“Is she even human?”
This is one of the comments on a Youtube video of Gerphil Geraldine Flores singing “Impossible Dream” in the finals of the the “Asia’s Got Talent” contest held in Singapore.
Flores, a student of University of the Philippines College of Music taking BM Voice, electrified the world with a moving soprano rendition that gave the song an entirely fresh take. She garnered impresario David Foster’s enthusiastic support, who promised her “the world will know you.”
I was mesmerized by her performance, playing the final salvo over and over, where she sings, “To reach the unreachable star”, hitting a high note on what you’d think was the end of it, but she unleashes an even higher note on top of that – music pundits say it’s a D6 – and, incredibly, sustains it, reaching the unreachable note.
What makes her a consummate performer is that she not only has a voice that spans four octaves; she can also act. Her face is expressive, and she makes effective use of gestures and sweeping movements, a reflection of her theatrical background. Blues musician Binky Lampano, in a The Standard interview last March, says in music, “You need to tell a story.” Gerphil is a storyteller, and she has the instincts and chemistry that connect her to an audience and hold them spellbound.
In 2010, Flores joined ABS-CBN’s “Pilipinas Got Talent” contest. She called herself “Fame’’ back then, and in the finals belted out a touching version of “Via Dolorosa” that had the audience screaming with admiration, but that strangely left judges Kris Aquino and Ai-ai De las Alas unmoved.
They dissed the performance. Ai-Ai made excuses for the other finalist and said she picked him based on a previous performance: “[Fame], you are beautiful and you have a future, and Sherwin, even though he did not reach the high note, maybe he lacks sleep, but yesterday, he was perfect. In fairness, you were the one I voted through text, so I pick you.”
Kris insisted that Gerphil stick to music that is “age-appropriate. You are 19 years old so you should sing songs like that of Charice, so that people your age can relate.”
They harped on Gerphil’s beautiful voice and face, that she would be an actress, and famous. How shallow the path they were advocating, and Gerphil was right to stick to her guns when she told them, choking on tears, that she would not stop singing the classical songs she loves to sing.
Gerphil now stands vindicated, although it took five years and a tremendous exercise of will on her part to find a proper venue for her talent. And after Aquino and De Las Alas’s misstep in judging, contestants of a certain caliber now know they should choose the right contests if they want to go for a credible win.
Is this a tug-of-war between lowbrow and highbrow culture, Kris and Ai-ai representing the former? They agreed Gerphil had a good voice, but their criticisms came primarily from a commercial standpoint based on their knowledge of what is selling now in the marketplace and what it would take for Gerphil to succeed in the present milieu – the “right” genre and appearance or “packaging.”
Their advice did not stem from discernment of the quality of the music or her performance. To insist that Gerphil concentrate her career on bubblegum pop songs that are more to the masa’s taste insults those same so-called masses and their ability to appreciate good music wherever they find it, whatever the genre. For a true music fan, the distinctions between genres fade in the face of a genuine talent such as Gerphil’s, whom Foster described in the semi-finals as always singing in tune.
In terms of her name, Gerphil made a good move in dropping her erstwhile moniker, “Fame.” Perhaps it was confidence, perhaps hubris or wrong timing, but when she went back to being plain Gerphil, back to being herself, she soared as high as her highest notes.
Gerphil shows us all that a dream needn’t be impossible, it can become reality through determination, pluck, and hard work. She took the PGT rejection as a challenge, and she never stopped believing in herself, and now her self-confidence is paying off.
There is a bright future ahead of her, and we, her kababayan, will always be proud of our golden girl, and wish her well wherever destiny takes her, even to the farthest star.
Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Blog: http://jennyo.net