Ateneo Choir's 1st Album

NAGA CITY-HERE is something earthly but is also ethereal. And much more, here, the two blends very well together.

On July 30, this year, the Ateneo de Naga University Choir launched its first album, Kamurawayan sa Diyos (Glory to God). The choir, which sang in its usual flair was accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra-a performance unprecedented in the Bikol music scene. For Joseph Reburiano, who arranged, scored, conducted and directed all the tracks in the CD, the album is a dream fulfilled. "It was a project that had been there since the university choir was established," he added. The album was produced in time for the celebrations of the seventieth anniversary of Ateneo de Naga University and the Tercentenary of Peñafrancia Devotion.

The AdNU Choir, popularly known within the Ateneo community as UC, was established in 2001, and has since then been directly under the supervision of the university president. UC is composed of students from the different colleges of the university; they enjoy scholarship for their services rendered on and off campus. The group maintains the status of being a cultural ambassador of the university.

The UC has three objectives: first, to conduct researches on Bikol cultural and liturgical music with the goal of publishing well-arranged musical collections that may lead Bikolanos to a deeper appreciation of Bikol music and its significance to rituals, celebrations and the development of our culture; second, to enrich and deepen prayer experience and other religious activities, especially the celebrations of the Eucharist; and, third, to lead Bikolanos to a wider sound vocabulary and music-cultural perspectives towards developing a richer music culture.

To many followers, the choir has already hit these objectives when they moved their listeners with the cuts from their very first CD album. Much more were touched by the live performances during the launching concert which commenced with a fresh instrumental version of the "Himno a Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia", a song more popularly known in Bikol as the "Resuene Vibrante", composed for the 1924 Canonical Coronation of Our Lady of Peñafrancia by Fr. Maximo Juguera, CM.

 

First in Bikol

 

For Reburiano, Kamurawayan sa Diyos is "the first Bikol album with musical arrangements intended for a full orchestra. The tradition in Bikol sacred music is to make arrangements as simple as possible; on the other hand, we can have it more complicated, that is, to make our music richer and our rituals more meaningful to celebrate."

He always points to the song "Ina nin Kabikolan (Mother of Kabikolan)" as an embodiment of the colors of the Bikolano devotion to Ina-Our Lady of Peñafrancia. The song is the official hymn for the celebration of the tercentenary of Peñafrancia devotion.

"In form and content, I wanted to capture how we, Bikolanos, revere Ina. I wanted to set into music how we wave our handkerchiefs as Ina passes us by. I wanted to translate into a song how voyadores would struggle to make their way to Ina's andas; how the boatmen would row their boat in gentle unison. I want to make music out of these images, and "Ina nin Kabikolan" succeeded in embodying them, and I believe, we very seldom do that," Reburiano shared.

Donnel Ramirez, the soloist whose voice gives a rather silvery character to "Ina nin Kabikolan", says of the song, "It was as if [my voice] was used to unify all Bikolanos and all devotees of Ina wherever they may be. There lies the fulfillment of having sung the tercentenary hymn. Something deep within stirs me too, and then I would just find myself singing it to Ina the way any child would sing to his or her own mother."