Jean, Tish and me!

Merry Christmas!

My Christmases had always been with my huge family.

In the Philippines, family includes an extended clan: grans, aunts and uncles, cousins to the nth degree, in-laws, and even out-laws. If one is a friend of anyone in the clan, then he or she is family.

One Christmas back in the 80’s, I did bring some Japanese friends to our family Christmas. They thought it was just my family until one whispered in my ear “There must be a hundred people in the house.”

It is quite a different Christmas today, because there’s just me and my daughters. My huge family has gone across the ocean.. I do wish one day that we could get together and have a Merry Christmas like we used to.

Nevertheless, the spirit of Christmas warms my heart.

And so I say to everyone… Merry Christmas.

TARZAN

You have to know the sound of TARZAN.

The St. Luke’s College of Medicine Chorale on MedRhythmia Competition. Sir Elton John and Mr. Phil Collins, please listen.

http://youtu.be/96yCwtsB6KY?list=UUS7DCN4fLimvS9qT19V71Yg

The Tarzan Medley was arranged by Mr. Reginald Tan.

Whiling the Hour of Disbelief @ Manila’s Harbour Bay

My facebook entry 15 December 2014. Early Morning.

I do not want to appear that I am ranting here. But I am. What else can a parent do but rant! So what accounts for this foul feeling?

The MedRhythmia Chorale Competition.

And I am making sumbong to Sir Agot Espino and Teacher Minette. I can’t believe it. Tish and the St. Luke’s College of Medicine Chorale lifted the predictable and commonplace choir singing into a high level of chorale competition. SLCM produced the sound of a Lion’s Pride and a Gorilla’s Nest, a performance that stunned and shocked the audience, and whispers have it people’s tears rolled down the cheeks some seconds into the singing of The Circle of Life. And by Tarzan’s medley You’ll Be in My Heart and Two Worlds One Family, the goosebumps are testament to an experience only the SLCM Chorale made possible. By end time, there was a pin drop moment before the roar. WILD ROAR.

So here’s a piece of my mind. And it doesn’t come cheap, MedRhythmia People. It is a grievous error and very childish, for your judges (?) and you, to have FAILED in recognizing what SLCM Chorale has offered.

When you say Lion King and Tarzan, you don’t want to listen to a sweet ballroom waltz interpretation. Get it?

Now, to appease the disappointment, the Harbour Bay seemed appropriate. The air was cool on a midnight, an Advent night, a time when one patiently waits for the birthing of our Savior. It was making sumbong to our God, saying Okay, God, it was performance level to which no other competitor could have come a close second. The SLCM Chorale did not just give their best, the Chorale produced a high degree of excellence. So, where does all this feeling of disappointment, a downright let down, boil into?

And as Jean and I sipped the hot choco and coffee, courtesy of Starbucks, while waiting for the SLCM singers shake off the melancholic mood, the odor of the harbour came with the soft breeze.

Sigh, I told myself, what am I meditating for. The SLCM Chorale gave an excellent performance, and it is not by the result of a competition alone that one’s output and greatness are hailed. The SLCM, in everyone’s mind, whether they accept it or not, was the winner in the competition.

The result is faulty, like the bad odor that persists in the harbour, Let it be. As the people who sit and walk around seem to say. The gentle breeze is more pleasant to dwell on.

Tish, I know you have performed with passion. As with Gideon, and each and everyone. Don’t despair. They know. And they are afraid. Very afraid. Because they couldn’t even come close a second to you.

I am not saying this because I am your mother. Even I am amazed at your caliber.

Congratulations, St. Luke’s College of Medicine Chorale. The experience you gave us was exceptionally wonderful.