Adios Tun Candy

 

In June of last year, the Marianas lost one of its most influential musical pioneers with the passing of Tun Candido “Candy” Babauta Taman. Over the years, I had the honor and privilege of working with Tun Candy on several projects, conduct interviews of him and sometimes just sit and chat and listen to him tell stories.

Each year, I usually got a call from him in late November or December, checking in with me and letting me know how he is doing. If he had some of his music or CDs to sell, he would also let me know that they would make great Christmas gifts. When he called in late 2022, I eagerly bought a copy of everything he was selling and gave them as gifts to different friends.

Tun Candy was born to a CHamoru mother from Sumay, Guam and a Carolinian father from Saipan with roots in Chuuk. Across his life he worked to promote and develop a Marianas musical sound as well as cultural consciousness. Because of the way his roots, his heritage represented connections larger than any single island in the region, he represented through his advocacy and artistry greater reunification, whether amongst the peoples of the Marianas or amongst the peoples across Micronesia with the Marianas.

Growing up in Saipan in the 1950s, Tun Candy was surrounded by CHamoru music, Carolinian music, Hawaiian music in the community, as well as American country western and rock music on the radio. In 1965, he heard the Kaskells, a group of high-school age Chamoru kids from Guam, perform at the hotel in Saipan where he worked as a dishwasher. He was so inspired by their music and their example that he was fired for leaving his job that night to go listen.

Two of my partner Desiree’s uncles were members of the Kaskells, Joe and Tony. Her Uncle Joe welcomed Tun Candy to come to Guam to learn more about the music scene and performing publicly. He followed them to Guam and learning to play different instruments and worked as a roadie for the group, all while sleeping in the garage of Desiree’s family’s home in To’to.

After six months, he returned to Saipan where he began to play music publicly, performing covers of American country, rock and later disco songs. In 1975, Tun Candy would join another CHamoru music icon Frank “Bokongo” Pangelinan to form the band Local Breed. Although they originally played covers of American songs, with more and more requests for CHamoru language music the group transitioned to become Tropic Sette the following year. Their album “Palasyon Rico” would blend traditional CHamoru and Carolinan songs with new genres and sounds coming from the United States.

In the 1980s, Tun Candy would also be a part of another pioneering musical group from the CNMI, Chamolinian. In songs like the 8-minute long “Mount Pagan” Tun Candy brought the traditional art of storytelling and poetic recounting of important events which was being lost across the Marianas, into the chronicling of the eruption of Mount Pagan in 1981 and the people of the island evacuating to safety. Tun Candy would bring this troubadour ballad style to other historic events from the Marianas, the Pacific, and the World, including writing songs that honored historic political figures and current events such as the Gulf War in 1991. 

Tun Candy would go on to record countless more CHamoru songs both through collaboration with others as well as solo. Across the decades he showed himself to be a tireless advocate for the CHamoru and Carolinian languages and the reunification of the Marianas. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary degree in Micronesian Traditional Knowledge by the University of Guam, for all his work in helping to preserve CHamoru and Carolinian language and music.

When I first heard that Tun Candy had passed away, I immediately went to YouTube to start listening to some of my favorite songs from his decades-long career. I ended up listening to songs like “Galaide sin La’yak” and “Ingrato” multiple times, over and over, reflecting on how so many of my elders have passed on, and trying my best to remember what each of them taught me and passed on to me. For someone like Tun Candy, gof mappot este, this is difficult. He shared so much, and taught so much. From the importance of humor in learning, to the importance of poetry and song in public memory and honoring those that have gone before, there is so much in his legacy to take. I appreciate the time that I was able to share with him.

U såga gi minahgong yan minatatnga.