Sing N Joy:Not your typical choir tilt

MANILA, Philippines - The Stefti Children’s Choir of Tacloban, Leyte was a bunch of dedicated youngsters who are passionate about life and singing. They’ve brought honor to Tacloban in 2010 when they won third prize for the National Music Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA) choral competition. Since then, the group has participated in a lot of choral contests both here and abroad.

Stefti Choir would have loved to join the upcoming Sing N Joy Manila, the second international chorale com- petition that the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) and the Interkultur Germany will host from said MBC PR executive Susan Arcega. But as fate would have it, Supertyphoon Yolanda struck in Tacloban last Nov. 8 and dashed the dreams of the children. Stefti has suddenly disbanded and according to their coach, Jose Emmanuel Auino, the children are now staying in different evacuation centers in Cebu and Manila and as of press time, three members remain missing. “It’s really sad and unfortunate on what happened to Stefti choir but knowing Filipinos and their natural tenacity to withstand trials, we know that an excellent choir will be formed again in Tacloban. Who knows if Stefti Choir will be reunited and come back as a group once more? Choir singers are made of stern stuff, they will do everything to be able to sing and compete abroad in their bid to represent their country,” Jonathan Velasco, president of the Philippine Choral Directors Association, which is also sponsoring the choir tilt, told The STAR.

Unknown to many, little-known choir groups from the Philippines have been making a splash in the international choral scene and it’s not just the Philippine Madrigal Singers who are dominating the field.With little fanfare, Pinoy choirs bring home the bronze, gold or silver medals and always make it to the Top 10 in world choir rankings.

“Philippine choir groups are the toast of the international community. We have a reputation abroad for having a lot of excellent choir singers. Mataas ang tingin nila sa Pilipinas. In fact, organizers of choral fests abroad, both in Europe and the US, would write to me, requesting if we can send Filipino choir singers to their compe- tition because they feel that if there are Pinoy choirs in their contests, it lends their organization a certain prestige and credibility,” Velasco said.

That’s why the organizers of Sing N Joy, particularly Thomas Schulze, a top executive at Interkultur Germany thought it was but the right moment to hold Sing N Joy here since we are known worldwide for having excellent choral groups.

Interkultur Germany is the organizer and the host of the world’s largest and most successful choir competition, the World Choir Games.

So last year, after Interkultur Germany signed the agreement with MBC, they lost no time in conducting auditions and opening the registration procedures.

Fast-forward to today and MBC announced they now have a total of 45 choirs from various ASEAN cities that will participate in the Sing N Joy contest.

The chosen participating choirs will com- pete in the children’s and youth categories, musica sacra, folkloric, pop, gospel/spirituals and mixed chorus divisions.

“Sing N Joy is not your typical two-hour choir tilt, it’s going to be a marathon,” Velasco said. For this competition, there will only be one Grand Prix winner, which will receive $5,000.

“As expected, Philippine choirs, many of which do not get the opportunity to travel overseas, make up the bulk of those who will compete in Sing N Joy,” Arcega added.

Seeing action in the children’s category will be the Ateneo Boys Choir, Laoag City Chil- dren’s Choir, Himig Bulilit of St. Paul College in Parañaque, Calasiao Children’s Chorus, Vox Angeli, Agoo Children’s Choir, Pasig Catholic College and Juan Luna Elementary School, Arcega said.

Velasco said our homegrown choirs are especially nervous and pressured to perform here because they know the Filipino audience is “hard to please.”

“The choir singers know the crowd here is not easy to please. They have high standards. You know naman in the Philippines, maraming magagaling kumanta. Hindi pwede yung pwede na, if you are a Filipino singer singing to a Filipino audience, you have to give beyond your 100 percent.” Velasco said.

And this year’s foreign partici- pants are all good as well, Velasco said.

“The choirs from Indonesia have been keeping up, mga palaban. We have the best of the best in the Asean region; Indonesia is fielding Concordia Choir from Medan, Ussy Pieters Choir from Jakarata, Ekkles- sia Polewali Mandar from Polewali. Voice of Soul from Jakarta selatan, Paduan Suara Mahasiswa Univer- sistas Atma Jaya of Yoghayaharta, the PLN Indonesia choir of Kupang and Stikma choir of Makassar. We really expect a tight competition,” Velasco said.

Singapore, on the other hand, will be represented by the Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School.

In the mixed chorus divisions for the different music genres, choirs from key cities all over the archipelago will be taking part. Those who have confirmed include the Southern Leyte Singing Ambassadors, South Cotabato Chorale, Coro San Benildo, Adventist Glee, Coro San Nicoleno, Isabela State University Chamber Chorale, Coro Amadeo, St. Mary’s University Choral Society, Kinaadman Cho- rale, Technological Institute of the Philippines Choral Society, Regina Coeli, Coro Obsento, Tabor Hill College OAD Choir, University of Manila Singers, Tining-ang Koro ng Letran Calamba, Lyceum of Alabang Chorale, Enharmonica Singers, Olon- gapo Youth Choir, CLSU Maestro Singers, University of Northeastern Philippines Chamber Singers and the UP Manila Chorale.

An international jury comprised of some of the most brilliant choral directors from the US, Europe and Asia have been tasked to rate the choirs for gold, silver and bronze cer- tificates, apart from determining the Grand Prix winner, Arcega said.

“In Asia, particularly, we’ll have judges coming from Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar. The criteria is 50 percent for the technical and 50 percent for the artistic,” Velasco said.

Aside from the chorale competi- tion, the four-day event will feature workshops to introduce choirs, conductors and individuals to inter- national choral literature, singing styles and performance practices.

World-renowned choral di- rector Kirby Shaw will conduct a workshop called Instant Soul tomorrow, Dec. 12 while Velasco himself will help choirs interpret Philippine choral pieces by know- ing Philippine cultural influences and history.

“They will have the chance to sing in some Filipino languages and dialects, as well as learn why the songs are composed or arranged the way they are. Ako naman, that’s my advocacy. Even when I’m abroad or here, I’m pushing for our music because we are the choir of the world. When foreign choirs sing Filipino pieces, it becomes a proud moment for us because we are able to spread the beauty of Filipino music. If more foreign choirs are singing Filipino pieces nowadays, it’s because of the effort of our Pinoy choirs. It is the outcome of their hard work and talent, they compete abroad, sometimes against all odds... they spread our music to the world,” Velasco said.

A minimal workshop fee of $5 per participant will be charged.

Velasco reminded the partici- pants for Sing N Joy, that it’s OK to have fun during the competition. Most importantly, he said they should learn from the experience.

“This is a venue to learn from other choir groups. It’s not only your singing but you will learn through listening. It doesn’t matter if you’re not good because always remember, competitions are one big learning process. You can learn from each other,” Velasco said.