AdNU Choir Releases First Album

MUSICIAN Joseph B. Reburiano describes the whole experience as a "collection of Bikol sacred songs arranged for chorus and orchestra in the contemporary musical idiom."

In celebration of the 300th year of Peñafrancia Devotion and the 70th year of Ateneo de Naga University, the AdNU Choir will launch its first album in a musical performance on Friday, July 30, 2010, 7pm, at the Church of Christ the King, Ateneo Campus. Entitled "Kamurawayan sa Diyos-Glory to God", the album contains sixteen tracks of "new and and revisited" Bikol religious songs.

The collection features fresh renditions of the "Himno a Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia (Resuene Vibrante)", Fr. Louan Jarcia's "Namomotan Taka, O Kagurangnan", and Fr. Fruto Ramirez's "Hesus, Tinapay nin Buhay" and "Ina". The album likewise presents the hymn of the Peñafrancia Tercentenary, "Ina nin Kabikolan", and introduces a new collection of Mass responses composed by Reburiano himself who also sits as the musical arranger, scorer, director and conductor of the whole production.

"I wish that this collection will bring people to a deeper experience of the divine as much as I also wish that this [album] will add something new to the Bikol music tradition," Reburiano says. The recording is the first-ever Bikol album featuring tracks with musical arrangements for full orchestra.

In the album inlay, AdNU President Fr. Joel E. Tabora SJ starts his message with the lines of Fr. Horacio de la Costa SJ: "We are a remarkably poor people; poor not only in material goods, but even in the riches of the spirit... But poor as we are, we have something. This pauper among the nations of the earth hides two jewels in her rags. One of them is our music... [The other is] our Faith. ...These are the bonds that bind us together; these are the souls that make us one." Tabora expressed that with the release of "Kamurawayan sa Diyos", may music and faith "bind us together, make us one, and bring glory to God!"

The AdNU Choir started in the 2002 with the aim of promoting bikol culture through scholarly music, and instigating innovations in the Bikol musical traditions, especially in the area of choral music. Members of AdNU Choir enjoy scholarship and formation program to help them in their academic undertakings.

The launching concert is open to the public.