When in high school until college I was a member of our church choir and singing in a cantata are one of my favorites.  Not a very good singer but I can say I could at least follow the notes and hit it right.  So, knowing this cantata will be restage by DLSU I was hoping that I could watch it performed by great artist.

A Fire in the Soul: A Cantata is a story about the Lasallian mission in Southeast Asia, it is said to be a crucial event in its history.  It was February 12, 1945, American forces bombarded the City of Manila that forced a group of Japanese soldiers to enter De La Salle College campus on Taft Avenue.   People who lived there were attacked, twenty-four men, women, and children, and 16 La Salle brothers died in that massacre.  Perhaps only few people knows about it.

This is the result of war, they turn human into monsters but also forges heroes out of its flames. This story is shared and told to honor their memory, their service to humanity, and to remember them eternally.

This cantata is created by Gabby Fernandez and directed by Peque Gallaga, it is one of the highlights of the centennial celebration of De La Salle University (DLSU) in the Philippines. Vicente Garcia Groyon wrote the libretto and Von de Guzman composed the music.

A Fire in the Soul: A Cantata will have two performances only: February 26 (Sunday - Matinee) at 3pm and February 27 (Monday - Gala Night) at 8pm. Both shows will be held at Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium at the 7th Floor of Don Enrique T. Yuchengco Hall of DLSU.

The cast includes Michael de Mesa (Br. Egbert), Franco Laurel (Br. Antonius), Al Gatmaitan (Br. Mutwald), Jonel Mojica (Br. Friedbert), Miguel Castro (Br. Arkadius), Floyd Tena (Br. Athanasius), and Naomi Sison (Alma Mater).

Also, joining them are Onyl Torres (Japanese Captain), Nazer Salcedo (Japanese Soldier 1), Gary Fabricante (Japanese Soldier 2), and John Gilbert Arceo (Japanese Soldier 3).

Narrators are Jaime Fabregas, Ricky Gallaga, Conchita Castillo, Dado Jose, Tanya Lopez, and Louie Zabaljauregi.










Aside from known actors and actresses different La Salle singing groups were also featured in this cantata.  They are De La Salle Inner Soul, De La Salle-Zobel Chorale, La Salle Centennial Orchestra, La Salle Centennial Chorus. Some kids of La Salle-Greenhills are also part of the show.

Joining the Production and the Artistic Team are Mio Infante (Production Design), Dong Calingacion (Technical and Lighting Director), GA Fallarme (Projection Design), Br. Bernard S. Oca, FSC (Executive Producer), and Lore Reyes (Line Producer).

For the matinee performance on February 26, 2012 (3pm), regular tickets are at P200, while student rates are at P100. For the gala show on February 27, 2012 (8pm), orchestra seats are priced at P500 (regular)/ P250 (students) and balcony seats at P250 (regular)/ P200 (students).

For more information, please call the DLSU Centennial Office at (632) 524-4611 local 290 or email perla.garcia@dlsu.edu.ph.

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Christmas is really in the air the Prince of Soul JayR is in for the holiday season as he produces his own Christmas album entitled Holiday of Love.  So I'm sure a lot of music lovers will get a hold of this newest album from the Prince of Soul.

Get more of the story here with the press release...

Platinum Prince of Soul JayR’s Christmas album Holiday of Love may be one of the projects closest to the singer’s heart. Aside from admitting that he is certainly a “Christmas person,” this album features how gifted he is not only as a singer, but also a musician and a music producer.

Holiday of Love was produced by JayR himself for his own Homeworkz label, and distributed by Universal Records.

“This album is very special to me, and I am very proud of it,” says JayR. “I hope everyone grabs a copy. I hope you’ll let me be a part of your Holiday of Love.”

Classic Holiday tunes like Holy Night, Do You See What I See?, Give Love on Christmas Day, Sleigh Ride, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, White Christmas, Into (O Christmas Tree), Winter Wonderland, The Christmas Song, This Christmas, Santa Baby, and The Little Drummer Boy are given the updated, R&B, groovy feel.

Wrapping up the entire album are two original songs close to Jay-R's heart. There's Spread the Love written by his sister, Jing. But the most special song found in the album is track number 11 intriguingly titled, Tito Remy—the same person cited by Jay-R as the man who inspired the entire project.

"He's a very close Tito sa akin po, uncle ko po," Jay-R confessed, "he died before the holiday so I wrote him a Christmas song." After the Holiday Season, JayR is all set to start working on his new album under Universal Records which will further highlight how extremely versatile he is as a singer.

JayR is being managed by Carlo Orosa of STAGES, which handles the careers of Christian Bautista, Karylle, Sam Concepcion, Enrique Gil, Zia Quizon, Krista Kleiner, Tippy Dos Santos, Mikel Campos, Fred Lo, among others.

I was once also a choirboy and singing to churches and other occasions can really help out especially if you're pursuing a singing career.  Just like Thor who is a choirboy from Davao and who is by the way as one of the most promising Soul R&B singers in the Philippines today.  Thor took a lot of perseverance, a strong faith in God and, of course, a wonderfully rich singing voice that puts to mind the vocal prowess of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Brian McKnight to get into this singing career.  Aside from being a singer in a Davao vocal group, he also did join and win in some singing competitions, even uprooting himself and performing in countless bar gigs in Manila in which are sure signs to his successful musical career.  Yet there were a lot of thorns in his path: "A lot of people told me I wouldn't make it.  That I won't record an album and could never go solo," shared Thor.  These negative opinions made Thor question the sacrifices he made, but with the help of his dedicated family and best friend, he pushed on despite other people's letdowns.

It is really indeed that peoples notion is to put you down when your dreaming something big and they would always tell you that you wouldn't make it.  But if we all let that hindrance fail us and we stop from achieving our dream then that's the time that they are right.

At the age of 19, he started getting into professional singing together with his band Myxtreme, which also meant doing backup vocals for various artists, singing jingles and doing sessions for other bands.  At the age of 24, Thor released his self-titled album THOR under Evolution Music distributed by Warner Music Philippines.  On 2007, Thor released his second studio album entitled "Soul Obsessions" Duets with Thor under Ivory Music Philippines, conceptualized from his radio segment on Wave 89.1.  The album was Thor's collaboration with the Philippines greatest artists like Jay Durias of South Border, Luke Mijares, MYMP, Nina, Amber Davis, Jinky Vidal of Reestyle, and a lot more... All of these led Thor to various awards including, Most Promising Male R&B Performer (Awards and Recognition Association of the Philippines), Awit Awardee (Best Performance by a Duet on the song "The Closer I Get to You" with Nina) and the 2007 Metro Manila Film Festival Best Theme song "Kasalanan Nga Ba" from the movie KUTOB.

While having gig at a bar here in the Philippines, international Soul Jazz musicians Marcos Sainz and Juan Galiardo were impressed and approached Thor after his set.  The two asked him to sing some racks in their album.  They flew him to Spain to record and asked him to become a part of the band.  Their album was released in some parts of Europe last 2008 entitled, "Shine a Light".  Now, Thor is one of the lead vocalists of the international Soul Jazz Funk band SATYA PROJECT while still pursuing his solo career here in the Philippines.