It all started when the internationally renowned Filipino choral group – the Loboc Children’s Choir of Loboc, Bohol – sang the Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli classic ‘The Prayer’ on national television.
Like a ripple, the message of hope from these children who are earthquake survivors themselves inspired many other Filipinos to do their share in helping their countrymen recover from the disaster.
To amplify these children’s voices, the Philippines’ biggest music artists came together to join the choir, give life to the song anew, and help Filipinos affected not just by the Bohol earthquake but also by the recent super typhoon that ravaged Leyte, Samar and nearby regions.
“These children may be from Bohol, but their innocent voices represent not just their home province but also earthquake-damaged Cebu, war-stricken Zamboanga, and typhoon-devastated Leyte, Samar and Iloilo — all of whom are praying for a miracle to allow them to rebuild their lives,” said Ramon Chuaying of the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI).
“We asked the help of various Filipino artists, to lend their voices, to represent our country and show the world that the Philippines has one voice, one prayer — that we work together to help our countrymen rebuild their lives brick by brick,” he added.
.jpg)
According to Ito Rapadas of Universal Records, who produced and recorded the song, convincing the artists to contribute was easy once they appreciated and understood the uniqueness of the project.
“A couple of the popular artists who agreed to sing the song inquired why instead of using a new and original Filipino song, we used a foreign song for this project. We said the project was started and inspired by the viral video of the Loboc Children’s Choir singing in an impromptu manner in front of the rubble of the old church of Loboc after the earthquake,” said Rapadas.
“We highlighted the children’s choir and their choice of song which is The Prayer, not only because they started the idea, but because they are survivors of a natural disaster and they represent the resiliency of all survivors of both the Bohol earthquake and Typhoon Yolanda,” Rapadas added.
For this project the PARI worked with DDB Philippines to gather 23 music artists to record ‘The Prayer’ with the Loboc Children’s Choir. The song was released by Smart Music through its SPINNR digital music store (spinnr.ph) and all proceeds will go to the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation’s Help.PH initiative to help in the immediate relief and community rebuilding efforts in affected areas through resettlement, education and livelihood.
‘The Prayer’ features the voices of top Filipino music icons singing with the Loboc Children’s Choir. These artists are Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Kuh Ledesma, Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, ZsaZsa Padilla and Lani Misalucha.
They are also joined by topnotch Filipino performers from various record labels who agreed to unite in this project – Noel Cabangon, Christian Bautista, Billy Crawford, Anne Curtis, Rachelle Ann Go, Erik Santos, Richard Poon, Yeng Constantino, Angeline Quinto, Karylle, Jay R, Nikki Gil, Kris Lawrence, Iya Villania, Nyoy Volante and Sabrina.
Production was supervised by maestro Ryan Cayabyab who heads the Philipop MusicFest Foundation.
“It’s a beautiful and inspiring version that we can all be proud of. This is probably the biggest gathering of today’s biggest music artists in a single song, and we are glad that these artists all responded to our call to help rebuild the lives of our countrymen by sharing their time and talent,” said Mellissa Limcaoco of Smart Music.
“Now we are encouraging everyone to please support the cause and help our fellow Filipinos rise again. By simply purchasing a copy of this song for only P10, not only are you helping spread the message of hope but you are directly contributing to the Help PH campaign of the PDRF,” she added.
Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular subscribers can purchase the song by visiting and registering their mobile phone numbers at spinnr.ph via web, mobile browser or the Spinnr mobile app for Android Smartphones. Payment will be deducted from the prepaid load or charged to the subscriber’s postpaid bill so a credit card is not needed to support this cause.
To help in Smart Music’s advocacy of aiding earthquake and typhoon survivors through music, visit spinnr.ph and download the collection of songs for the benefit of Help PH. For more information about Help PH and the many ways you can send help wherever you are in the world, visit www.help.ph.
Thank you for reading this post! If you like this post, please share it on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Invite us to your events and gatherings for a write-up or coverage: press/blog conferences, product launching, food tasting, demonstrations, exhibits, advocacy events, etc. If you have something to say – comments, suggestions, reactions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below. For more, email us at aolionheart@yahoo.com
