Yano

YEARS ACTIVE: 1993 – 97; 2007 – PRESENT

Members: DONG ABAY, ERIC GANCIO, ONIE BADIANG

90’S HITS: BANAL NA ASO, SANTONG KABAYO, TSINELAS, ESEM, SENTI, PAALAM SAMPAGUITA

Yano is a Filipino folk/punk rock band formed in 1993. The band members were originally composed of Dong Abay on vocals and Eric Gancio on guitar. Onie Badiang later joined them to play bass. Nowie Favila was the usual drummer but declined to join the group due to commitments with Ang Grupong Pendong. Other drummers of the band included Nonong Timbalopez, Harley Alarcon and Jun Nogoy. The band got their name when Abay looked through an entry in "Talahulugang Pilipino", an old Tagalog dictionary. "Yano" in Tagalog means "simple", a term often used by Tagalog speakers in the Province of Quezon. The group disbanded in 1997 after Abay left the band.

In 2007, Gancio revived Yano as a one-man band, although he continued to use sidemen as backing musicians for live performances. In later years, Gancio while performing vocals and lead guitars is accompanied by JR Madarang on bass and Ronald Madarang on drums. In 2013, Yano released their fourth studio album titled Talâ (Star).

In 1992, Dong Abay, Eric Gancio and Larry Mapolon met in Patatag, a progressive vocal ensemble. Gancio was chosen to represent 'Patatag' to a composite chorale group for a concert tour in Japan where he met Manji Ikuta who would be the front act in all their shows, with his band called 'Soso'. Manji gave Gancio a vintage semi-acoustic electric Yamaha, which Gancio later named 'Kai', in what was a pseudo samurai sort of ritual. In December 1992, Gancio invited Abay to the former's desire to journey into the adventure of writing his own songs. Gancio later met percussionist Renmin Nadela who later became the founder of 'Agaw Agimat'. The word Yano came up while browsing the Filipino dictionary for words. It was a Bisaya (Visayan) word (meaning 'simple'), Gancio then decided that the name appropriately symbolizes the songs that have already been written, as well as the style of songwriting.

They recorded their demo at the home studio of alternative artist Joey Ayala in June 1993. They brought two of the tracks, "Kumusta Na?," ("How Are You?") a song about the "EDSA Revolution", and "Kaka," a song about the 12-hour brownout during that time, to a local radio station L.A. 105.9 where the group was first heard. This paved the way for Yano to become active in the local club circuit. Mayrics, Club Dredd, 70s Bistro were among the first clubs that Yano performed in. Drummers for the band included Nowie Favila (Ang Grupong Pendong), Nonong Timbalopez (Put3Ska, Ex President's Combo), Jun Nogoy (Coffeebreak Island) and Harley Alarcon (Rizal Underground and POT. In 1994, the band's self-titled debut album came out, with rock songs including"Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo" ("Holy Dog, Saintly Horse"), "Tsinelas" ("Slippers") and "Esem" (wordplay for SM or Shoemart mall. This was followed by a string of successful concerts around the Philippine archipelago. Their first album from Alpha records (re-issued by BMG) reached quadruple platinum in 1994. After producing three studio albums, Abay quit during the late 1990s because of fame-induced pressure. The group later disbanded after Abay’s absence.