Lani Misalucha: A diva of her own kind

After she conquered the Araneta Coliseum last September, it seems that Lani Misalucha had finally gained admission to that elite circle of female singers known as "divas."

But up until that point, there were still some people doubting whether Lani deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Kuh Ledesma, Zsa-Zsa Padilla, and Regine Velasquez. Even the fact that she filled every seat in the 17,000-seater venue (with some people standing in the aisles) couldn’t convince them.

"It’s her first major concert naturally, people are curious if she can fill up Araneta. If she can do that again in her second concert that’s when I’ll be convinced she is a real diva," says one doubting member of the audience on his way out of the coliseum after the show.

Not so much to silence her critics as to sustain her momentum, Lani immediately followed up her Araneta stint with A Nightingale Sing at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). There, she went back-to-back with world-renowned classical artists like flutist Antonio Maigue, tenor Ramon Acoymo, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) conducted by Gerard Salonga and the Philippine Madrigal Singers under the baton of National Artist for Music Andrea O. Veneracion.

Lani – who filled the CCP to capacity on both nights – even had pop diva Kuh Ledesma as special guest.

Not every artist can sing to the accompaniment of a live orchestra, especially one like the PPO that has impressed audiences and critics from Europe to America. But Lani held her own, her voice soaring above the sound of the orchestra, full and strong.

Singing side-by-side with Kuh didn’t intimidate Lani one bit either, vocally or emotionally. In a duet of Tell Him, the Barbra Streisand-Celine Dion hit, Lani matched Kuh note for note, proving that she is indeed, doubters aside, every inch a diva, and a diva of her own kind too!

As in her Araneta concert, Lani delighted the audience with her singing and wit, especially when she reprised her much-applauded Divas Medley. I was in the audience on the first night, and it was during moments like these that Lani‘s true character came to the fore.

As a diva, her vocal abilities are indubitable. But Lani has something our other divas, talented as they are, do not. She can play with her voice like a musician glides his deft fingers over an instrument. She can make her voice produce whatever sound she desires. This ability was clearly evident in her Divas Medley where Lani made herself sound like Pilita Corrales, like Sharon Cuneta, like Jaya, like Regine Velasquez and Zsa-Zsa Padilla. If you close your eyes, you would’ve sworn it was indeed them singing, and not Lani imitating them. This is, no doubt, a hangover from her "Multiplex Queen" days, when she used to make her living voicing Multiplex tapes of local and foreign singers.

But that’s not to say Lani is only good at imitating fellow singers. No way. She is good for much more than that – just look at how she can segue from pop to jazz to operatic aria, almost in the same breath and without skipping a beat. During her Araneta Coliseum concert, she did (all in one marvelous night) pop favorites like Rhythm of the Night from Moulin Rouge, jazz numbers like Loving You originally by Minnie Ripperton and a vocally-challenging operatic aria Nessun Dorma, a song Aretha Franklin performed in her VH-1 concert. All of this underscores the fact that Lani is a versatile performer who can swing from genre to genre the way Tarzan must’ve swung from tree to tree in his day.

And you have to admire Lani for the fact that although she is the "youngest" of our divas (in terms of experience, not age), she has, in four short years, concertized, at such major venues as the Araneta Coliseum, the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) and others. She has accomplished a lot, and on that ground alone, she should definitely be ranked among the finest of today’s divas, pop or otherwise.

As Crossover 105.1 FM president Louie Villar, Jr., said in the liner notes of the live recording of her Araneta Coliseum concert, Lani has definitely arrived. Lani Misalucha – The Crossover Live Tour was one shining September evening for Lani, her guests, the musicians, and everyone who was part of the production..."

No doubt, this diva who is in a class all her own, will have more stunning evenings to look forward to. Joyfully, we will look forward to all those with her.