ABH reminds us to love our own, support our own

MANILA, Philippines - Due to insistent public demand, Philippine Opera Company’s (POC) Ang Bagong Harana (ABH) returns on stage on Oct. 11 to 20 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza.

ABH takes off from the success of Philippine Opera Company’s musical revue Harana. The word harana is a Tagalog word that connotes a traditional form of courtship in which a man woos a woman’s affection by singing love songs.

The harana or kundiman became a mainstream musical style with veteran performers namely Diomedes Maturan and Ruben Tagalog popularizing it until the late ’60s. Unfortunately, with the advent of newer music genres, harana has quietly been left behind. Today, the young generation may not even know its real essence as far as Filipino folk traditions are concerned because they are more drawn to Western influences.

This is the reason why Philippine Opera Company has chosen to do Ang Bagong Harana because now more than ever, when globalization is the future of the world, we need to remind ourselves of who we are, where we are, where we have been and what we held dear. “This is going to be a tough job because the commercial theater and concert scene is full of imports but we want to do it because we need to be reminded of how beautiful our music is, and how much our souls can be enriched by hearing these songs sung again,” says POC artistic director Karla Gutierrez.

“Philippine Opera Company kept getting inquiries about a repeat run which is why we are bringing back the show. It is a difficult effort to try and do something truly Filipino nowadays. But after the warm responses from audiences and critics we know that there is an audience that is hungry for this kind of entertainment that reconnects us to our souls.”

What was the secret of the small revue’s success? “Ang Bagong Harana was envisioned as a love song to our country. We wanted to show audiences that there is so much wealth that modern Filipinos can mine from our traditional and contemporary music. In this age of Globalization, it is all the more crucial for us to know who we are and what we have that we can call Pinoy. A lot of performers may say that we are the best in the world. But we wanted to go a step further and prove it by using our own traditional and contemporary material. And we wanted to showcase young singers who have committed themselves to classical singing and to our traditional material. 

ABH will still carry the original repertoire which showcases the best works of noted Filipino composers from different music genres — Nicanor Abelardo, Ryan Cayabyab, Willy Cruz, Francisco Santiago, Antonio Molina, Resti Umali, George Canseco, Ernani Cuenco, Levi Celerio, Jose Estrella, Constancio de Guzman and Felipe de Leon.

The show begins with an evocation of a lost innocence, as expressed through traditional children’s songs (Penpen di Sarapen, Si Filimon, Pamulinawen and Sitsiritsit) sung by the company. From there, the love song to country moves through various evocations — a kundiman suite (Nasaan Ka Irog, Pakiusap, Anak ng Dalita and Madaling Araw), framed against the backdrop of revolution, a tribal suite based on the indigenous respect for the environment, a suite of folk songs framed against the backdrop of a fiesta, a tribute to Sylvia La Torre that reconnects with our bodabil roots.  But more than just mining the past, Ang Bagong Harana moves swiftly into the present, using OPM classics like Fredddie Aguilar’s Anak to make pointed social commentary.

“At the end of every show,” says Karla, “just before we serenade the audience, I always remind them to “love our own and support our own.”  I believe that it is a very timely message. With all the foreign material that is coming into the entertainment scene, it is easy to disregard our own music and our own young performers. With POC’s Ang Bagong Harana, we have a reminder that there is so much to discover and love about our own culture. 

Ang Bagong Harana is a must-see production for every Filipino because it represents the very best that we, the Filipino race can be. As most of our previous audiences have told us the show is an effective way of communicating our greatness as a nation. Through a musical revue like Ang Bagong Harana, we Filipinos once again find our voice and our pride. This will also serve as a musical treat for foreigners as an initial step to immerse themselves in a truly authentic Filipino music environment with the hope of making them understand our country’s cultural and musical heritage.

The cast of young people is the show’s biggest artistic statement. It tells the audience that there are young people who are bravely making their own efforts to preserve our music, as well as re-define old songs for their own generation.

Ang Bagong Harana will feature Philippine theater’s celebrated singers, Karla, Aizel Prietos, Cris Go, Janine Santos, KL Dizon, Lawrence Jatayna, Michael Odoemene, Nazer Salcedo, Al Gatmaitan, Jurgen Unterberg with the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group.

Directed by Floy Quintos with music arrangements by Von de Guzman, Jessie Lasaten, Jesse Lucas and Paulo Zarate.

Ang Bagong Harana will have a limited run on Oct. 12 and 18 at 8 p.m. with matinees on Oct. 11 at  2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 19 and 20 at the Carlos P. Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.

For details, call 822-9609, 0917-5272880 or 891-9999 or follow Philippine Opera Company on Facebook.