Arts & Life, Features, Music

Joe Sanders receives songwriting award

Long Beach has been home to a handful of popular musicians in rock and hip-hop, but after studying classical music at Cal State Long Beach, Joe Sanders has put Long Beach musicians on the map once again – this time in the classical music genre.

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest announced in May that Sanders was the Lennon Award winner in the “World” category for music inspired by international culture. The contest awards 12 Lennon Awards in 12 different genres and from those winners, one song is voted by the public to receive the title “Song of the Year” and $20,000.

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is an international songwriting contest that began in 1997 and this year was judged by prominent performers such as George Clinton, The Black Eyed Peas, Prince Royce, 311 and Jim Steinman.

Sanders’ winning song is called “Kundiman,” and is available for listening on Sanders’ Soundcloud.

“Kundiman” was the credits song for “The Last Arrow,” a first-person shooter video game that was the brainchild of CSULB’s Video Game Development Association.

“The song itself came together in about 48 hours. The text I set is José Rizal’s ‘Kundiman’ poem which is an ode to his country, the Philippines,” Sanders said. “Kundiman is actually a Filipino traditional song genre that young men used to serenade their love interests with.”

“The Last Arrow” ends on a dismal note, and Sanders did his best to capture that in his song.

“I set music to Rizal’s poem keeping in mind the tragic events that conclude ‘The Last Arrow,’” Sanders said. “Xun, the protagonist of the game, is forced to give up her life in order to warn her village that ghastly creatures are coming to destroy them. Before she dies fending off the creatures, she carefully aims her bow and shoots a flaming arrow at the village’s warning beacon.”

Sanders graduated with a music degree from CSULB just last year, but says music has always held an important position in his life.

“Music for me started in the womb with my mom blasting Mozart through headphones in the hopes that I would later study classical music,” Sanders said. “Learning to sing at an early age allowed me to make up silly little songs about things like picking apricots and riding in cool cars before I could play an instrument.”

On top of singing both classical and jazz, Sanders has added violin, guitar, piano, mandolin, bass and percussion to his arsenal of musical talents.

According to Sanders, there were several factors that made CSULB a perfect fit for him.

“I was really impressed after reading the bio of CSULB Film Scoring instructor here, Perry La Marca,” Sanders said. “[He] would later become my film scoring teacher, mentor and friend.”

He had heard of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, and wanted to experience it for himself.

“I had the chance to perform there at the Daniel Recital Hall for the yearly high school invitational choir festival,” Sanders said. “There I heard the treasure that is BCCM’s chamber choir and wanted so badly to sing with them.”

Lastly, he said his reasoning was related to the financial worries that plague  so many students.

“In a field as brutally competitive as music, you have to consider your overhead,” Sanders said. “Having gigantic student loan payments was not something I willing to put up with for the next 20 years. You simply cannot find a music school that gives you the kind of opportunities BCCM offers at the cost it does.”

A $20,000 award would go a long way in Sanders’ career, as he is currently making ends meet by writing music for films, TV ads and video games, teaching private violin lessons as well as hosting live performances and studio recording gigs.

The deadline for the public to vote one of the 12 Lennon Award winners to receive Song of the Year passed on June 6, and now Sanders and the rest of the award recipients have to wait for contest’s announcement on July 1.

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