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February 2, 2009
Scary and unforgettable was that rainy February night as I marched through the hallway of Rizal SPED in Camus. I was brave enough to audition for the world acclaimed Himig Singers of Davao and fortunately, I was accepted.
The first two weeks was mortifying. I have to learn at least 10 new pieces in time for the first quartet exam scheduled this 26th day of February – from straight classical songs in Latin to something called “I’m a Train” is included in the list.
It is my fourth week now and I am seriouslly thinking of giving up because of the pressure coming from both singing and at the same time preparing for a major theater production. Anton Checkov will haunt me if I will bastardize his play. Should I pick work that offers nothing special but the whims and caprices of “the queen bee” or should I pick pleasure that offers not just the real pleasure of singing but concerts and travels abroad? Will I get the latter from where I am now? Will the latter be offered to be wholeheartedly without any hesitations as reward for all the things I did? But where I am now offers a not so enough salary to pay for my bills?
But then again…
I met some interesting, rather friendly (others are somewhat overtly friendly like the person seated beside me) people. I do not wish to leave these people, specially my latest confidant, but I still can’t find the answer to my question.
The soloist reminds me of a former Koro Kantahanay member Miss Lovelyn Reyes. This is “Papa ka ba?”by the Philippine Madrigal Singers. Enjoy!
I was thrilled the first time I knew that Madonna Decena, a Filipino OFW in Britain, joined Britain’s Got Talent and surprisingly wowed the judges and the audience inside that wonderful proscenium theater. In fact, I hope she wins.
But then again,
Charlie Green, born and raised in the UK from a Filipino mother and a Briton father, come up the stage and sang “The Summer Wind.” He sang it beautifully and this kid has a lot of hidden grooves as well as she sways with the song.
I’m loving his version of the song and I hope he wins. It was a fantastic performance. And I never saw Simon Cowell smile the whole time he listened to Charlie Green.
Watch the video.
I’m alone now and super bored on a Friday night. Johnnypanic is somewhere partying and Liguified is doing her thing with the IPs again. Me? I’m stuck here in Mintal, in front of my laptop, editing the script for the AVP of UP Mindanao. To make it simple, I am working on a Friday night. I’ve got no new movies to watch. No new songs to play and no food to eat.
So I’m blogging. An entry not really worth reading because perhaps it won’t mean anything to anyone reading this. But what the heck, I’m still writing this entry.
First stop, early Friday morning, Johnnypanic showed me a video of Britain’s Got Talent featuring a Filipina auditioning for a spot in the contest. Yes, a Filipina named Madonna Decena who is a club singer in Great Britain. She’s got talent for one so getting a spot in the competition might not be that difficult for her. I just can’t stand the drama. It is the usual telenovela kind of story common to all of us here in the Philippines – a woman who went abroad to work so that she can give her children the comfort and money they need to survive in this country.
Yes, an OFW story. Well, what can we do? It is how we define family here in the Philippines. A family is composed of a mother and children with a father working abroad or a father and children with a wife working abroad or parents with children working abroad. Common denominator, one or more are working abroad because the price of rice and petroleum is increasing in a velocity of light.
I am not against it though. In fact, I might end up working somewhere in a not so well lighted factory in China.
Everyone in the audience were misty eyed and even one of the judges. Of course we could not expect Simon Cowell to cry.
Well, here is a video of her audition. Watch it. She received a standing ovation from everyone.
Now its almost 10 in the evening. I still have more time to think about life in general.hahaha
And I am listening to Madonna’s “The Immaculate Collection” album.hahaha
I had enough Madonna for today so I got to stop it.
Its Andrew Lloyd Webber night in American Idol and it is thought to be one of the most difficult nights for the contestants.
Interesting performances but not mind blowing. Well maybe except for a few.
Syesha Mercado’s performance was nice but I was not blown away. The judges loved it though but I don’t trust their judgments specially that of Paula Abdul.
I may sound biased but I still like Jason Castro’s performance just because he sounds like Jason Mraz and I totally like his previous songs. Him singing “Memory” from Cats sang by Elaine Paige was intriguing and at the same time a total challenge for him. He did have some problems reaching the high notes and at the same time owning the song so that he will not sound like Elaine Paige or Barbara Streisand. I still hope that the Americans would still vote for him after that.
Brooke White should consider going back to beauty school. The first time she messed up with her song was cute. The second time was a mortal sin. She sang “You Must Love Me.” Honestly, Madonna sang it way better compared to her. The notes of the song were all against her. And Paula Abdul had a hard time looking for positive words to say.
Then David Archuleta aka David Achuliling sang “Think of Me” from the musical “Phantom of the Opera.” It was okay just as Simon said but totally forgettable. And still Randy and Paula loved him so much they kept on telling him he can sing anything. Paula even said that even if David A. would sing the phonebook, it would still sound amazing. Well, let him sing the freaking phonebook. I had enough of the Mickey Mouse Club already. Yes, he got the notes right and he sang it well but that was it.
Carly Smithson on the other hand had two song choices “All I Ask of You” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” but ended up performing the latter as per advice of Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. Carly Smithson singing “All I Ask of You” would be like listening to David Archuleta singing it and it is not a good thing. This may not be her best performance for me but she did sang it well and she had stage presence. Good thing it is not about a powder keg that gives off sparks kind of song.
Then finally, the star of the night, the other David in the bible of American Idol, David Cook, who has done several stage plays, entered the stage singing “The Music of the Night” from “Phantom of the Opera.” It sounded like the one from the musical at first up until the middle part of the song when David slowly infused his own style into it. Need I say more? Watch this.
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