Bon voyage, UPSA

I was delighted to be able to listen to the free farewell concert of the University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors (UPSA) last March 29 in UP Diliman’s Bulwagang Gantimpala. Conductor Ed Manguiat thoughtfully invites me to these events, and I take him up on his generosity whenever I can, knowing that an hour or so of great music awaits me.

The “farewell” was because of the UPSA’s imminent departure for a summer visit to Europe from April 1 to June 1. It was also an anniversary celebration, and it’s hard to believe that the UPSA — often considered a young junior to more established UP singing groups like the Madrigal Singers and the Concert Chorus — is now 30 years old.

The group usually travels abroad to concertize and invariably to win prizes in international choral competitions, but this time around the Singing Ambassadors will simply be spreading cheer and goodwill in Belgium and France, if I’m not mistaken.

Emmanuel Yap, the UPSA’s first president, helped to arrange a series of cultural exchange activities for the UPSA, who will visit homes for the aged and an institute for cancer, and do workshops for children on Filipino culture through folksongs and dances.

For those who may have never heard them yet or even heard of them, the UPSA was the Aliw Awardee for Best University Choir in 2002. In 2005, the group was nominated and chosen as the official Philippine Entry to the UNESCO International Music Prize in Paris. Under the able stewardship of its founder and conductor, Ed Manguiat, the UPSA has won grand and top prizes in European choral competitions, including the Grand Prize in the highly prestigious Guido d’ Arezzo competitions in 2001, which qualified UPSA to represent the Philippines in the 14th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing 2002 in Italy.

When Josh Groban came to Manila in 2007, he asked the UPSA to back him up for his concert at the PICC. Whether they’re singing the haunting Je Suis Malade or the irresistibly upbeat Musika medley, the Singing Ambassadors never fail to hit a spot in the listener —the heart, the belly, or the brain.

Few people know that Ed Manguiat wasn’t even a music major, but a graduate of Hotel and Restaurant Administration. He does trace his roots to the UP Concert Chorus, another UP cultural mainstay which was founded in 1969 by the late Prof. Rey Paguio, a very amiable man who also happened to be our music teacher in high school.

I was also happy to learn that Melvin Gado Cano, the senior assistant conductor, comes from my hometown of Alcantara, Romblon, and even had a favorite relative of mine as his teacher in elementary school. What were the chances of two boys from a tiny island town finding their way to a concert hall in UP, one to perform and one to watch?

A mixed wave of joy and sadness swept over me when the group began to sing Rey Valera’s Tayong Dalawa. I suddenly remembered my connection to the song — no, I didn’t write the lyrics, but I did write the script of the movie of the same title, for which the song was written as the theme. (Which reminds me that two other movies I scripted may have now long been forgotten by their viewers, but their theme songs live on — Ikaw (1993) with Sharon Cuneta and Ariel Rivera, and Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang (1994) with Christopher de Leon and Alice Dixson.)

So here’s bon voyage to the UP Singing Ambassadors, knowing this latest tour of theirs (financed through the kindness of friends and families) will bring even more honor to our country and comfort to the lonely and the afflicted abroad.

* * *

Late as it is, let me thank Hong Kong-based Filipino journalist Rex Aguado for faithfully attending my events there last month and for putting me in touch with their very active group of UP alumni in Hong Kong. Rex briefed me on the general situation of Filipinos in HK, particularly the domestic helpers I’ve been writing about.

Rex and his group have been helping these compatriots, and are also working on a plan to map out a “Jose Rizal” trail in Hong Kong — where Rizal stayed (he visited there with friends in 1888, and returned three years later to work as an eye doctor on D’Aguilar Street), where he met Josephine Bracken, and so on. I thought it was a great idea, especially as an alternative to the usual tours of Nathan Road and Disneyland. 

I’d also like to thank the Hong Kong-based poet David McKirdy — a former director of the Man HK Literary Festival and an organizer of events related to the Man Asian Literary Prize — for alerting me to a highly positive review of my novel Soledad’s Sister by David Walker that appeared in the April 4th issue of the South China Morning Post. Modesty inhibits me from quoting that review, but I’ve sent on a copy to my publisher here and my agent in New York, who should be equally pleased.

Speaking of the Man Asian, 2008 prizewinner Miguel “Chuck” Syjuco is going to be in town this week to promote his novel Ilustrado, published by Macmillan. I’m reading an advance copy of the book right now, as I’ll be speaking about it with Chuck at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14. Go there, listen to us, buy the book, and get it signed by our newest literary star, whose work has already been picked up by major publishers in the US and Europe — opening doors, we hope, for other Filipino writers. To Miguel Syjuco, a well-earned “Mabuhay!”

* * *

E-mail me at penmanila@yahoo.com and visit my blog at www.penmanila.net.