You tube, that popular video sharing website ,has done it again. It has
helped uncover a new sensation much like in the same route of Charice Pempengco or Arnel Pineda.
But in the meantime, these two Filipino You tube alumni will have to step aside, or share the limelight, so to speak.
The latest find is unbelievably a 10-year old girl, Jackie Evancho from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA whose soprano voice belies her age.
Evancho’s performance in America’s got Talent has electrified
not only the ultra-rigid, discriminating set of judges led by Morgan Peters but millions of viewers with her extraordinary rendition of an aria usually sung only by illustrious and venerable sopranos, both living and departed, legends of their time.
Amazing ! said Peters. “I can’t believe that from this tiny body this huge mature voice that you have “ said Sharon Osbourne , both agreed in an interview.
Jackie, who started singing only at the age of eight (8), sung the classic Giancomo Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro “ (O my Dear Papa) from the opera Gianni Schicchi.
Evancho thus joins other world famous sopranos who have performed this aria among them the legendary Maria Callas (former partner of Greek shipping magnate Aris Onassis who was the late husband of former US First lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, that adorable aboriginal from New Zealand, Renata Tebaldi, Angela Gheorghiu (the Romanian diva who is set to perform in Toronto) and Sarah Brightman.
I have listened to the renditions of this aria by both Callas and Kiri Te Kanawa and I must say that Evancho’s version is surprisingly almost at par with the two world divas. yet given that it is a 10-year old child who is singing an opera piece that she has not even heard even before she was to be conceived by her mother. It is both stunning and shocking and sends some shivers on my spine .“Nakakatindig ng balahibo “as we Filipinos describe it.
And to think that we’re still swooning over Susan Boyle, that Scottish
revelation in You tube and have completely forgotten about another former child soprano from Britain, Charlotte Church.
Could it be that a Filipino child soprano is not farfetched?
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COMMUNITY GROUPS MUST BEEF UP PR: The July 25 incident at the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) sponsored press conference for GMA TV artists wherein a member of the media, Mon Datol of the Philippine Courier was interrupted by non-media persons is more of a case of a lack of understanding of the nuances of how the media works and
largely a public relations concern.
In that presscon, you have several kibitzers who did not like the line of questioning of Mr. Datol, but if one were familiar of how a press conference
is conducted and how exchanges of words are thrown about, it is actually very normal. What was unusual, if not rude was that non-media persons meddled in a purely media event, which is of course a press conference and as the name implies, only members of the media are the participants.
We cannot blame them. They are not the issue here. The bigger issue here
is community organizations, if they are to gain the understanding and support of their various audiences (including the media), they should at least
include a basic public relations component for their programs.
The PIDC, as the biggest organization within the Toronto area assigns
several volunteers officers who act as public relations whose main job is to churn out press releases, newspaper ads, souvenir programs and other printed or broadcast materials in support of their programs and projects.
But public relations go beyond press releases or ads. There is a need for interpersonal contacts, being sincere and transparent to your different publics. This also includes knowing the idiosyncrasies of the media.
For instance, people tend to downplay the role of journalists. More often than not, they are considered nosy, irreverent, uncouth, aggressive and many other nasty adjectives.
As one colleague said “ Journalism is a serious business. Journalists may look like they’re having fun (which is partly true) and some of them ask questions that may sound comic and absurd (also oftentimes true), but the work is hazardous to life and limb.“
By the way, in the past two years, the PIDC had the distinction of being the first community organization to have coordinated with this writer and my colleagues in devising an accreditation and entry system for the media especially during the Mabuhay festival.
This eliminated a lot of confusions and misunderstanding on how the media can best cover the annual event. Even this year, it was continued with much success. But the press conference of July 25 was a different one, Could it be an aberration or the result of a change of hands?