Pinoys and singing

Last Saturday, Helen and I heard Charice Pempengco sing Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” several times that I almost memorized the song. We were watching a drama anthology about Charice’s life, the little girl became an instant celebrity after Ellen DeGeneres saw her video in YouTube. Charice flew to the US to sing in Oprah and Ellen. The next day, I saw this 10-year old Fil-Brit boy singing Summer Wind in a Sunday noontime show. He won in a reality show in Britain. These kids’ popularity in the international scene come as no surprise. We are a country of singers.

Pico Iyer in his book, Video Night in Kathmandu, said that one of the Orient’s great truths: Filipinos are its omnipresent, always smiling troubadours. I don’t have the numbers, but next to our nurses, seafarers, domestic helpers, I’m guessing singers are our next top export. You just have check out a bar or club or joint (or whatever you call these places) in any major city and there’ll be a Pinoy band playing or a Pinoy singer. Helen told me that once a foreigner she meets find out she’s Pinay, he or she would immediately ask if she knows how to sing.

What is it with Pinoys and singing? Do we attempt to drown our problems in our songs? Or are we just a musically-gifted bunch with so much time in the bathroom? Or we just know how to maximize what is given to us? Music is in every Filipino’s veins and we are blessed with so much talent.

If that’s the case, I may not be Filipino after all, because I’m tone-deaf, just ask my high school music teacher. Maybe I should start practicing so I can have a rightful claim on my citizenship.