Inspirational Diva is for all seasons

Call Jamie Rivera the Inspirational Diva because of her songs that inspire and lift the spirit, and she cringes with embarrassment at the "title." You see, she’s not title-conscious unlike other singers. If you’re secure with your talent and ability, you don’t need to be "titled," do you? On the other hand, if you’re insecure and you feel inadequate as an artist, you starve for "titles" even if not a dozen "titles" can cover up for lack of talent.

"What matters to me is that I deliver the message and I touch people’s lives," said Jamie who has just come up with another inspirational album entitled Seasons which she herself conceptualized and produced for Star Records. "An artist fails if he/she doesn’t move people with his/her work," added Jamie.

But whether she likes it or not, people call Jamie the Inspirational Diva because her songs are absolutely inspirational in any season, anytime, any place, anywhere. These past few years, especially since she joined (with her brother Jun) the Ligaya ng Panginoon religious group, Jamie has been singing songs that give hope and make the listeners look at the brighter side of life, such as the songs not only in Seasons but also in her previous albums (also on Star Records) like Jubilee; Heal Our Land; Tanging Yaman; and Hesus, Hilumin Mo.

Last Jan. 8, Jamie sang Heal Our Land at the Senate and she so moved the members of that august body that they actually sang along with her (led by Sen. Loren Legarda whose refreshing beauty is in itself a healer for desolate souls). Heal Our Land became the theme song of EDSA II when it was sung again and again in that People Power gathering that led to the ouster of President Erap Estrada. It’s now also sung at the Mass, toward the ending after the faithful have greeted each other "Peace be with you!"

Funfare has listened to Seasons and I recommend it as a lasting gift item to friends this Christmas because of the songs’ enduring message covering not only Christmas but all seasons of the year. Jamie herself wrote four of the songs on the album, namely My Valentine, And You Will Call Her Mother (a conversation between a mother and the child she is about to deliver), Sa Harap ng Panginoon and Christmas Will Always Be Christmas. (Part of the proceeds from the album’s sales this Christmas season will be donated to the New York Life Seasons Fund which assists the children of the Holy Family Home Foundation.)

This Christmas, according to Jamie, she and her family (husband, Dr. JB Mendoza, and their five-year-old daughter Reine) have a lot to be thankful for, not so much for the material but for the spiritual/emotional blessings they’ve been getting from The Great Giver.

"As usual," said Jamie, "it will be a simple Christmas celebration for us. All of my husband’s family members are in the States, so we’ll spend the day first by visiting my two spinster aunts, Flora and Estrella Hizon (sisters of my mom), and the rest of the day is purely a family affair, spent right at home."

(Note: For a sample of songs from the Seasons album, check out Jamie’s promo mall tour at Rustan’s Cubao on Dec. 21, Robinsons Galleria on Dec. 22 and SM Fairview on Dec. 23.)

PROBE feature at US filmfest

A short documentary feature telecast on The PROBE Team earlier this year has been invited for screening at the 20th Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in March next year. The festival is billed as "America’s premier presenter of Asian American and Asian cinema."

Titled Little Brown Man in San Francisco, the docu was directed, shot and edited by our reporter Howie Severino. The 19-minute film shadows the engaging and irrepressible Tatang Floro Bagasala and his fellow Pinoy World War II veterans who have migrated to America.

Bagasala is a street-smart small entrepreneur in San Francisco who rents out chess tables on a busy sidewalk. In a cosmopolitan city, his little world is a mini United Nations of races, nationalities, and classes where he is a respected figure. But like many elderly Filipino war veterans in America, Tatang Floro is lonely, cold, and worried about dying without his family around him. Howie then follows him home for a vacation to the Philippines, where Tatang Floro is a different man.

The film is part of Howie’s Diaspora Documentary Series, a set of short films about the Filipino American community that he did in 1999-2001 as a Documentary Fellow at Pusod, the Filipino American center for culture, ecology and bayan in Berkeley, California. A previous film that Severino did, Return to the Tribe, was screened at the Yamagata International Documentary Festival (Japan) and the San Diego Asian American Film Festival, among others.

More HBO Band of Brothers tilt winners

Here are more winners in the HBO-Funfare tie-up promo contest for the recently-concluded showing of Band of Brothers on HBO:

• Episode 6: Ramon Vallar, Emma Ciabal, Gigi M. Garcia, Christopher R. Ty, Marivic Sales, Catherine Ann M. Gavile and Josenia Ngo;

• Episode 7: Wensley Go, Yeehan C. Dee, Sheryll Sanchez, Mario A. Mata, Armando G. Miclat, Jr., Ma. Anita S. Barquilla and Marian S. Narsolis.

(Note: Each of the winners will get a beautiful Band of Brothers T-shirt.)