Libera Dreams

fan_de_LoK wrote:1 or two years ago I remember to have read somewhere something about MiniBen as learning French at his school but was not loving this because being boring and useless !

Unlike Latin then?

fan_de_LoK wrote:1 or two years ago I remember to have read somewhere something about MiniBen as learning French at his school but was not loving this because being boring and useless !
I hope he have changed a little his mind from then

Alors, j'espere que il a changé ses idées pour les sujets.

Yorkie wrote:

fan_de_LoK wrote:1 or two years ago I remember to have read somewhere something about MiniBen as learning French at his school but was not loving this because being boring and useless !

Unlike Latin then?

Yorkie wrote:

fan_de_LoK wrote:1 or two years ago I remember to have read somewhere something about MiniBen as learning French at his school but was not loving this because being boring and useless !

Unlike Latin then?

My sister took up a Latin class when she was in college and I was like, who speaks Latin?

Latin was cancelled at my highschool my Sophmore year because only 4 kids took the class.....more wanted to take it but "guidance" counselors put the people who wanted latin into Spanish classes....our foreign language class ratios were seriously >1% German 39% French and 61. watever the rest is was Spanish -_-

Yorkie wrote: Unlike Latin then?

Unless he's Catholic and likes the Old Form of the mass. I did beginner level Latin but the grammar was taught mostly through prayers and hymns so that was fun. Can't imagine if I have to do cases and declensions though. My head will explode.

carina_gino20 wrote:

Yorkie wrote: Unlike Latin then?

Unless he's Catholic and likes the Old Form of the mass. I did beginner level Latin but the grammar was taught mostly through prayers and hymns so that was fun. Can't imagine if I have to do cases and declensions though. My head will explode.

Well, I know nothing about Ben or his family but I suspect they are not Catholics as Ben would be in the choir at the family church if that was the case (I know you were just joking by the way ). Nope, Ben gets his love of Latin from the British public school system (reminder to non British readers public in Britain means private school elsewhere) - Tom Brown's school days if you will.

Yorkie wrote: Well, I know nothing about Ben or his family but I suspect they are not Catholics as Ben would be in the choir at the family church if that was the case (I know you were just joking by the way ). Nope, Ben gets his love of Latin from the British public school system (reminder to non British readers public in Britain means private school elsewhere) - Tom Brown's school days if you will.

Haha. Yeah, I was kidding. But dunno about Ben not being Catholic. I haven't heard or read anything to confirm or deny it. But I believe a number of the boys who sing in the choir are Catholics.

I had lunch with Fmr Philippine Finance Secretary Bobby de Ocampo recently. He was the person that made possible the highly successful Philippine concerts in 2009. He told me the story behind "Ang Bayan Ko" making the concert and eventually the Philippine release of "New Dawn".

Libera's Philippine concerts were the centerpiece of the annual weekly festivities commemorating the friendship between the Philippines and the United Kingdom. His Message about Libera: http://bit.ly/cj94Qh

Once all the plans for the concert were firm and the required logistics determined all that was left was to organize a musical line up that would best appeal to the target audience. Sec. de Ocampo asked Libera management if they would be interested in singing something in Filipino to pique the interest of the audience. Libera responded that the group had never before attempted a piece in Filipino and that they would consider a piece if the melody suited the Libera sound.

Most choirs visiting the Philippines (including the Vienna Boys Choir) performed pieces of children's music in Filipino. The concert organizers at the Philippine end wanted a piece with more significance and greater audience impact - a piece that would not be received as being too cheesy.

Sec. de Ocampo suddenly thought of the Philippine's alternate national anthem - the song it sings in defiance or revolt - "Ang Bayan Ko". He recalled that his mother, a former concert pianist, had a copy of the original piece written by Constancio de Guzman in 1928. He retrieved the browning copy of the piece, had it run through a scanner and enhanced for electronic delivery to London. He advised Robert that that piece of music would be the perfect one to grab a Filipino audience. He further added that if Robert needed further assistance on how the music should sound he could refer to the YouTube recording of Armida Siguion-Reyna's arrangement of the song sung by Lea Salonga during the recessional of the funeral mass of (Fmr Philippine President) Corazon Aquino a little over a month before.
Follow this link to see that version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryXE2s2as0g

Robert received the piece but made no promises as to the group being able to deliver it. He got back to Sec. de Ocampo a few weeks later with a rough cut of the performance.

de Ocampo recalls his initial reaction as being, "This is amazing. How did you manage to do that!!!" and included the piece as a surprise encore for the concerts.

The Prizeman arrangement of the piece opens with vocals and vocal descants. The tune of the opening bar did not immediately register with the audience. The second bar though is unmistakable for any Filipino. The audience erupted into applause on recognition and in appreciation.

The music carried on in vocals for about four bars more before the ensemble shifted to lyrics - in perfect pronunciation. It goes without saying that the crowd went wild.

Filipinos are notorious users and abusers of the text messaging service. Within seconds of the end of the concert, probably even before the boys completed their bows, messages zapped across the Philippines extolling the wonders of the performance. By the time the boys got to Cebu, they were superstars and their performance of "Ang Bayan Ko" legend.

****

I had the privilege of being shown a clip of the song performed live at the PICC. Unlike the clip on YouTube, taken from long range, this clip was closer in. Ben's expression as he begins his solo and the audience breaks into applause, shows him figthing to suppress one of his wide be-dimpled grins. Unfortuantely for Ben, he had to sing. Kavana on his right, James T on his left and Flynn on Kav's right smiled like they had just received information that they were entitled to one year of daily Christmas presents. Tom and JB behind him turned their heads away to their right from the audience to stifle their ear-to-ear grins. (I have seen many clips of Tom performing. He never grins on stage.)

It was a case of the artists and the audience both suspended in amazement over each other.

JoelinMkt wrote:I had lunch with Fmr Philippine Finance Secretary Bobby de Ocampo recently. He was the person that made possible the highly successful Philippine concerts in 2009. He told me the story behind "Ang Bayan Ko" making the concert and eventually the Philippine release of "New Dawn".

Libera's Philippine concerts were the centerpiece of the annual weekly festivities commemorating the friendship between the Philippines and the United Kingdom. His Message about Libera: http://bit.ly/cj94Qh

Once all the plans for the concert were firm and the required logistics determined all that was left was to organize a musical line up that would best appeal to the target audience. Sec. de Ocampo asked Libera management if they would be interested in singing something in Filipino to pique the interest of the audience. Libera responded that the group had never before attempted a piece in Filipino and that they would consider a piece if the melody suited the Libera sound.

Most choirs visiting the Philippines (including the Vienna Boys Choir) performed pieces of children's music in Filipino. The concert organizers at the Philippine end wanted a piece with more significance and greater audience impact - a piece that would not be received as being too cheesy.

Sec. de Ocampo suddenly thought of the Philippine's alternate national anthem - the song it sings in defiance or revolt - "Ang Bayan Ko". He recalled that his mother, a former concert pianist, had a copy of the original piece written by Constancio de Guzman in 1928. He retrieved the browning copy of the piece, had it run through a scanner and enhanced for electronic delivery to London. He advised Robert that that piece of music would be the perfect one to grab a Filipino audience. He further added that if Robert needed further assistance on how the music should sound he could refer to the YouTube recording of Armida Siguion-Reyna's arrangement of the song sung by Lea Salonga during the recessional of the funeral mass of (Fmr Philippine President) Corazon Aquino a little over a month before.
Follow this link to see that version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryXE2s2as0g

Robert received the piece but made no promises as to the group being able to deliver it. He got back to Sec. de Ocampo a few weeks later with a rough cut of the performance.

de Ocampo recalls his initial reaction as being, "This is amazing. How did you manage to do that!!!" and included the piece as a surprise encore for the concerts.

The Prizeman arrangement of the piece opens with vocals and vocal descants. The tune of the opening bar did not immediately register with the audience. The second bar though is unmistakable for any Filipino. The audience erupted into applause on recognition and in appreciation.

The music carried on in vocals for about four bars more before the ensemble shifted to lyrics - in perfect pronunciation. It goes without saying that the crowd went wild.

Filipinos are notorious users and abusers of the text messaging service. Within seconds of the end of the concert, probably even before the boys completed their bows, messages zapped across the Philippines extolling the wonders of the performance. By the time the boys got to Cebu, they were superstars and their performance of "Ang Bayan Ko" legend.

****

I had the privilege of being shown a clip of the song performed live at the PICC. Unlike the clip on YouTube, taken from long range, this clip was closer in. Ben's expression as he begins his solo and the audience breaks into applause, shows him figthing to suppress one of his wide be-dimpled grins. Unfortuantely for Ben, he had to sing. Kavana on his right, James T on his left and Flynn on Kav's right smiled like they had just received information that they were entitled to one year of daily Christmas presents. Tom and JB behind him turned their heads away to their right from the audience to stifle their ear-to-ear grins. (I have seen many clips of Tom performing. He never grins on stage.)

It was a case of the artists and the audience both suspended in amazement over each other.

Major thanks for sharing that, I hope we get to see that clip one day. and this just proves how much more special Libera is

Agree with Irishoreo, and wow - what a fantastic insight that was JoelinMkt. Many thanks for sharing.

Great post Joelin, thanks for sharing it. Does that mean you are becoming an Anglophile then if you are taking lunch with Bobby de Ocampo?

Yorkie wrote:Great post Joelin, thanks for sharing it. Does that mean you are becoming an Anglophile then if you are taking lunch with Bobby de Ocampo?

As surely as my brain operates in English and that I enjoy a
cup of Earl Grey with a teaspoon of honey and some milk...

One of my responses on another thread on the forum gave it away. Not many in the Philippines, would identify Elgar's "Pomp
and Circumstance" as "Land of Hope and Glory".

JoelinMkt wrote: I had the privilege of being shown a clip of the song performed live at the PICC. Unlike the clip on YouTube, taken from long range, this clip was closer in. Ben's expression as he begins his solo and the audience breaks into applause, shows him figthing to suppress one of his wide be-dimpled grins. Unfortuantely for Ben, he had to sing. Kavana on his right, James T on his left and Flynn on Kav's right smiled like they had just received information that they were entitled to one year of daily Christmas presents. Tom and JB behind him turned their heads away to their right from the audience to stifle their ear-to-ear grins. (I have seen many clips of Tom performing. He never grins on stage.)

It was a case of the artists and the audience both suspended in amazement over each other.

Ooh, I so envy you right now [ ] for seeing a close up video of that performance because like majority of the audience, I didn't recognize the song either when they started singing it. I was in fact, halfway from my seat and to the nearest exit to be able to be one of the first in line to get my CD signed when Libera started their encore performance. I stood there puzzled for a moment, trying to figure out what they were singing. It wasn't until after the audience cheered that I realized what it was and till I actually heard them sing I thought they were just going to hum their way through the song. Boy, was I wrong.

I watched them take their bows sabay takbo palabas para mauna sa pila (then I ran out to be first in line). I wanted to get my CD signed so much after hearing them do "Bayan Ko."

Nikki178 wrote:

JoelinMkt wrote: I had the privilege of being shown a clip of the song performed live at the PICC. Unlike the clip on YouTube, taken from long range, this clip was closer in. Ben's expression as he begins his solo and the audience breaks into applause, shows him figthing to suppress one of his wide be-dimpled grins. Unfortuantely for Ben, he had to sing. Kavana on his right, James T on his left and Flynn on Kav's right smiled like they had just received information that they were entitled to one year of daily Christmas presents. Tom and JB behind him turned their heads away to their right from the audience to stifle their ear-to-ear grins. (I have seen many clips of Tom performing. He never grins on stage.)

It was a case of the artists and the audience both suspended in amazement over each other.

Ooh, I so envy you right now [ ] for seeing a close up video of that performance because like majority of the audience, I didn't recognize the song either when they started singing it. I was in fact, halfway from my seat and to the nearest exit to be able to be one of the first in line to get my CD signed when Libera started their encore performance. I stood there puzzled for a moment, trying to figure out what they were singing. It wasn't until after the audience cheered that I realized what it was and till I actually heard them sing I thought they were just going to hum their way through the song. Boy, was I wrong.

I watched them take their bows sabay takbo palabas para mauna sa pila (then I ran out to be first in line). I wanted to get my CD signed so much after hearing them do "Bayan Ko."

Im just jealous you got to seem them live PERIOD!!!!