Lest We Forget by An Geli, JyEL Tagbo & Mitchell Badelles

I write songs from my experiences, and I guide Jyel Tagbo as to what sound and feel I wanted. This has got to be Jyel's most technically challenging work yet. I challenged Jyel to combine both Western and Indian musical scales.
When this comes out next week, make sure you use hifi equipment, so you can experience the 130 tracks.

Kudos to An Geli, for rising to meet a challenging singing style which is literally foreign to her.

Our music is not for everyone's taste. It 's mostly experimental. Perhaps it is time for you to savour music other than what you are comfortable with.

I promise that, Lest We Forget, will be honourable and excitingly tittilating when you listen to it.
Thank you for your continued support!

This song had so many complexities and challenges. Jyel had to learn "Svara-graam", it's the Indian music scale. Indian music differs in the western standard music that all of us are familiar with. Even the rhythm which is "raga" is a bit difficult for it has many in-between tempos within tempos and also notes within notes, called microtones. Jyel also had to research on how to play the various instruments I wanted, in accordance with our theme. After learning all of these, the challenge did not stop. Jyel needed to mesh a western pattern the "Reveille", in an Eastern bed music, cohesively. Playing the reveille is not easy too for it does not have a tempo on its own, the tempo came from the strike of Jyel’s right hand while the left hand kept doing the drum roll, Reveille. I also remembber Jyel telling me that he had to use a toothpick with his guitar, to mimic sections of the Svara-graam.

I asked first of all for the Revielle, the wake up call or muster. It is an alarm clock. My intention for the Reveille was to wake everyone up and be thankful for the new day, a relatively peaceful new day that we enjoy because of our armed services, and emergency services. It is also a wake up call for things to come. I’d like everyone to be awake and not compacent and blinded by commercialism.
Then I asked for the scottish bass drum and the (Celtic) Bodhrán drums. These drums provide us with a kind of rhythm that stirs our blood. I also asked for the Indian drums, the Dhol, the Tabla and the Konnakol. The Konnakol by itself is already a language.

To make Jyel’s work even more interesting, I also asked for the Batucada, which is almost identical to the Bisaya Sinulog drums. These drums incite smiles, rhythmic dancing and camaraderie. Within Batucada itself can be heard the bass drums reminscent of the Bodhrán.

Also a significant challenge was that An Geli had to learn to sing in an Indian style. A style totally away from her usual Western musical counts. If you really listen to the technnicality of Filipino songs, these songs also have a heavy western influence.

Jyel incorporated everything I asked for, and he added even more; to cite a few, we have Indian and Filipino Ethnic Instruments, also with Scottish drums, the Irish bodhran, the batucada, bamboo instruments, we can also hear the Santoor, Sitar, Guitars, etc. On top of everything, Jyel included a FULL Orchestra and string sections. The orchestra ensemble alone is already 40 tracks, the main music bed is 50, and there are tons of instruments and effect tracks. Jyel used 130 tracks for this project.

Think of it this way, a Western Musical Scale has 12, the Indian Musical Scale has 32. Lest We Forget is a very good example of the technical genius of a dying man, who continuous to thrive through music. All the music he does for me is literally from his blood, sweat, tears, and breath (he relys on an oxygen bottle to help with his breathing.

A thought came to me after Jyel presented me with the finished song. All aspects of this music, the instruments, were in one way or another, colonised by the West. In spite of a dark history, a lot of good also came out of it. The ANZAC spirit is one of those good things.

My minor bit was to come up with the lyrics, and inspiration. The message behind the song revolves around themes of remembrance, reflection, and the importance of learning and sharing knowledge. It has the idea of honoring those who have sacrificed or given their best, whether it be in the context of war, or in the broader sense, of life's journey and experiences. There's also a theme of personal growth and the realization that life's challenges and experiences shape us, leading to a desire to give back to the community and share wisdom with others. Overall, this song is to encourage mindfulness, gratitude, and a sense of responsibility towards others and the world around us.
Here’s another thought that you can research - we are all just like musical notes. We are just vibrations. We are all thoughts/vibrations of God’s breath.