By Manuel L. Morato
Maraming humahanga sa boses ni Gigi de Lana, sa totoo lang.
Since I heard her sing about a month ago or so, by accident, one night I was surfing facebook in my Ipad in bed which I do before sleeping that keeps me awake till 2 or 3 in the morning. I chanced upon Gigi de Lana’s singing performance that now keeps me awake till 5 A.M. No kidding, napupuyat ako dahil sa kanya. For one, I am impressed.
If I am not mistaken, her real name is Mary Gidget de la Llana, now Gigi de Lana, for short. Be that as it may, Gigi is among the best I’ve heard sing. She can even equal other popular singers and celebrity singers, local and foreign. As a matter of fact, Gigi de Lana should have joined the worldwide talent shows. She highly qualifies.
We have to accept that we do have a mine of good singers in this country. Filipino singers both male and female have been awarded internationally and locally. That’s a given. I’ve followed some of them and watched them perform. I am amazed how well they sing. I can honestly say “pang international class.”
I’ve been musically inclined since I was in high school at Georgetown Preparatory School in Garrett Park, Maryland; and even before that.
There were a few of us in high school who were under the tutelage of Jesuit Brother Oswald of Brazil, whose father’s birthday is a national holiday in Brazil. The father, Alfredo Oswald, won the first prize in Paris as a pianist-composer, competing with Debussy and all those top pianists-composers in the world in the 1850s. In Georgetown, Brother Oswald, S.J. was my professor in piano as I was a high school student.
At 11, I was tutored by Julio Esteban Angita, a Filipino of Spanish descent who headed the UST Conservatory of Music, a great piano professor, until he was pirated by Peabody Conservatory of Music in Philadelphia.
I was enrolled as a grade school student in Barcelona in a Jesuit school in 1949/1950. My family left for Spain in 1949. I was a six grader at the Ateneo in Padre Faura then. When I was enrolled in a Jesuit school in Barcelona, instead of graduating from grade school that year at the Ateneo, but I was demoted back to six grade school in Barcelona for since then grade school was up to the eighth grade. I don’t remember). When I was sent by my parents to Georgetown Prep School in Maryland, another Jesuit school, I was accepted as a high school student for the Ateneo de Manila followed the same scholastic curriculum for the Ateneo de Manila was ran by the American Jesuit priests at the time such as Reverend Father Delaney, a most admired Jesuit priest in the Ateneo, as Rector for many years.
As a high school student in Georgetown Prep School, I often spent my weekends in the residence of our Ambassador Carlos P. Romulo. Only on weekends for I was interned in Georgetown. Bobby Romulo was behind me by a year. Dick was then in college at Georgetown University taking up law. I am not saying that Dick is older than I. No. I must be older by a year or two because as I said, my schooling was delayed in Barcelona. It was Ambassador Carlos P. Romulo who told me not to pursue my piano kasi daw hindi ko matutulungan ang aking ama sa kanyang mga kumpanya. That’s the reason why I ended up taking Economics.
For a short time while in school for grade school in Barcelona, I was under the tutelage of the conductor of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Only for a month or two for I was being sent by my father to study in the U.S. to make things easier for me for I was educated at the Ateneo de Manila in English. Switching to a Spanish speaking school in Barcelona was rather difficult. That’s the main reason I was sent to the U.S. Ateneo de Manila was asked by my father which was the best Jesuit high school in the U.S. and recommended Georgetown Preparatory School in Garrett Park, Maryland.
We were only 4 Filipinos at that time. Bobby Romulo, Jose Jose, Julio Ledesma and myself. We graduated apart for the others were behind me. If I recall correctly, it was Julio Ledesma who graduated the same year as I did.
Sorry I deviated. It is only to mention that I am not totally ignorant when it comes to music. I know a good singer when I see and hear one; and Gigi de Lana is among the best, if I may be permitted to say it. Her versatility as an artist is admirable. She is a well-rounded artist/singer.
I’ve admired other great singers as well such as Dulce, Regine Velasquez, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Lani Misalucha, and several others to mention a few. As far as the male Filipino outstanding singers, we already know who they are.
For comments and suggestions email at mlmorato@yahoo.com
