essay

Last night’s choir show at the Luce Auditorium was indeed a magnificent night. The Manila Concert Choir was singing. And due to my ineptness with choirs, I was surprised that the Manila Concert Choir’s members were almost old-aged. Nevertheless, when they were performing, you can’t really tell that old-aged was upon them. There was the oldest in the group but still singing great, and I’m not even a tiny bit of her voice (which is why I am taking my seat and she is standing at the stage).

The stage was pleasant. The venue was perfect. My seat, though next to the entrance/exit door surprisingly got a good view (It was the cheapest season ticket by the way).

The show was divided in four parts: The Revolutionary Songs, Ethnic Songs, Folk Songs and Popular Songs. The songs performed were chronologically ordered. It starts with songs about Philippine revolution which tells the story and backstory of the Philippines in the 19th century under Spanish colonization and its conflicts. To be quiet honest, the songs were not familiar to me. I was just amazed by the guy soloist voice. I will guess his vocal range was a bass. But I’m not sure though, I’m really poor at classifying vocal ranges. Their costumes represent their songs too.

During the Ethnic songs, things get quite interesting. The piece Iddem-Dem Mallida, even though I don’t understand it, is fun. It’s fast-paced and sound jumpy - good jumpy. You know, Id.. Dem…. Dem…. Mallida…

The Folk Songs is the part where I start to get familiar with the songs. Part of the songs in this part of the show was songs I have heard during cultural events as I was growing up. Rosas Pandan was familiar, though I didn’t realize it then until the line “Ayay usab si Dodong, nagtan-aw kang Inday.” I notic...

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... they were great and astonishing. How they sounded together, the harmony, the blend of their voices and the emotion, it’s all amazing. Even though I just can’t help but wonder how it feels I can sing like them. That would be totally great, but well, I’m not.

The theme of the show centered on the Filipino people, the Filipino culture, the Filipino spirit, the Filipino strength, the Filipino’s hope, the Filipino’s dreams and the Filipino as one in one great nation. Thus, got its shows title “Sabihin Mong Ikaw ay Pilipino.” All the songs performed by the choir were all written, composed and arranged by Filipinos. The language and dialects used was all Filipino. In these trying times the Philippines are facing, the show’s theme is just appropriate. We, Filipinos needed reminding that we are Filipinos and that we can help building the world without forgetting our roots.