Christmas with a Boy

I got to watch “Christmas with the Voice” unexpectedly. My colleague Rey, who is Jed Madela’s higsuon, insisted that I buy two tickets to the latter’s concert in his home city. I appreciated Rey’s offer since I and Dulce Maria have not been to any form of entertainment lately, or at least in the last two weeks. Or was it more factual that I can’t afford to refuse Rey out of utang na loob.

In almost two hours inside SM Cinema 6, we found ourselves transported to the audience seats applauding Sinatra, or the ones being serenaded by 90s Kilabot Ariel Rivera. We would later realize we were also part of a South Border gig or a Josh Groban’s disciplined moshpit. He simply sang every songs from any genre—virtually from Jose Mari Chan’s “Sound of Life” to Freddie Mercury’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

It was—in fact—a Christmas with the Voices. Despite the audience’s sense of wonderment evident in their passive reception of the artist’s questions [which turned out as monologues anyway], Champion of the

World Jed Madela was clever enough to un-bore his audience with his versatile voice—the former Dye Vest vocalist dabbled in pop, Broadway, and R& B, rock, and God-knows-what-else.

His chart-topping “Love Always Finds A Way” is an ambitious attempt to render a more convincing cover to a song that had been famous in the 80s. Or to sing a Chaka Khan cliché classic— “Through the Fire”—was indeed one of the Ilonggo champion’s best numbers, since the artist sang to his heart’s content while being seated, (and lying down later).

He also performed Brian McKnight’s “One Last Cry,” Ariel Rivera’s “Sana Ngayong Pasko”, and Toto’s “I’ll Be Over You,” proofs that his versatility knows no bounds and cannot thus be overrated. In the string of songs he sang, Jed Madela has woven a tapestry of sensible [appreciation of] music.

He must have not written any song in the second album, Songs Rediscovered, but the concert showed he has a lot of possibilities onstage when he displays versatility in his performance. The Hollywood Champion panel even recognized this.

His intense emotions while singing any song—make his mark. He is an artist that has yet to make waves. Someone can still write songs for him, or he can write his own pieces. His stage presence captivates the audience since the voice simply goes straight into the listener’s sense and sensibility.

Jed Madela’s strong sense of family did much of the talking in the Christmas with the Voice. The artist took pride in his roots—he related his grandmother’s sentimentality for “Memory,” one of the Broadway pieces he interpreted. He hinted at his father’s all-out support to his dream of pursuing a music career. He cited his mother and siblings as inspiration—indeed a more sincere and honest-to-goodness motivation for such a passion that can set the fashion, so to speak.

That he also acknowledged his roots and school where he went was enough reason to believe this Ilonggo dreamer and winner has yet a long way to go. He is able to proceed because he has with him the inspiration that can take anyone to places.

His slightly humorous conversations with the audience reflected both an Ilonggo accent and an English education that has yet to thrive and be internalized by a more appreciative audience.

As a national TV celebrity these days, Jed Madela knows what he should do to survive, or at least sustain his slot in the world of music-dom. He confesses he finds things difficult backstage. He has experienced discrimination, but says he’s challenged all the more to work harder.

In the concert, he lamented on the discrimination in show business. He confessed what setbacks there can be in the field he chose to pursue. In the end, he turned out seeking support from his fellow Ilonggos to help him and recognize talents such as his.

Jed Madela’s business to perform has become his aching to confess about show business. His performance along with his stories in the business calls out to the audience for help. And to buy his Rediscovered album can be the least but most important gesture a fellow Ilonggo can do to show his support and even affinity with this young rising star.

His sensitivity to the audience and his treatment of the numbers he rendered only showed that the probinsyano has not yet given up the fight in the field of show business.

His is a talent that has yet to shine beyond these shores. In the world championship where he reaped all awards, he was just given the needed break. Certainly his task now is to follow through.

In essence, Tec 7’s “Christmas with the Voice” was a wonderful treat. Projects such as that have to be replicated if it were the cultural workers’ task to help send people to dream their own possibilities and achieve them.

The concert was more than an appreciation or showcase of world music. It was entertainment at its best. Yet, as expected to happen in a laidback lifestyle in the provinces, cultural shows like this transform into avenues for self-identification. Grimly, it has rather become an artist’s desperate, sweet, quiet clamor to locate oneself in the bigger geography of differences.