18/05/2025
๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ก๐๐ง๐: โ๐ฉ๐ผ๐
๐ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถโ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐๐ฝ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐ง๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐
There is no other sensation that can bypass the bureaucracy of the body towards the soul than music. Before we could speak, we would hum. Before we could write, we would sing.
The SLU Glee Club was proud to perform Vox Mundi, their much-awaited musical showcase at the grand stage at Fr. Joseph van Daelen, CICM-CCA Theatre, on May 14, 2025. Only the second performance of its kind to date, the showcase assembled an intricate score of music from lavish orchestrals and chorales to meticulously arranged folk songs rooted in Filipino culture.
Themed as โReviving a Musical Traditionโ, Vox Mundi echoed across the ceiling with a thousand voices, each channeling the historic eras of music and therefore, the world itself.
๐๐ป ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐
The showcase begins as the Glee Club members file in silence onto the stage. Then, a humming voice like a seabird hops delicately across the baritone winds. Thus commences their rendition of Matthew Manianoโs โAmihan,โ a sweeping song as graceful as the northeastern monsoon it was named after. With invocation-styled lyrics and progressions evocative of the coastal surf, Amihan entreats the namesake deity with a genuine plea for solace that was sure to leave the audience windswept. After that breathtaking opener, a lively meditation on the twin aspects of nature with the sprightly pastoral of Bennetโs โAll Creatures Now,โ opposing Mendelssohnโs succeeding โJรคgerliedโ and the urgent exhilaration of its hunt.
The atmosphere turns lurid as the lights flash gaudy red for the next performance, the haunting โDaemon Irrepit Callidus.โ Creeping, liturgical in its fervency, the Glee Club brings out in Orbรกnโs choral piece a sense of mounting dread, mimicking the eerie reprises of a Gregorian chant to surreal effect. A more earthly, but equally powerful, hymn came next with โElijah!โ. Arranged from Moses Hoganโs own spiritual, the rendition builds tension through rising repetitions until it explodes in an emphatic crescendo. Here, the vocal layers are more distinct, perhaps due to the dialogic nature of the blues, and serve to enhance the heart-racing drive of the song that sent the audience erupting into applause.
This pulse-pounding theme continues with another of Manianoโs compositions: โBakunawa.โ The stage became a battleground, voices overlapping like a throng under siege; the singers morphed into oral storytellers, regaling the audience with a ballad reminiscent of mythological chronicles. Overhead lights flicker as if something massive slithered across the moonlightโthe Bakunawa is coming. The danger is emphasized by their howling vocals that transitioned into sorrowful humming in the belly of the beast before bursting out in triumph with a sharp hiss-stomp finale. At the end, their own composition โBagbagtoโ closed out the section with a distinctive Cordilleran sound, harnessing the weather with a dynamic rush of onomatopoeic staccatos like impending rain.
๐ ๐ค๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐: ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ
The second section opened with an interlude recognizing the outgoing senior members of the SLU Glee Club. The five club graduates were lauded with their own sablay, a traditional sash, and a heartfelt message from SLU Glee Club conductor, Mrs. Normita โBingโ Rio-Pablico.
Afterwards, each member took center stage alone to perform what may very well be their last as a student member in the CCA Theater. In solemn silence, the audience watches the first graduate stir the air with Elaine Hagenbergโs โYou Do Not Walk Alone,โ a song inspired by traditional Irish blessings of safe travels. Sniffles were heard among the audience during a resonant cover of โThe Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond,โ about as sincere an attempt to say everything we wish we would have said when the farewells have come and gone. The goodbyes were enlivened during the fanfare of โWade in the Water,โ with club members engaging the rhythmic, steady strength of the work song with tasteful choreography in an encouragement for facing eventual hardships down the road. The soulful cover was met in particular with a deluge of cheers.
โCradle You With Harmoniesโ was gentler, cooing, as if the singer was deliberately savoring the moment prior to taking his leave. A lullaby to soothe those he would leave behind. This was followed by a rendition of ฤriks Eลกenvaldsโ โOnly In Sleepโ, an ode to the transience of youth. The crowd was enraptured by the singerโs warbling harmonies and yearning stare, as if carried away by a voice as clear as a memoryโs momentary emergence. The final song, โGreat Is Thy Faithfulnessโ, a steadfast hymn, astounded the audience with its eventual ascent and was met with overwhelming applause as the outgoing members of SLU Glee Club bowed for their bittersweet adieus.
๐ง๐ ๐๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐ด๐ผ๐
Vox Mundiโs third and final section revolved around the native songs of the Philippines and beyond, arranged and performed with orchestral mastery. To bridge the previous sectionโs end, it began with a prelude: an interpretative dance depicting two childhood lovers in a genuine, unpretentious representation of youth before the eventual departure into adulthood. But whatโs one more dance, for old timesโ sake? Thus we come into the present day, revitalized by celebrating cultural heritage in music for the sake of itself.
Fidel Calalang Jr.โs jovial โWaray-Warayโ was a personal anthem for the Waray women, espousing their merry yet firm disposition in the face of adversity, succeeded by an arrangement of โLawiswis Kawayan,โ a Leyte idyll and an invitation to enjoy the breeze whistling for repose under the bamboo groves. The ease of rustic life was sweetened with โDagiti Bitbituen Idiay Langit,โ a romantic Ilocano serenade preceding a turn to the horizon towards Indonesia and their traditional song โHela Rotan.โ Matching the choreography to the choir, the performers engaged in playful yet subtle dancing as they vocalized the back-and-forth of Hela Rotanโs tug-o-war motif. Finally, the denouement arrives in ecstatic spirits with Ryan Cayabyabโs โA Better World.โ Perhaps the most modern sounding, and as such the most fitting song in the roster, SLU Glee Club rallied the audience towards all-encompassing change, instilling hope and the promise of a better tomorrow, today. And for that day, it was indeed the most resonant chord that struck the heartstrings in the harmony that is humanity.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ก๐ผ๐๐ฒ: ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐
Vox Mundi is not an annual event. Instead, it is a showcase only undertaken should the current batch of the SLU Glee Club prove their mettle and their total dedication to the craft. When asked why they pushed through today, conductor and composer Mrs. Normita โBingโ Rio-Pablico affirmed her belief in the club after the show. โThis batch was powerful, but we were unable to do so in previous years... This felt like the right time.โ She adds, โRendering was very challenging. We had Baroque, contemporary, Romantic pieces... so it would depend on whether or not they had the capacity to do it.โ
โThe outgoing members really wanted to go through with this,โ Mrs. Rio-Pablico admits. โThey were my driving force. And theyโd do their rehearsals even outside of our schedules; they were religious.โ
Sophomore SLU Glee Club member Carl Joseph Madlaing was rife with pride once the curtains closed. โVox Mundi is not like any other show. Itโs very demanding, with highly technical pieces. Because of that, we had stricter training. But personally, it was very fulfilling since Vox Mundi depended on us, and we were able to handle it.โ
With the end of the academic year swiftly approaching, Vox Mundi served as the culmination of the SLU Glee Clubโs resolve and commitment to honing their art. Their voices were not only individual components of a larger purpose, but the very instruments through which the soul of the world communes with the souls of its people. A soul that speaks through one medium: music.
By Gabrielle Louis Paolo Santiago
Photos by Ethan Luis