National Artist for Music
National Artist
for Music
Maestro Raymundo Cipriano “Ryan” Cayabyab was born on 4 May 1954 in Santa Cruz, Manila. His musical career spans almost five decades of composing songs, writing choral pieces, producing orchestral and operatic arrangements, teaching and conducting for various orchestras, scoring for film and television, producing various iconic riffs and anthems, and relentlessly churning out different musical masterpieces.
As a composer and musical arranger, Cayabyab’s dedication to OPM (Original Pilipino Music) pushed the industry to historic heights, with songs such as “Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika,” the grand prize winner of the first Metro Manila Popular Music Festival in 1978; “Kailan,” “Paraiso,” and “Da Coconut Nut,” recorded and performed by the iconic 1990s group Smokey Mountain; “Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka,” “Araw Gabi,” and “Ikaw ang Tunay na Ligaya,” interpreted and popularized by a range of the country’s best and most talented balladeers; and many other classics that have remained ingrained in Filipino popular culture and collective memory to date.
Also an established musical director and conductor, Cayabyab has produced musical works for film and theater, including Rama Hari, Katy!, El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere: The Musical, Magnificat, Ang Larawan, Spoliarium: Juan Luna, Mariang Makiling at ang mga Nuno sa Punso, Lorenzo, and Puso ng Pasko, among others.
As a composer and musical arranger, Cayabyab’s dedication to OPM (Original Pilipino Music) pushed the industry to historic heights, with songs such as “Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika,” the grand prize winner of the first Metro Manila Popular Music Festival in 1978; “Kailan,” “Paraiso,” and “Da Coconut Nut,” recorded and performed by the iconic 1990s group Smokey Mountain; “Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka,” “Araw Gabi,” and “Ikaw ang Tunay na Ligaya,” interpreted and popularized by a range of the country’s best and most talented balladeers; and many other classics that have remained ingrained in Filipino popular culture and collective memory to date.
Cayabyab also hosted the historic television musical Ryan Ryan Musikahan from 1988 to 1995, introducing local and international performers to Filipino audiences in the spirit of popularizing music in all its forms.
In 2022, when COVID-19 forced live performances and shows into indefinite pause, Cayabyab returned to an old love for drawing and painting. While unbeknownst to many, he had actually won third in the YMCA National Art Competition for oil painting in 1963, and he continued to nurture a love of doodling and drawing throughout his career as a musician. He mounted his first solo exhibition Tunay na Ligaya, showcasing over 50 works of acrylic on canvas in 2023.
For his relentless passion and prolificity, the Maestro received, among many accolades, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Awit Awards in 1996, the 2004 Gawad CCP Para sa Sining (Music Category), and the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, the highest papal award for laity, given by Pope Francis himself in 2013. In 2019, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his contributions to the Philippine music industry and for inspiring and mentoring generations of OPM artists.
Cayabyab was conferred the Order of National Artist for Music in 2018.