College, 
and the original songstress with the alluring voice that menfolk find seductive. She popularized the song in 1974 and became the band's first mega-platinum hit.

She's a multi-awarded Filipina-Spanish-American singer and popular celebrity, known as the "Manila Sound Queen," “Samba Queen” and "Disco Queen." After launching a solo career, she achieved rapid success with mega-platinum solos "O Lumapit Ka" and "Mr. Disco." 

According to Mon, Pers Lab, his first-ever composition, was “pressure-cooked.” He recalls the night he worked on the song. Hotdog band members were quartered in a house in Makati where the group practiced and chilled. 

Coming off his school studies at De La Salle University in Manila, Mon arrived at the house that late afternoon and was told of a scheduled recording at 8 the next morning. The problem was, there was no song to record.

When Mon and Ella teamed up, they were both on the cusp of adulthood 50 years ago. No one except them knew about the song from the time it was composed to the time it was recorded in the mid 1970's, notwithstanding earlier claims to the contrary.

When it came out, nobody knew "Pers "Lab" would be some sort of trigger that would revolutionize the Philippine music industry. In fact, it kicked off a cultural reawakening from old-fashioned harana and kundiman that generations prior to the boomer generation had been used to.

The song would actually spawn a surge in Filipino music, giving birth, first, to Manila Sound, and later, to what we now aptly know as the Original Pilipino Music (OPM). 

In that sense, it's not an exaggeration to consider Torralba and Del Rosario the early pioneers of OPM even as their band, Hotdog, also had a significant role in expanding it with their songs.

This bit of history, and more, will play out in real time at an evening concert on Saturday, November 22 at Toronto Pavilion at 190 Railside Rd., North York, Ontario. Tickets are priced at $55.

Titled "When Legends Reunite . . . Manila Sound Comes Home," it reconnects Torralba with Del Rosario in the first ever get-together of two music icons.

Also featured are the all-star band of Nato Buzon (bass), Vin Velarde (drums), and Daniel Yap (keyboards). Special guest artists include four members of The Vocal Groove Collective (Rodney Ronquillo, Chyrell Ronquillo, Pabs Quiogue and Bevs Saraza), plus Alyssa Grace, Tess Panaligan, Rhett Dela Cruz, and Pitch Perfect Academy.

For those interested in the lyrics of Pers Lab, here they are:

[Verse 1]
Tuwing kita'y nakikita, ako'y natutunaw
Parang ice cream na bilad sa ilalim ng araw
Ano ba naman ang sikreto mo at 'di ka maalis sa isip ko?
Ano bang gayuma ang gamit mo at masyado akong patay sa'yo?

[Bridge]
'Di na makatulog, 'di pa makakain
Taghiyawat sa ilong, pati na sa pisngi
Sa kaiisip sa'yo, taghiyawat dumadami

[Verse 2]
Tuwing kita'y nakikita, ako'y natutunaw
Tuwing daan sa harap mo, puso ko'y dumudungaw

[Outro]
Kailan ba kita makikilala?
Sana'y malapit na
Malapit na

By the way, I once asked Mon Torralba if he has finally met the person that caused his heart to gape and almost jump out of his chest. His answer: soon, hopefully, soon. Well, it's been 50 years Mon! (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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