“POLOSA is originally a barrio song, a Kapampangan song, spontaneous…I love music,” Diwata said.

He just came after his younger sister searched on the street. I arrived on late afternoon in his simple home at Cutcut, Angeles City by a directive tricycle who said, “Ay i Diwata, awa balu ke non ya makatuknang!”

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I was not surprised by how he looked for I met him two months ago, singing with all his soul with the song that belonged to our own culture, basulto.

A polosa is, of course, spontaneous. It required a serious skill in rhyme, tune, and content. A polosador is genius then, literally stringing words on the spot, making sure they are alluring to hear together while facing a jaw-dropped audience.

But as for Diwata, the audience is not jaw-dropped. The viewers are in high spirits that only a musical fairy can deliver, Diwata himself.

“Gawa yang isip ing polosa,” he added, which he admitted to start singing at the raw age of seven.

Born as Rene Salor, he is probably the youngest known polosador Pampanga has.

But being young is not one thing about a slight grudge on this ‘society’.

Long-haired, dark-skinned, effeminate but with powerful voice, Diwata rarely is with other polosadors. However, Diwata is often looked upon by nearby towns during burial for mananita and weddings for hosting.

An excellent entertainer, Diwata is admired silently by his crowd.

“Magaling ya talaga i Diwata…oneng threat ya kareng alwa kaya ede aabe,” one poeta laureado said.

As much as there are politics among poets, so as with the polosadors, Diwata shared. The culture of polosa, therefore, can be seen and heard still, with common viewers unaware of the culture that change the purity of this art.

Of course, we still hear on the radio our famous singers of basulto.

Of course, politicians still hire them to attract people during their speech.

Of course, some of the polosadors are even asked during burial or weddings.

But when everything becomes totally commercial, there we lose the music’s dignity.

There is no flavor, anymore.

The commerce is seasonal. Unless there is election, June to September are the moneyed months for a polosador, given the series of local fiestas.

So when there is nothing else to do, Diwata finds money by using his other talent, massage.

The 26-year-old polosador never expected his voice quality could be known, at least, this far. He was born in a street and neighborhood where radios are turned on in tune to the stations where Kapampangan songs are still played.

A good friend of many poets, Diwata is a jolly, good-natured person without thinking greatness in his head. He is all passion and all heart, for culture.

He started trying polosa under the musical influence of his dear friend who just died this year. At first it was “kantang hukbo” until being creative, he tried other possibilities. He composes his own songs, at times on the spot, for that is the utmost measure of a genuine polosador.

There were also times, he added, that a polosador will get tired. Get tired on the feeling that after everything you do to make other people happy, your own self becomes void of bliss.

But then that is both the gift and the curse of being an artist.

Diwata will get by. And he does this by adding joy to the newly wed couple as a host, singing romantic songs. And when someone dies and everyone grieves, there is always a Diwata who will share a bright feeling over the gloom-trodden family.

There and there, a polosador become a good fairy, indeed.