It was the aspirin.
I was all set to see FVS perform at Dhoby Ghaut that day. I packed my knapsack and psyched myself up for my first trip in the city after coming out of the hospital last Friday.
Suddenly, I felt the ulcer-like pain in my stomach. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before and slowly, I felt my strength ebbing. I could feel my heart beat racing, cold sweat forming on my forehead and my consciousness slowly fading. In the background, I could hear a faint voice saying, “...ganyan talaga ang side-effect ng aspirin...”
Then...silence...total darkness...
I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by an eternity of whiteness. A cool mist unfurled around me as I discovered that I am seated in what appeared to be a cosy sofa.
“So you’re awake, “ came a voice from behind me. I turned around to see where the voice came from and to my great surprise, I saw the last person I expected t o see under this circumstance.
LARRY: Freddie Mercury?!!? Is that really you? (NOTE: Freddie Mercury was the front man of the English rock band QUEEN who died in 1991 of AIDS)
FREDDIE MERCURY: Yup... It’s me alright, in the spirit. You wouldn’t want to see me in the flesh after all these years, believe me. You seem surprised.
LARRY: Am I where I think I am?
FREDDIE MERCURY: That depends on where you think you are.
LARRY: Is this heaven?
FREDDIE MERCURY: You bet!
LARRY: But what are you doing here?
FREDDIE MERCURY: I feel insulted by that remark.
LARRY: Oh, I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that heaven for me conjures up images of austere people wearing flowing robes while you...garbed in white undergarment (sando in Filipino) white jeans and black leather belt? You seem to be waiting to come up onstage for the Queen’s Live Aid performance!
FREDDIE MERCURY: Well, here, you see people the way you remember them back on earth. Someone who does not know me probably will see me in long flowing robes and sandals. But you...You must be an avid supporter of the Queen...
LARRY: Not exactly, though I know quite a number of your songs. One song that does stick out from the rest is...
FREDDIE MERCURY: Bohemian Rhapsody? Another One Bites the Dust? Under Pressure? We Are The Champions? Which one?
LARRY: Well, I like those songs but what I had in mind was We Will Rock You.
FREDDIE MERCURY: Hey, now that you mentioned it, I was just watching a YOUTUBE clip of this group of Filipinos in Singapore who did that very song a cappella.
LARRY: You have YOUTUBE here in heaven?
FREDDIE MERCURY: They don’t call this heaven for nothing, you know.
LARRY: And you saw a group of Filipinos in Singapore doing WE WILL ROCK YOU a cappella?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Did you hear an echo just about now?
LARRY: Hey, that’s THE FILIPINO VOICE SYMPHONY! You saw them perform at Plaza Singapura!
FREDDIE MERCURY: It could have been another group. Surely, there are other Filipino choral groups in Singapore.
LARRY: Tell me did the group that you saw have this burly bass singer with bushy eyebrows?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Hmmmm...yes, I remember him. He was among the top two bass singers in that group. He also sounds like he was professionally trained. The other bass dude seems better looking though.
LARRY: Did the group have this awesome soloist who goes by the name of Ben?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Yeah! Man, that dude rocks!
LARRY: Did the group have a member who is a dead-ringer for that Hollywood star Tom Cruise?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Nope. . . no Tom Cruise look alike there today.
LARRY: It figures, that member just came out of the hospital last Friday. . . he couldn’t have been there today. (thunder and lightning is heard and seen from a distance) Well, I’m pretty sure it was FVS that you saw today. How was the performance?
FREDDIE MERCURY: They were good but this was an open-air performance. In this set-up, the last thing that you want to happen is for the sound system to fail you. Well, shit happens (thunder and lightning again is heard and seen from a distance). I mean, that was the problem at the beginning of their number.
LARRY: Didn’t they do a sound check?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Oh, they did. And with the mics in full blast, they were awesome. A number of people around during the sound check were beginning to sing with them. They also did this non-English song...
LARRY: Babalik Ka rin....
FREDDIE MERCURY: Sorry?
LARRY: It was a Filipino song entitled “Babalik Ka Rin”
FREDDIE MERCURY: Oh, yes, and while they were singing this, I noticed quite a number of the people getting teary-eyed...
LARRY: This was the sound check but what about the actual performance? I thought the sound crew checked the microphones...
FREDDIE MERCURY: They did turn on the mics a few seconds after the first song begun but the volume was not adjusted properly saw the choir was barely audible. It was not an ideal set up and the heat compounded matters. Imagine singing under the heat of the afternoon sun with all those people cramped in so little space. This is where I admire this group because they performed despite all these discomforts. Not a few of them were on the verge of collapsing from the extreme heat but like true soldiers, they carried on. That’s professionalism for you, dude!
LARRY: Wow! Coming from a battle-scarred performer like you, that is quite flattering.
FREDDIE MERCURY: Want an advice? I say keep away from open-air performances especially if you are not sure about the sound system. FVS is good, you practice hard, you have capable people to guide you. It will be a terrible waste of time and effort if you will be done in by this #@$*&#+#%# technical crew who seem to always be sleeping on the job.(loud thunder and this time the lightning strikes a couple of feet away from FM who suddenly turned pale-faced)
Silence...
“Sweet heart?”
LARRY: Did you just call me sweetheart?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Huh? Why would I do that?
“Tart? Mag-insulin ka na...”
Suddenly, Freddie’s figure gradually fades and I find myself in a more familiar surrounding , our bedroom to be exact. And who would I find staring down at me but the heavenly face of my wife...
LARRY: Hi sweetheart!
GRACE: Ah ganoon? Puwes, Sweetheartin mo ang mukha mo. Sinong Freddie ‘yung tinatawag mo sa panaginip mo kanina, ha?!!??
EPILOGUE
The FVS did prepare for the 22nd of November and agreed to perform WE WILL ROCK YOU (with Ben doing the solo part) and BABALIK KA RIN (with the tenors, namely, Kiko, Nald, Ruben, Aldwyn, Ben and Isko at the spotlight). At 12o’clock am, 22nd of November, Earl flew in from the Philippines just in time for the performance after going through an extensive choral conductors’ workshop in Cebu from the 18th until the 21st.
Someone once said that the journey is as important as the destination (or something to that effect).
Although FVS is yet to realize its dream of raising the standard for Filipino choral performance here in Singapore, the group is unfazed but determined to work on improving itself and enjoying the process at the same time...
Next stop...28th November...Escape Youth Park...
Words by Lorenzo Antonio C. Angel
I was all set to see FVS perform at Dhoby Ghaut that day. I packed my knapsack and psyched myself up for my first trip in the city after coming out of the hospital last Friday.
Suddenly, I felt the ulcer-like pain in my stomach. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before and slowly, I felt my strength ebbing. I could feel my heart beat racing, cold sweat forming on my forehead and my consciousness slowly fading. In the background, I could hear a faint voice saying, “...ganyan talaga ang side-effect ng aspirin...”
Then...silence...total darkness...
I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by an eternity of whiteness. A cool mist unfurled around me as I discovered that I am seated in what appeared to be a cosy sofa.
“So you’re awake, “ came a voice from behind me. I turned around to see where the voice came from and to my great surprise, I saw the last person I expected t o see under this circumstance.
LARRY: Freddie Mercury?!!? Is that really you? (NOTE: Freddie Mercury was the front man of the English rock band QUEEN who died in 1991 of AIDS)
FREDDIE MERCURY: Yup... It’s me alright, in the spirit. You wouldn’t want to see me in the flesh after all these years, believe me. You seem surprised.
LARRY: Am I where I think I am?
FREDDIE MERCURY: That depends on where you think you are.
LARRY: Is this heaven?
FREDDIE MERCURY: You bet!
LARRY: But what are you doing here?
FREDDIE MERCURY: I feel insulted by that remark.
LARRY: Oh, I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that heaven for me conjures up images of austere people wearing flowing robes while you...garbed in white undergarment (sando in Filipino) white jeans and black leather belt? You seem to be waiting to come up onstage for the Queen’s Live Aid performance!
FREDDIE MERCURY: Well, here, you see people the way you remember them back on earth. Someone who does not know me probably will see me in long flowing robes and sandals. But you...You must be an avid supporter of the Queen...
LARRY: Not exactly, though I know quite a number of your songs. One song that does stick out from the rest is...
FREDDIE MERCURY: Bohemian Rhapsody? Another One Bites the Dust? Under Pressure? We Are The Champions? Which one?
LARRY: Well, I like those songs but what I had in mind was We Will Rock You.
FREDDIE MERCURY: Hey, now that you mentioned it, I was just watching a YOUTUBE clip of this group of Filipinos in Singapore who did that very song a cappella.
LARRY: You have YOUTUBE here in heaven?
FREDDIE MERCURY: They don’t call this heaven for nothing, you know.
LARRY: And you saw a group of Filipinos in Singapore doing WE WILL ROCK YOU a cappella?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Did you hear an echo just about now?
LARRY: Hey, that’s THE FILIPINO VOICE SYMPHONY! You saw them perform at Plaza Singapura!
FREDDIE MERCURY: It could have been another group. Surely, there are other Filipino choral groups in Singapore.
LARRY: Tell me did the group that you saw have this burly bass singer with bushy eyebrows?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Hmmmm...yes, I remember him. He was among the top two bass singers in that group. He also sounds like he was professionally trained. The other bass dude seems better looking though.
LARRY: Did the group have this awesome soloist who goes by the name of Ben?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Yeah! Man, that dude rocks!
LARRY: Did the group have a member who is a dead-ringer for that Hollywood star Tom Cruise?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Nope. . . no Tom Cruise look alike there today.
LARRY: It figures, that member just came out of the hospital last Friday. . . he couldn’t have been there today. (thunder and lightning is heard and seen from a distance) Well, I’m pretty sure it was FVS that you saw today. How was the performance?
FREDDIE MERCURY: They were good but this was an open-air performance. In this set-up, the last thing that you want to happen is for the sound system to fail you. Well, shit happens (thunder and lightning again is heard and seen from a distance). I mean, that was the problem at the beginning of their number.
LARRY: Didn’t they do a sound check?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Oh, they did. And with the mics in full blast, they were awesome. A number of people around during the sound check were beginning to sing with them. They also did this non-English song...
LARRY: Babalik Ka rin....
FREDDIE MERCURY: Sorry?
LARRY: It was a Filipino song entitled “Babalik Ka Rin”
FREDDIE MERCURY: Oh, yes, and while they were singing this, I noticed quite a number of the people getting teary-eyed...
LARRY: This was the sound check but what about the actual performance? I thought the sound crew checked the microphones...
FREDDIE MERCURY: They did turn on the mics a few seconds after the first song begun but the volume was not adjusted properly saw the choir was barely audible. It was not an ideal set up and the heat compounded matters. Imagine singing under the heat of the afternoon sun with all those people cramped in so little space. This is where I admire this group because they performed despite all these discomforts. Not a few of them were on the verge of collapsing from the extreme heat but like true soldiers, they carried on. That’s professionalism for you, dude!
LARRY: Wow! Coming from a battle-scarred performer like you, that is quite flattering.
FREDDIE MERCURY: Want an advice? I say keep away from open-air performances especially if you are not sure about the sound system. FVS is good, you practice hard, you have capable people to guide you. It will be a terrible waste of time and effort if you will be done in by this #@$*&#+#%# technical crew who seem to always be sleeping on the job.(loud thunder and this time the lightning strikes a couple of feet away from FM who suddenly turned pale-faced)
Silence...
“Sweet heart?”
LARRY: Did you just call me sweetheart?
FREDDIE MERCURY: Huh? Why would I do that?
“Tart? Mag-insulin ka na...”
Suddenly, Freddie’s figure gradually fades and I find myself in a more familiar surrounding , our bedroom to be exact. And who would I find staring down at me but the heavenly face of my wife...
LARRY: Hi sweetheart!
GRACE: Ah ganoon? Puwes, Sweetheartin mo ang mukha mo. Sinong Freddie ‘yung tinatawag mo sa panaginip mo kanina, ha?!!??
EPILOGUE
The FVS did prepare for the 22nd of November and agreed to perform WE WILL ROCK YOU (with Ben doing the solo part) and BABALIK KA RIN (with the tenors, namely, Kiko, Nald, Ruben, Aldwyn, Ben and Isko at the spotlight). At 12o’clock am, 22nd of November, Earl flew in from the Philippines just in time for the performance after going through an extensive choral conductors’ workshop in Cebu from the 18th until the 21st.
Someone once said that the journey is as important as the destination (or something to that effect).
Although FVS is yet to realize its dream of raising the standard for Filipino choral performance here in Singapore, the group is unfazed but determined to work on improving itself and enjoying the process at the same time...
Next stop...28th November...Escape Youth Park...
Words by Lorenzo Antonio C. Angel