Dong Abay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Westdon Martin Abay (born April 5, 1971^[1]), popularly known as Dong Abay, is a poet and a Pinoy rock musician. He was the former member and lead vocalist of the bands Yano and Pan, which are now both defunct. He is currently the lead vocalist of the band called dongabay.

[edit] Personal background

In 1992, Dong Abay and Eric Gancio met in Patatag, a progressive group choral. After a year, they decided to form Yano.

In 1994, he was in his third year on a Philippine Studies course when he left the University of the Philippines to pursue a career in music. Yano was already popular at that time.

During the late 1990s, Abay suffered from clinical depression after quitting Yano. He stayed only in his bedroom for five years.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, after recovering from deep depression, he returned in the music scene and formed Pan together with Onie Badiang, former bassist of Yano, and with two young musicians Duane Cruz (bass) and Melvin Leyson (drums). But in early 2005, the band has become inactive and Abay became an indie artist and initially released his works at the University of the Philippines shopping center and in a bar at Visayas Avenue in Quezon City. As of December 2005, Abay is currently working with dongabay band. Its all lowercase and one word according to him.

In May 2006, Dong Abay released an album entitled Flipino. He also had finished his degree in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines. He graduated in April 2006.