Congratulations, mau!



My friend Jerome has been rooting for her all this time - he even went out of his way to have his picture taken with her (that's him in green shirt and the photo was filched from his own blog, teehee).

Well, she made it. After all that has been said and done, talent prevailed. For a while there, I was skeptical about her chances because she clearly did not have the machinery - even her own grandmother does not have a cellphone - and she has a humble background.
But what do you know, Pinoys do know talent when they see one. So in the end, all that machinery and organized campaign by the other parties proved puny compared to the power of the people. Well, I personally voted for Mau 16 times (mahirap pala mag text ng ganun kadami and I did not have the patience to go beyond that) and for Gian 8 times. I felt I had to do my share to make sure the winner was someone who could truly represent the country abroad.

So, what can I say about the finale of the Philippine Idol?
It was a good thing we do have really great singing talents to make up for the awful technical problems (the lighting was really bad and the audio was often unrealiable) and the really baduy conceptualization of the show. Parang FAMAS show 1980 ang concept - meron pang mga dancers sa opening number at meron pang movable set a la Walang Tulugan for that Christmas number.
Whoever thought of putting Aiza Seguerra and Pow Chavez together in a number needs to be congratulated for a daring idea that could have failed miserably. Fortunately, both sung so well that the initial giggling and snickering among the audience eventually gave way to open appreciation. Whew. I guess it just proved once more that gender, looks, and other considerations become less important when genuine talent is present.
I liked the medley of Ryan Cayabyab songs - except that I would have wanted to hear them sing songs from Katy such as Entablado and Minsan Ang Minahal Ay Ako, songs which I feel represent Ryan's best. But I guess they didn't really have much time to prepare so they had to settle for more popular songs.
It was a good thing Pilita was asked to sing only a few bars of the last song because age seems to be really catching up on her. Her voice just isn't the same anymore and it was quite uncomfortable watching her try to scale those high notes. Too bad she has not been able to preserve her gift - unlike Barbra Streisand, for example, who sounds even better now that she is older.

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