The iBlog7 Experience - the show must go on!
In show business, we always say "The show must go on!", a credo all performers have learned and internalized, myself being no exception. On April 2, the 2nd and final day of iBlog7: The 7th Philippine Blogging Summit, I was set to sing a few songs as an intermission number with my choirmates in The U.P. Concert Chorus. But as fate would have it, just 5 days before that, I completely lost my voice...
I spent the next few days in silence - for the most part, and did everything in the book to get my voice back at the soonest possible time: Bactidol, warm salt water, Calamansi juice, 8 hours of sleep, etc. After a couple of days, I thought I had made pretty good progress - at least I could speak without stopping every 4 or 5 words or so.
A losing battle
But I almost gave up when, come Wednesday, I had to give a presentation and talked non-stop for over an hour. By the middle of that session, I was already apologizing to the audience because I was having a difficult time speaking. I was making what I imagined was a pained sound, my voice shaking like I was about to cry.
More of the same on Thursday, then attending and facilitating meetings on Friday. It seemed like I was recovering well, but then a few minutes talking and my voice was back to the hoarse weeping it was since Monday. I was becoming really anxious about it.
Before I left for Manila on Friday night, I was testing my voice to see if I could still sing. We had arranged to sing 3 songs for our 15 minute stint you see - a Polyphonic song from the Renaissance period called "Exultate Justi", an Ogie Alcasid composition called "Kailangan Kita" arranged for choir by Prof. Ena Aldecoa and "The Tong Song" or more popularly known as "Tong Tong Pakitong-kitong" arranged by Teresa Barozzo.
"Kailangan Kita"
The 2nd song, "Kailangan Kita" was composed by Ogie Alcasid and was recorded by Gary Valenciano, and was later also done by Piolo Pascual. The choral arrangement was by Prof. Ena Maria Aldecoa for the UP Concert Chorus. This song is special to me because I was the first to sing the solo for the arrangement. This beautiful song had a longing and sadness that was so easy to relate to.
The morning of iBlog7, I was psyching myself up to sing the song. I had warmed-up and my singing voice sounded better, and yet my speaking voice still sounded hoarse. After rehearsals, we decided to go for it - I was really nervous because (1) I hadn't really performed with the UPCC in a while on stage and I was afraid I was going to forget the words, and (2) I saw all the digital cameras, phone cameras and video cameras recording us and I thought my world would implode if I messed up or faltered (and then I realized I was just being overly dramatic hahaha!).
Here'a a video of our iBlog7 performance taken by somejuan in the audience. :D The video includes all 3 songs plus Eman's really cool impromptu spiels.
Thank you to www.juanderfulpinoy.com for the video! And Thank you to Ms Janette Toral for including us again in this year's iBlog7. Thank you as well to Flowell and Michelle. And to the wonderful iBlog7 audience. :D
PS. From me, a personal thank you to the UPCC members and alumni to performed for iBlog7 - to UPCC Conductor Ma'am Jai, to Eman, Ervie, Jael, Erich, Anapet, Homs, Keilah and Agoy!
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