TACLOBAN CITY: The Cebu Normal University (CNU) Chorale celebrated its big win in the first ever Kanta Binisaya choral competition that featured Eastern Visayas songs promoting the region’s musical heritage.
Cebu Normal’s chorale bested seven other choral groups from various places in the Visayas and Mindanao in the finals held late Tuesday night at the People’s Center and Library in Tacloban City.
The chorale’s artistic director and adviser, Darlane Yap, was also hailed as the best conductor, CNU said in its social media post on Wednesday.
They performed their acoustic rendition of Kuratsa, a popular traditional song and dance of Eastern Visayas. Adding to the chorale’s performance was CNU president Daniel Ariaso, Sr., together with Dara Hill Medillo, who danced to the famous folk dance.
The group’s second piece was the famous Visayan folk song, “Matud Nila.” Their performance wrapped up with a song and dance number to the famous OPM (Original Pinoy Music) hit “Magsayawan,” popularized by VST and Co.
‘This is a great opportunity for the choral group of our university to be invited and be part of this inaugural competition, and this is also an opportunity for Eastern Visayas to showcase its rich culture through music. Being an Eastern Visayan myself who hails from Eastern Samar, I am proud that I have become part of it,’ Ariaso said during the awarding ceremony.
The group received a PHP100,000 cash prize and an additional PHP5,000 for the best conductor special award.
Completing the list of winners are Koro Seraphim from Tagbilaran City, who won second place and received PHP80,000. They performed ‘Anak nga Waray Palad’ for their Visayan song and ‘Manila’ by Hotdog for the OPM (original Pinoy music) song.
Coro Recoletos of the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos was in third place and won PHP60,000 for their rendition of the iconic Visayan song ‘Iruy nga Tuna’ and their performance of the OPM song ‘Pinoy Ako’. They also won the Best OPM Special Award.
Other contestants are the Southern Leyte State
University Glee Club; Surigao del Norte State University; the University of San Carlos Choristers; the Vox Minore Chorum of Talisay City, Cebu; and the Calbayog Chamber Voices in Samar.
With the success of the Kanta Binisaya choral competition, Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Director Karina Rosa Tiopes hoped that this would become a regular event for the region, showcasing and promoting the rich music tapestry of Eastern Visayas.
‘This is the first time that DOT has hosted a choral competition, and we hope that this will be institutionalized and become a national competition,’ Tiopes said in a message to the Philippine News Agency on Wednesday.
She thanked the Office of House Speaker Martin Romualdez and the Tingog Party List for providing financial support to the competition. Another partner is the Leyte Normal University based in this city.
The Leyte provincial government and the local government of Palo also provided a PHP20,000 cash subsidy to all eight finalists in the competition.
Source: P
hilippines News Agency
