Philippines—A kind of hush descends on the Pacific Ballroom of Waterfront
Lahug in Cebu Wednesday night, such as the one that, on Sunday evening, gently blanketed the Philippine International Convention Center at the CCP Complex.
The boys of the UK-based Libera, 22 of them representing the whole group of 40, performed every number in the 20-song
repertoire expertly, delicately. They were rewarded with enthusiastic applause for each, and a standing ovation in the end that lasted a full minute, a relative rarity in these parts.
“Angelic Voices,” the concert title claimed. Well, the “sounds of heaven,” as noted by Dr. Roberto de Ocampo, British Alumni Association chair and former finance secretary (who brought the group over), came with attractive packaging, too. The boys looked like well-scrubbed, happy young monks in their white robes.
The songs were mostly liturgical compositions, although the clear audience favorite was a rendition of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow.” Ours was “Far Away,” “Sanctus,” ” and the one that took Ocampo’s breath away, for good reason: “I Am the Day” (“I am the light before the morning, the end and the beginning …”).
The numbers were interspersed with wide-eyed storytelling of the boys’ innocent adventures: “Once we had no time to change into street clothes; we rushed to the airport in our robes.” Also of their routines: “We change places so often onstage, in the dark, so we rehearse with blindfolds, or with eyes closed.”
We can imagine how moved the audience was on an earlier tour, when Libera performed “Sakura” in Japan. For their encore at the PICC, the boys sang “Bayan Ko”! Moist eyes all around—and then an explosion of “Bravos!” Emmie G. Velarde
Philippine Daily Inquirer October 27
4 comments:
where did they stay in manila and cebu? edsa shangri-la and shangri-la mactan?
do they answer fan emails? especially tom and josh? if yes, where?
Libera does not let the boys have e-mail for security reasons you can however leave messages at their twitter or facebook sites and I am sure they would forward on the messages. There are people out there on the web pretentding to be that boy and then request money so be very careful out there on the web. Libera sent out an urgent message with this concern on the boys.I would guess that after they leave Libera they might get an e-mail set up. They even might have one just for the closest school friends (MAYBE) not sure just guessing as most people have e-mail.
I have no idea where they stayed while in Manila and Cebu I know of one very lucky person that got a rare chance to meet the boys. He was in line to board his plane when the entire Libera boys got on ahead of all the passengers. He was very excited, but did not get a chance to talk to the boys while on the plane as it was his first time on a plane.
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