Would Christmas in Baguio be complete without a good blast of Handel’s Messiah? Nah.

To go without hearing “Messiah” in some form or other would border on having no Christmas tree or no noche buena. Handel’s music reaches deep into our hearts, bringing us back to the true meaning of the season as we were taught when we were teens at UBSHS, as we know it. And as we listen, we forget the years that had passed, the trials we’ve been through, the relationships gone sour, battles won and lost. We simply hear the music and its joyous spiritual message.

That’s why in true celebration of the Christmas story and the good fortune of coming together after 30 years, the reunion participants gathered round the bonfire on that joyful evening of December 27, 2003 to "make a joyful noise" and perform Handel's oratorio, the Messiah. Before that we had performed a hodge-podge of songs we used to love to belt out at the top of our voices, which was usually followed by a scolding from Emmet.

And so there, despite the flaws, the slips, the forgotten mumbled lyrics, our singing had an emotional transparency that allowed the music to speak with its own strength. Under Emmet’s rhythmic drive the notes unfolded once more in the flickering shadows cast by the fire, not unlike the chiaroscuro of a Baroque painting (which was the milieu of Handel’s Messiah)---alas, breaking down soon after that. We were unable to proceed with the Hallelujahs. It was simply too long ago, and we were all rusty.

But after Handel it became a concert of sorts. We sang our songs when we were boys and girls in the schola cantorum of our high school days, featuring Hurry Sundown, Pastores a belen, Just a Little Boy, There’s a smile upon your face, Emmet Brown, etc. It was an impromptu choir of less than 20 voices, under the direction of the old master and UBSHS music director, minus the piano and the orchestra—joke! Of course we never had the opportunity to sing with an orchestra, but it would have been glorious.

Our performance was wonderful to hear and watch, from the look of joy on the faces of the choristers as we sang out in pure tones once again, the words at first vague but later coming out naturally as our voices soared into that clear, cold night of the 27th of December.

No wonder that days after the event, Nathan was still singing our songs. More infectious than bird flu, the tunes stuck in Nates’ head, although he was unable to remember some of the words.

So for Nates’ and everybody’s benefit, here are some of our songs once again, the songs we loved to sing, for your reading and singing pleasure. C’mon, belt them out guys. Enjoy!

I know this is just a sampling of the spectrum of songs we used to perform. Help me out, send me the lyrics and I’ll post it.

Tom Consolacion