“Music is the purest form of art…therefore true poets, they who are seers, seek to express the universe in terms of music…The singer has everything within him. The notes come out from his very life. They are not materials gathered from outside.”—Rabindranath Tagore
I have an untutored ear for music. I gauge great music by the power of voices – does their harmony move me, as in Pink Martini? Does it inspire me to write, like Mon David or the kundiman of Harana Kings and Pete Avendano? Does the irrepressible genius sax – playing of Michael Paulo connect me to a sorrowful experience that it gets me to cry, non-stop? Does it make me leap to my feet in joy as Gustavo Dudamel’s conducting of Mahler’s Eight with 1,000 musicians at the Shrine Auditorium? Does it bring me back to Negro Spirituals as Victor Clark’s I want Jesus to Walk with Me or the tweeting of birds in a campground, much like Kit Navarro’s Oh Light My Soul or Sal Malaki’s rendition of Nessun dorma from Turandot at NovéDeypalan Singers’ concert, that all the audience could do is clap the longest and to shout out Bravos in unison?
Isn’t that the power of music, the power of connecting to someone’s heart and soul? The concert was inspired by a Chinese philosopher Lao-Tsu, who wrote “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Nové dedicated “Preghiera” (prayer) to Devin.Devin, an 18 yo, who a year and a half ago, lapsed into a 40 – day coma and whose recovery was made possible by a caring network, which included Nové’s friend, Debbie (Devin’s piano teacher).
Devin was 17yo then when he got into a 5-car accident one Friday afternoon in January 2012. His family declared he would get well. After a series of surgeries, a stroke, and an unyielding faith, Debbie took a keyboard into Devin’s hospital room and literally guided Devin’s hands into playing the keys. Devin stood up to acknowledge the dedication of Preghiera, and he received a rousing applause. After all, he is alive, he even sang a duet with his grandmother, thanks to the vigilant care of his family, his piano teacher Debbie and his voice teacher, Nove’.
Nové ‘s expressive musical conducting and his irrepressible joy reminded me of Gustavo Dudamel’s irrepressible joy as he conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.Nové inspired the best of the best performance from the 2 musicians and 16 master singers: Adriana Triggs, April Rae “Sundae” Manalo, Ariel May Lambrecht, Belinda Wilkins, Bess de Guzman-Valenzuela, Christopher “Pete” Avendano, David Stal, Ed Nepomuceno, Louise Thomas, Maria Cristina “Kit” Navarro, Melvir Ausente, Monika Beal, Roberto Perlas Gomez, Sal Malaki, Sheen Leem Jabines Sanchez, Stacey Helley, Stephen Lazarus, Tara Bailey, Victor Clark and Yannick Lambrecht at the First Baptist Church in Pasadena on October 12.
“The Nové Deypalan Singers, whose members are world-class concert artists, were and/or currently affiliated with famous institutions such as, the LA Opera, LA Master Chorale, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Berlin Sinfonietta, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Luzerne Music Festival, and The Philippine Madrigal Singers. The concert artists have performed all over the world and in prestigious concert venues including The Carnegie Hall and The Walt Disney Concert Hall. The sole artistic vision of the Nové Deypalan Singers is to inspire my audience through the power of classical music,” Nové wrote in an email-interview.
They all came prepared to rehearse, already familiar with the lyrics and tunes of the songs. Songs like Triumph, from Belshazzar Feast, that is quite complicated, as it is meant for two choirs, when they had sixteen singers. Or songs in different languages like Latin, Moravia, Italian, German, Tagalog and English. Elena Mannes writes about Steven Mithen and John Blacking, two ethnomusicologists, in her book, The Power of Music.
Mithen claims “Music affects the neural networks and structures of the brain. So neuroscience as well as conscious memory comes into play if we consider evolution and music. Music is about opening up and welcoming people.”
Can one say that Devin’s recovery was powered by new neural networks in his brain or that the developed brain structures of these musicians enabled them to sing in this multilingual concert, with prowess in such a short rehearsal period of only six hours in three days?
Could it be that another positive force of energy is at work?
John Blacking, another ethnomusicologist, describes how music transcends cultural constraints and becomes the bridge that communicates across boundaries.
Nové Deypalan articulated his criteria for selecting these singers, already masterful in their craft, in a one on one interview on October 21. “I believe that the mystery of performance can only be solved if true music artists practice the virtues of TCT (truthfulness, compassion and toler.
Nove Deypalan
Kit Navarro
Pete Avendano
Published in Asian Journal