How this Filipino choir in Dubai found a common voice in music
Award-winning Dubai Vocal Ensemble talks about the highs and lows of choir life in UAE
The excited chatter of more than a dozen people fills the Gulf News studio on a weeknight. It’s a gathering of accountants, administrators, teachers, engineers and executives, who are also the collective force known as Dubai Vocal Ensemble, an award-winning chorale.
“We all came from different companies. Music brought us together,” Sharon Elaurza, one of Dubai Vocal Ensemble’s pioneers, tells Gulf News.
The chorale has been winning choir competitions in the UAE since 2010, the latest of which was the grand championship in last year’s Bayanihan Festival in Dubai. The members were also prepping up for the Tbilisi Chorale Festival in Georgia where they were handpicked to perform as the festival’s first Filipino chorale.
The Dubai Vocal Ensemble is one of the emirate’s few Filipino choirs, starting as a sevenmember group in 2004 to become a 35-strong chorale.
Perhaps you might have heard of them: They are behind the angelic music at Dubai’s St Mary’s Church during Friday morning mass. They’ve been lending their music to the service for 14 years.
“One of the best compliments we have received is ‘Thank you for helping us to pray’,” says Joy Santos, a music teacher who serves as the choir conductor.
No day off
It’s a challenging task, of course, with members having to balance work, choir performances and practice sessions with just one day off to spare each week.
Commitment is the biggest factor that the group looks for in members, says Santos. They have to wake up at 4am on Friday just to arrive in church at 5.30am. That means giving up late Thursday night parties.
“Some of my friends would sometimes say, ‘Hanna, come on, just this one time!’ I always say no,” choir member Hanna Obera says with a wry smile. They practise at every chance they get, anywhere they can.
For Obera, one such time was in the office washroom.
“It was 10am and there was no one around so I started practising in my falsetto voice. Suddenly, one of my office workers crept inside with a slight look of horror on her face. She had overheard my singing from outside and thought she heard a ghost,” she says with a laugh.
Lunch time is the best time for vocal practice when no one is in the office, says Jerwin Borbon, one of the group’s newest members. They’ve had other “creative” practice venues, too. The fire exit for one. Or the parking lot, says Annie Estorque, 25, one of the group’s youngest and newest members who admitted going on Google to find the group.
“I searched for ‘best choir in Dubai’ and Dubai Vocal Ensemble popped out,” she says.
Roadblocks
Eugene Generoso, 41, who has been singing in a choir since he was 13, says: “When I joined this choir, I got promoted (in the job). It was a very demanding ■ position. I really wanted to commit, but it was only after I lost that job that I was able to commit to the choir,” Generoso says. He has found a more flexible job since then.
So why do Filipinos love music? “Maybe because when you sing it makes you happy, and Filipinos are a happy bunch,” says Obera.
Elaurza says it is part of the Filipino culture. “Growing up with music. We celebrate in any way through music. In church, we have music. In entertainment, we have music. In putting a baby to sleep, we use music. So it’s innate. It’s part of the tradition. It’s very cultural and it’s very close to our heart,” she explains.
It’s also helpful, “especially if you’re away from home”, she adds. “Music has been the emotional anchor of most Filipinos. We’re spread all over the world and we’re using that particular trait to be able to show what we can to the world. We’re excellent with our job but at the same time we’re also very good with our music,” she says.
For now, the group is happy to introduce traditional Filipino music to the UAE and re-introduce it to the Filipino expatriates here. And they vow to continue making inspiring music.
“As long as they don’t tell us it’s bad music, we’re fine!” Obera says with a laugh.