Emil Sanglay


Emil Sanglay was a Filipino singer-songwriter. Emil Sanglay was also a neo-ethnic musical artist in the Philippines.

Early life

Born in Manila, Philippines, he was the youngest of seven children. Sanglay's father, Emilio Rilloraza Sanglay, was a businessman/lawyer and his mother, Flora Carriaga Estrella, was a daughter of the late ex-mayor Alipio Gutierrez Estrella of Bautista, Pangasinan was a retired educator.
Sanglay studied chemical engineering at Mapúa Institute of Technology and took Advanced Education for Music Teachers and Musicians at the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Music. Sanglay has taught music at every level of elementary and high school at Christ Baptist Academy and was head of the Screening Department in Music of Christ Baptist Church.

Career

In the early 1970s, Sanglay was the bass and lead guitarist of Acid Tree Rock Band l & ll and Silhouette Band, and served as a choir director of FYM Choral Group at the Sta. Mesa Church in Manila, chord editor of Jingle Chordbook Magazine, researcher, author, and testing officer of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for Overseas Performing Artists, and Philchime. Sanglay's professional music career started when Vicor Records released his song "Pen-Pen de Sarapen" in 1978. He was a recording artist for Ivory Records, CCP artist and one of the main cast of Lapu-lapu, a multi-lingual neo-ethno classical-rock opera. Sanglay died of cardiac arrest in Baguio on December 17, 2015.
Emil Sanglay received multiple awards for his compositions and singing. Together with Sanglay's group Penpen, they had been credited for many innovations and are considered experimentalists; Penpen and Sanglay are well known for their musical style that integrates the sounds of Filipino indigenous instruments with modern pop music.
Most of the Filipino indigenous instruments Sanglay was known for using in his live performances were: "Sagaypo", "Tonggatong", "Gangsa", "Gabbang", "Kubing", "Balimbing", "Maraak", "Tambur", "Patting" or the bamboo guitar of the Cordillerans and the carabao horn "tambuli", stones, frog sounds, rain stick and birds caller. Sanglay and his band Bagong Penpen also used modern, Asian and Vedic instruments in his music, such as the electric guitar, bass guitar, flute, congga, djembe, sitar, tabla, mrdanga, harp, violin, marimba, Chinese gong, Udu drums, Doumbek, keyboard synthesizer and drums.

Death

Sanglay suffered a cardiac arrest on December 12, 2015 in Baguio City while performing on stage at the Baguio Convention Center, he was in Comatose for 5 days and then he died on December 17, 2015.

Affiliations and memberships