Mahnee (Manuel)Cabase was born at
the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve in San Nicolas, Cebu City to Ireneo Cabase and
Apolinaria Kabahar...Year 1921. His father was a good guitar player and composed love
songs and humorous songs of the day. His mother had an angelic voice and often sang with
her brother, organist-composer Justo Kabahar. Justo's oldest son was Piux Kabahar,
composer of now legendary song: "Wasay Wasay". Mahnee and Piux are first degree
cousins.
Mahnee had two older brothers, Siux and Narding Cabase who were
already accomplished musicians while Mahnee was just growing up. Both brothers played
guitar, piano and saxophone and composed songs respectively. Narding Cabase was the
composer of the Cebuano favorite "Pasaylo-a Ug Hikalimti"(recorded by Cebuano
stars like Dulce, Brother Marcial Sanson, Al Commendador, et. al.)
Growing up in San Nicolas, Cebu (home of good musicians, Mahnee
was exposed to good music among others. There was the Comparsa Rondalla the San
Nicolas Band and the Flora Orchestra which later on became the Floratema
Orchestra. His brothers were also members of all three musical groups. At about age
five, a neighbor's piano awakened his desire to study music. He relentlessly trained
himself and at age six learned to play the guitar and when he found out that he could
learn piano through his guitar, the following year he had taught himself to play his dream
instrument: the piano. This learning process continued until he was twelve when he played
piano in a passenger ship that plied between Manila and Cebu. Paid fifty centavos a day
per trip, to the young Mahnee Cabase, this was wealth indeed. At this point, the only
thing that absorbed his interest was music so he studied all the musical instruments he
could lay his hands on. There was no stopping him.
Mahnee's first gig with an orchestra at age thirteen was as
guitarist/vocalist. Blessed with a good singing voice, he became the favorite of the
"in crowd". There were no tape recorders then, so what Mahnee did for himself
was sit in a movie house and watch musicals over and over again until he had all the
featured songs memorized. Unbeknownst to young Mahnee, this activity developed his musical
prowess very rapidly.
On one occasion, Mahnee's older brother Siux would sometimes loan
him his saxophone along with encouraging pointers. Later Siux gave his younger brother a
dismantled clarinet where all the parts were still intact. Mahnee had it fixed and to the
young lad, owning his own clarinet was sheer heaven. In his autobiography he mentioned how
he helped his other brother Narding to become one of the best clarinet players in the
Visayas and Mindanao.
Mahnee was fourteen when he was hired to play in a Cabaret for
one peso and ten centavos a night. That, for him, was part of his chance to learn all the
other instruments owned by the band members, his co-musicians, who habitually left their
instruments in a room under the stage built mainly for storage. Because the nightclub
janitor was a personal friend, Mahnee could come to work two hours early to practice on
any of the available instruments that owners didn't lock. On occasions when all
instruments were locked and unavailable, there was always one instrument that was
unlockable, thus available - the drums.
One day his brothers along with other good musicians wanted to
organize the best swing band in the land and Mahnee was picked as one of the guitar
players because he doubled on piano. That was the birth of the "Cebu
Swingmasters". Mahnee was only fifteen. For him, it also was another dream come true,
to be playing music with his brothers. He sang trio with them, played guitar,piano,bass
and drums with them, but Mahnee's most heartfelt wish - to play sax with his brothers
never happened. Asked why, Mahnee relates: "Our band became the best in the
Visayas and Mindanao until my brothers were lured by KZRC, the only radio station in Cebu
at the time. I was left with the Cebu Swingmasters. I thought I wasn't good enough to be
hired with my brothers and that prompted me to study deeper into music. I became the
band's youngest Pianist, Composer,& Arranger. My collegues in the business used to
call me The Nineteen Year Old Sensation. Anyway, my brothers were onboard the SS
Corregidor, at the outbreak of the World War II were on their way home to Cebu from Manila
when tragedy struck the ship. Narding, who was now the bandleader of the KZRC Orchestra
was lost among many Cebuanos who wanted to spend their Christmas in Cebu. Thankfully my
other brother Siux survived with the other KZRC Orchestra members, but I never got to play
the saxophone with both my brothers. I miss Narding."
During the war, Mahnee played trumpet at The Oriental Grill with
his brother Siux and later on at The Great Eastern Pavilion .He married his friend Sheila
Campugan from Tuburan. Their love for music and the piano brought them together. He wished
his kids to be good musicians with very high "IQs" and Mahnee knew Sheila was
the right partner to fulfill that wish.
Then the much-awaited Americans bombed Cebu City and another
chapter ended.
The war years found the couple in the hinterlands of Barili where
Mahnee sometimes played the accordion for the Saturday dances. One night the stipulation
was that the musicians, three of them, would get one half of the evening's earnings. their
fundraising bit was twenty centavos a ticket to get in. The final count of ticket sales
showed three pesos, so one peso and fifty centavos had to be divided among the three
musicians. There was no small change so they decided to buy bananas at one centavo each.
Mahnee earned fifty bananas for one night's gig.
At the end of the war Mahnee played with his brother Siux then
formed his own "Manny Cabase and the Music Makers". The band composed of young
musicians his age. The P.C. and the Army liked his boys and he was left alone again. A
good steady job was always an offer they couldnt refuse. Then he was hired to play
at the Yarrow Beach Resort in Talisay, Cebu. He worked for this place on and off for
seventeen years.
In 1951 the birth of Visayan-Cebuano Movies took some unexpected
turn of events for the Cabase couple. Iyo Carpo, or Ben Zubiri, the composer of the
Visayan national anthem, "Matud Nila", a great fan of Mahnee's music introduced
Mahnee to the Visayan Movie Producers as Musical Director. His first film was produced by
Mrs. Asnar (Asnar family matriarch who owns Cebu's Southwestern University). The film was
called "Leon Kilat". Soon the movie titles poured in: "Mapa-it Ang
Bala-od", "Carmen", "Inahan", "Gihigugma Ko Ikaw", et.
al. The Mahnee Cabase name then became synonymous with beautiful music for Visayan movies.
Mahnee's reputation as the consummate Bandleader was now
established. He was very strict with his bands performance on or offstage. No second
rate musicianship for him. No hotel or nightclub opens without sounding him off first
whether he had the time and the inclination to work for them. His audience and his
employers knew they were guaranteed quality music and performance.
Mahnee was playing at the Yarrow Beach Resort in Talisay when a
talent scout from Manila heard about him. He was hired to play at Sportsman's, one of the
better night clubs on Dewey Boulevard He became the bandleader there at a very early age,
the only Cebuano to achieve such a feat. His stint lasted three years.
Back in Cebu, Mahnee organized the Manny Cabase Sextette. They
played at the classy Tiara Room owned by Las Suerte Hotels . Then after his
contract there, he found himself back to the Yarrow Beach Resort After some five
years there, he was hired to play at The Keyboard in Fuente Osmena. A Hotel
Magellan bigwig, heard and hired Mahnee to work for them at the sleepy Sandtrap.
Mahnee and his band certainly woke up the place. Soon they had to turn people away at the
door. Long lines formed especially on weekends. This gig lasted five years. A waiter's
strike closed the place down giving Mahnee and his band the chance to perform on An
Evening with Pilita. Fae Corrales, Pilita's brother invited the group, all expenses
paid.
The Sandtrap never reopened but soon another nightclub,
owned by Sonny Osmena was offered to Mahnee and his band. Osmena offered Mahnee and Sheila
partnership in the business. Mahnee's following soon filled the Temptation. One
night an impressed talent scout (Attorney Sabater) offered Mahnee and his group the
opportunity to work at the Manila Hilton on Luneta. From the Hilton, they went to work at
Hotel Intercontinental. All these Hotels were supplied music by Ching Imperial whose right
arm was Attorney Sabater. At this point Mahnee and Sheila's daughter, Amapola, was fast
becoming an accomplished musician herself, and Mahnee decided to turn over the leadership
of the band to her, and this was the birth of Amapola and The Sounds. Under
Mahnee's tutelage and direction, Amapola and the Sounds became the country's
sensation. The exposure at the plush Hotel Intercontinental was tremendous. The group
played at the El Castellano until the Hotel Manager decided that the band should
have their own showroom converted the hotel's piano bar the Le Boulevardier into
one. Amapola and Manny, became tourist attractions and locals were scrambling to hear them
on a regular basis. Amapola's Vibraphone and Vocal prowess with Mahnee's piano expertise
became nightly treats. Then, President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in the
Philippines. Amapola left for America in 1972 as one of Imelda Marcos' Ambassadors of
Goodwill. In 1979, Mahnee with his wife Sheila and their family joined their daughter
Amapola in San Francisco, California.
That was the end of a glorious musical moment in the Philippines.
Mahnee soon joined Amapola and her group at the Tonga Room of the Fairmont Hotel in Nob
Hill, San Francisco and "Amapola Presents Show" on Channel 20, KEMO-TV.
Asked what he will be doing in ten years, his reply
was....."study music"