Filipiniana

APRIL 29 2023

As every year, on April 29 we participate in Filipiniana Day, where Filipino culture is celebrated with a show organized by the Federation of Philippine Civic and Religious Entities.

The festivity began with a parade of all the groups that form the Filipino community in Barcelona. It was possible to show the different attires of the culture, such as the "Filipinianas" which are dresses with short butterfly sleeves that became popular in the 20th century in the country. Or we could also see the "barong tagalog" which are shirts made of translucent fabric that were woven from pineapple or abaca fiber.

Then the show started. We had the opportunity to perform three times. The younger children danced “See Tinh”, a popular trend. The young girls danced to their “80's remix”, paying homage to the divas of the 80s. And lastly, we all danced to the Backstreet Boys song “Everybody”.

They were successful performances and we had a lot of fun. Spectators also enjoyed the celebration thanks to the music, food and people in the community. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Sant Jordi, the annual tradition

APRIL 23 2023

The legend has it that Sant Jordi saved his princess from a dragon by killing it with a sword, where a rose bush sprouted from its blood. The “Diada de Sant Jordi” is one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year, since it is the patron saint of lovers in Catalonia.

The tradition is that loved ones give each other roses and books. In our case we have continued with the tradition of selling roses and we have been lucky to have good weather compared to last year. Our mothers took it upon themselves to sell them, since we had to sing at mass in the Basilica de la Mercé.

The day before, in the morning, two of our mothers rented a car to be able to go buy the roses, the plastics and the wheat to decorate the roses. At night, the mothers gathered to prepare the roses for hours and have them for the next day.

On April 23 they brought them to our stall (Calle Valldonzella 18-24) and they began to sell, although they also entertained themselves by recording videos. Quite a few people passed by, whether they were acquaintances, strangers and members.

Sant Jordi is an important celebration and the fact that we sell roses contributes to the intention of the public to give roses to their loved ones. Preparing the roses has made mothers spend more time and interact more with each other.

Fenina's concert: 18th Glow

APRIL 23 2023

On April 23, I, Fenina, performed the traditional concert to welcome this new stage of adulthood in my life, accompanied by my family and my colleagues.

Since 2022 I already had in mind about wanting to do a concert but, because my parents were not convinced enough, the idea was left in the air. Until one day they talked about it and supported the concert proposal. It was in mid-January when director Nats and I began to talk about how I wanted the concert to start rehearsing in February.

The concert is called “18th Glow” and tells of a bossy, manipulative, spoiled and mean princess. Throughout the story, she realizes her bad attitude, and that is why she decides to change it. His right hand is Geo, the jester who was in charge of keeping an eye on the messages that the princess asked him. Also, with the help of my parents, my brothers, my friends and all the members of the choir, we did other performances singing and with instruments.

Other members who did the concert were the ones who inspired me to do my own. Being a very nervous person, at that moment the only thing I felt was illusion, joy and wanting to give everything. The day ended with great satisfaction and success.

Casa Asia Awards

APRIL 21 2023

Some of the members participated at the annual Casa Asia Awards. Important people attended, like the mayor of Barcelona, the diplomats, the winners of each category and other musicians whom participated at this event as well. The awards ceremony happened on 21st of April and it was held at the Barcelona City Council, at the Salón de Crónicas.

We met in front of the town hall. Once we were all there, we entered the room where the ceremony took place and we rehearsed the songs that we were going to play, which are: Ikaw at ako (You and I) and Isang mundo, Isang awit (One world, One song). In this performance, we sang live while some accompanied the songs with the violin, guitar, piano and the beatbox.

We felt very nervous, as we knew it was a very important event and in a place where we don't always have that privilege to perform.

We were the last to perform and from our perspective, it was a nice performance. The people present at that ceremony liked it very much, they applauded us loudly and came up to congratulate us.

At the end of our act and the ceremony, we took some pictures with Nick Deocampo, one of the winners, awarded in the Filipino movie category.

Finally, Krisha and Jomari, two of the members that participated at the event, share their experience:

“Being able to play in the town hall with very important people, seemed to me a unique experience and I also felt very fortunate to be able to perform there, since it is difficult for people like us to have that chance. With such an opportunity, we can show our talents, which makes us feel grateful to have, after many years striving to reach what we are now, it's like a feeling that it was worth it after all.” - Jomari

“Being able to sing at Casa Asia was a good experience. Although at first, I was nervous, like everyone else, since we weren't with the whole choir, but in the end it was fun.” - Krisha

Món llibre

APRIL 16 2023

The “Món Llibre” is a literary festival for children organized by CCCB. This year they wanted to focus on the diversity of cultures of the Raval neighborhood. We were invited as one of the representatives of the Filipino community to open the festival on April 15th with a show: the story of a traditional legend in theatrical format accompanied by a musical performance.

But the process to get to this event and make it unforgettable has not been easy.

It all started with a meeting between a few members specialized in fine arts and design, since we needed to build our own scenography. Once we decided what it would be like, we gathered the whole choir on the first day of Easter to get down to work. The older girls were in charge of the more complicated props, the teenagers were in charge of decorating them, and the younger ones were in charge of coloring. Being all together doing a creative activity allowed us to spend quality time with each other again and strengthen our bond as a group. On the second and last day of preparation, we were able to finish everything and see the result of our efforts (see attached photo).

Not to forget that during this entire process, we have also been rehearsing the theatrical play starring the little ones! Two other members of the choir and the mother of one of them also participated in the play. This allowed us to see the potential of each of the children and to demonstrate the versatility of our members.

On the morning of the big day, we all arrived early at the venue to start preparing the stage. At first, we were calm and confident, but as people were entering and the room was filling up, the nerves kicked in. Despite this, the performance was greeted with much applause. The dramatized legend was Alamat ng paru-paru (“The legend of the butterfly”). The songs we sang were: Pandangguhan, Mga Munting Tinig, Paru-parong Bukid i Isang Mundo, Isang Awit.

We could say that this event has given us more visibility in the entertainment world of Barcelona, as well as time together to strengthen our connection. We hope to have this opportunity again to represent our culture through music, theater and fine arts!

Discovering Madrid

APRIL 9 2023

On our last day in Madrid, most of us went for a walk around the center to different tourist spots. The walk was organized by our choir officers and the parents and directors weren't there, it was just us.

The day after the concert, we had to get up early to go for a walk, although some of us were tired and sleepy. We were lucky not to have the hostel so far from the center of Madrid, and that the weather was good so we could take a walk and make the most of our trip.

In the walk, the officers already had a route planned for us. We went to a lot of places like: the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Puerta del Sol… After walking around we went to eat at a restaurant called "Restaurante Topolino" where we sat mixed up to be able to talk with different members. Later, we continued with the route and went to the Retiro Park and the Prado Museum.

At the end of the route, we all ended up very tired because we had walked from morning until afternoon. But it was worth it because we saw a lot of beautiful places and had a good time and also spent more time with the choir.

This trip has helped us get to know each other better and get along more with each other. We have created new memories and experiences that we will never forget and thanks to this trip the bond between us has become stronger.

A Musical Road Trip To Madrid

APRIL 8 2023

On April 7 we met at Plaza Universidad at 10:30 p.m., we were anxiously waiting and excited. The bus arrived around 11pm. We got ready and got going.

After 7 hours of travel we arrived at our destination: Madrid. Tired and lacking sleep, we got off the bus and went to the hostel to leave our bags. As it was too early for the time to check in and be in our rooms, we went for a walk around the center.

Our first destination was to visit the Plaza Mayor where we stopped to take a group photo. Then we went to have breakfast at the "Chocolatería San Ginés", well known for its churros and recommended by our directors. After that, we divided into groups and each one went for a walk around the area, since we had hours left before checking in at the hostel.

We agreed to meet at 1:30 p.m. in front of the hostel. As there were many people, it took us a while to get to our rooms, so we had little time to rest and prepare for the concert, since we had to be ready at 4:00 p.m.

When we were ready we took the metro from the Tirso de Molina station to the Iglesia station. We walked for about 5 minutes and finally we arrived at the Plaza de Chamberí where our concert would take place. We got ready and did both sound and stage tests and waited until it was time to perform.

We did this concert in collaboration with the Philippine Embassy of Spain, 21 Districts and Madrid Destino and it has been a great pride for us as a choir because it is the first time that we have collaborated with such important entities.

The main theme of the concert was the story of the Filipinos who arrived in Barcelona in the 80's and how the choir had evolved over the last 8 years. In total we sang and danced 14 songs and we also played the ukulele, a representative instrument of our choir. At the end of the concert, we felt a great relief as the public said goodbye with a big round of applause. Seeing their reactions we left happy and had a snack to regain our strength.

We collected our things and waited for the bus to take us back to the hostel. During the trip we sang and celebrated as we left the concert very happy. Upon arrival, some got ready to go see the Lion King theater while others went to dinner and rested in their respective rooms.

“The first day was quite tiring since during the trip we could not sleep very well and we arrived very exhausted. The concert turned out spectacular and at the end of the day we were able to rest well and regain strength for the next day.” -Michael & Ralph