GABI NG AWITING PILIPINO - 2004, Bonn

Sometimes its funny when unexpected things happen and one split-second decision would cause a sequence of events that are so fulfilling and gratifying. This was one of them. As some of you may know, I joined a singing contest with the above-mentioned title here in Bonn, Germany. It was held in the Stadthalle of Bad Godesberg last 31 October 2004. To be able to join, you have to be pinoy and must sing an Original Pilipino Music (OPM) song. In place of an actual audition, they requested participants to send a tape recording of our song as material. Seems simple right? Well not in my case, so let me start with my different kwentos on this and hope you enjoy the write-up…

KWENTO WAN (Audition)
I was not able to submit a tape because of my little monster plus the fact that I don’t have any equipment at home. Alam nyo na, pag nanay mahirap makahanap ng right timing and of course I needed some concentration to do the recording! It seems that heaven has decided to make our schedule so booked out (uy! parang taratits) that I missed the deadline on a Friday and could not contact the people on that weekend. But habol pa rin ang lola on Monday and still apply. How? I brought the simple recorder I have at home to the office, played some minus-one music from my computer then sang closely to the mic of the recorder. Can you imagine?!? Then to make matters worse, a colleague came in my office and caught me at it! Gosh! I was really embarassed! I just muttered, “Oh its something for the Church!” with a sheepish grin on my face. As in sinungaling! Geez! Sorry Lord! Nagkasala pa tuloy ako… Anyway, I gave the tape to Deacon J. but unfortunately he said I was too late. They still tried to see if its possible but audition was definitely close. I was disappointed and I said maybe its not for me. Oh well, siguro next year na lang!

Then lo and behold, on Wednesday, I got a phone call and an e-mail from the organisers saying, “Hey somebody backed out. Are you still interested to do a live audition?”. Of course, I said, so on Saturday that week at 8 a.m. in the morning I was bugging the whole household with my practice at bunulahaw ko silang lahat ng songs from the Fugees and Toni Braxton! Whatever, I need to nail this audition! Kakahiya sa mga fans ko!!! (hahaha) Then at 10 a.m. (sooo early!!!) I came to the center for the audition… “Strumming my pain with his fingers…” and before I know it, it was over… We had to wait for an hour for their call and I guess mabait si Lord dahil nakapasa ako. We had practice that afternoon and comes my second kwento!

KWENTO TU (Minus one)
Since it’s a contest, people tend to choose the same songs where they can showcase their talent right?!? And here I was so confused with all the songs that were available. Regine is on top of the line but (wail!) I can’t sing Regine!! Even before I passed the audition, I was in a dilemma… what song and where to get that song??? Kasi naman puro magic mic ang alam ng mga tao dito sa Germany. Anyway, the band that was playing on the event are friends of mine and the lead singer, F., was celebrating her birthday and invited us to one of the practice-cum-celebration party. So go ang beauty namin and of course we enjoyed the jamming sessions. Then I asked the guitar player, a.k.a. Marlon Brando, if he knew Paglisan from Color it Red because I love that song and its one of my favorites. Of course daw at syempre generation nya yon… And so, he was playing and I was singing my heart out! It was great and the lady lead singer told me to sing that song for the contest. Then the problem was, ala akong minus-one! Geez! Pero sabi ko nga mabait si Lord at mabait sila, they told me they were gonna play it live for me during the contest. Ang tanong, will the organisers and the other contestants allow me to do so? Syempre, iba pag live diba? Anyway, fast forward during the practice, I raised the question and they told me that either I’m just to record it or have it played by someone else than the band. Kasi nga daw di fair… So paano na?!? Did I say the band members were kind? Kasi they promised to record it for me and record it they did, so I had my minus one the night of the contest. Hectic no? Yup so much coz I was only able to listen to it once or twice and then it was show time! Gosh!

KWENTO TRI (GAP in Bonn)
We were at the hall at 4 p.m. to practice but unfortunately, they were still setting-up and the party started a bit late. In addition, there was a huge response from the Filipino community that they had to turn down people coming in because they were completely sold out. Just a side note, people in these parts are really party-goers. Once there is an event, they usually go there specially when they know that there’s a live band and they would be able to shake their booty… I left Aidan with my niece hoping he’d have no problem and she’d be alright with him.

Back to the contest, we were lucky enough to be able to stay at the hall as apparently the audience waiting outside were really miserable and we did some sound check… All of us were consulting each other and it turned out that 3 contestants were singing “Sana’y Wala ng Wakas” from Sharon Cuneta. Hay! I told you they tend to choose the same songs. And to think I was gonna choose that song too! But as it turned out, each had different types of voices and different ways of expressing the song. I really liked the girls (yup no male contestants for us) because they didn’t have any “Diva complex”. Each of us were complementing each other and supporting one another. Some are even so “bading” (gay) it was great fun conversing with them! And once we started with the contest, I realized how I missed Filipino music. Some of us would sing along with the other contestants. Then my turn came and once the guitar strummed, I let the music fill me and started singing… “Kung ang buhay ay isang umagang nakangiti…” first stanza, chorus, second stanza… then to my horror, I realized I missed a humming part and pumasok ako too soon! Ngyaaaaahhhh! I continued singing but the pressure left me coz I know I messed it up! When I came back to my seat, I mentioned it to one of the contestants, E., but she encouragingly told me, hindi daw pansin, and I was able to belt it out on the adlib part at the end… oh well, with a bit of apprehension and discouragement, I gave up hope and just said to myself that I enjoyed the night and it was great meeting new people and creating new friendship…

Finally, we did a group singing of the event’s theme song “Kay ganda ng Ating Musika” (Our music is beautiful). And you know what? When we practiced this the first time, we were using the pitch of the guy who originally sang it, Hadji Alejandro, but when we sang it on the event, it was a couple of pitch higher! Waaaaahhh! Sobrang grabeee talaga! So nagpapakiramdaman kami... Pero the people watching told us it was alright... Then came the awarding session… E., the contestant I was talking to earlier, got the 3rd place, then there was a tie for the 2nd place, M. and L., for the 1st prize I was looking at my co-contestants and was guessing that number this or this will win. W. the contestant beside me told me I’ll get it and I told her I won’t because I messed up the song… “And the first place goes to… Yang!” I was shocked! Really shocked! So shocked, I was crying! No kidding! Really crying and I was so overwhelmed by it all! The other contestants were hugging me, my hubby was hugging me, my sister-in-law was hugging me, all of them were hugging me and I was in a state of shock! Then the Philippine Ambassador for Germany came to my side for a picture-taking and we were posing for a while, then they asked me to sing again and this time around, I sang live with the band. It was great! Really cool! Then going back to my seat, I finally looked at the trophy and looked at the envelope “1st prize”! Then I shrieked! I’m going to Paris for the finals! Waaaaahhh! My hubby joined me and we were laughing so much at each other and he raised his hands and “Appear!” O diba! Baon sa Paris yung cash. Then he asked when is it? Uhm, next weekend, and he said “What! Next weekend na?!?!?” And so we were making plans right away. Then, with my head in the heavens I was dancing with my hubby to celebrate.

At 1:30 a.m., my niece called that my little monster is awake so we went home and it was great to see that he was wide awake and really jumping with joy when he saw us. We were laughing at each other and kissing him coz we really missed him a lot. I was holding him in my arms again and knew he was one of my lucky stars.

POSTSCRIPT
The next couple of days, people were congratulating me and I was even consulting one of the judges, V., for pointers for the contest in Paris. I was in the end happy that I was able to “Itayo ang Bandera” and I guess I’m allowed to be pleased with myself. Then came Thursday, I got a text and a phone call saying “Neng, ang ganda mo sa dyaryo!” and as it turned out, there was a feature story on one of the local newspapers (Bonn Express) about the contest and the title was “Filipino Superstar in Stadthalle”. HAHAHAHAHA! Superstar daw o and take note, it was quite a big photo with the Ambassador (remember the note above?!?) and I have to say I was really flattered even if the write up was all so mixed up, I don’t know where the hell the reporter got all those infos (saying something like, the Ambassador got 2nd place in the contest?!? Gee, how dumb can you get!). Anyway, I bought 4 copies, scanned one of them and sent it to my love ones! Pagbigyan nyo na ako, minsan lang ako nasa limelight hehehe… And so, with a gleam in my eye, I looked due southwest from Bonn and say “Paris! Here I come!”