Despiser of the Musically Ignorant

          I would like to believe that the hypocrites denizens of this country are musically inclined. I mean, most must have at least a karaoke system or something similar, lying around in their house. Reflective in fact even on how grand, for example, we pride ourselves of international (now) Filipino singers? To name a few, we have Charice Pempengco (who, I think, has grown her head bigger than her chubby cheeks), Thia Megia (American Idol 2011 Contestant), Maria Aragon (YouTube sensation who covered Mother Monster/Lady Gaga’s epic song, Born This Way) and many other personalities who didn’t even know they are Filipinos, not until real Filipinos claimed with much insistence that they have at least a drop of kayumanggi blood swimming in their veins. Ang kakapal ng mukha niyo natin!

          On a side note, that is interestingly not the case with my family. It's not that we are not music lovers. It's just that we have our own genre. Kanya-kanya ng iPod playlist! I remember my Dad asking me about the range of prices of a Magic Sing, for our youngest has been insisting for one eversince she was born (!). I estimated – about Php. 10,000-20,000? And that was all there is of the story, end of discussion. I may perhaps understand him. I mean, it’s trivial to slash out such an amount if one alone is to enjoy it, while others are left in the corner, eardrums shattered to pieces and ears oozing with sperm blood. Well, we had a karaoke once but it was for our bar business. But how will it click with me if I want to belch out a Mariah or Beyonce when it only has sex-induced songs? Forget it, my friend!

          Back on track, given that the majority of us really are so into music or pretend to be, my question is: why have we not developed the decency or ethics towards music, performers, or something related of the sort? Why can we not regard them with the same respect as we do to our most terrifying professors? Although, the latter point is not really respect in the absolute sense, but rather out of fear. 

          I recently attended a comedy show musical recital, and I have never been pissed in my life for the unexpected/expected (in some way) reactions of the audience. On the Piano Segment, for example, you hear unnecessary noises – chatting groups in different corners, laughing, clearing throats or breathing deeply (annoying), flirting. I don’t understand why they are so un-hygienically or unethically competent after much (!) years of Philosophical, Theological and Canonical barbarism training. I can't believe how useless or inapplicable they have become. Have they cheated their way through? Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

          Yes, some of the musical pieces are simple, like the one composed by a German, famous for his combination of bass notes (or at the very least, that’s what I have heard). But you do not get to laugh at them. Some singers look stupid with their awkward hand gestures or facial expressions. But you do not get to laugh at them. Some guy apparently looks as if he has just come out of his grave, ready to eat human brain. But you do not get to laugh at him. You don’t get to laugh at anyone at all. If there’s something to laugh at, you laugh at the thought of it, not at the person. You laugh at the very idea of imbalance that you perceive, not the person, not what you see. You laugh because you are rational (one of the unique properties of the human race is risibility – the ability to laugh). If you use that well or at least know how to use it in the first place, then you should not be laughing or should not have laughed. How dare you!

          

For one, I was on the brink of believing that the show I have attended to was a comedy, because of the constant trend of fuck-you-loser laughter or get-the-hell-out-of-there before, during and after a performance. I intentionally asked my seat mate, "Ano ang nakakatawa?" for he was laughing himself. Yet, I received an I-do-not-know answer. What is there then to laugh at?! He might have noticed my irritation or indifference to the rowdy environment that he kept quiet afterwards.

          The noise has drowned the musicality and theatricality of the show like an unprecedented tsunami. It has shaken the little courage left of the performers as though a 9.0 magnitude earthquake has disturbed them from the ground up. It was a you-can-laugh-at-me-for-looking-stupid thanksgiving recital. Their mentors were there obviously observant and aware of what were said. On my part, it is as if saying to them, at their back, that the product of a year-long lesson in voice or any musical instrument is fucked-up nada (nothing)! After the event, I think it is so ironic to thank those snakes brothers who have given their unending crap support (or something like that) when all they did and preoccupied themselves with are the imperfections of the show – to have something to amuse themselves with.

          I do think it is alright to exalt ourselves as more and more Filipinos dominate the international scene, but at the expense of what? I admire Westerners for their somewhat sympathetic and sensitive attitude towards anyone speaking or performing on stage. In their place, the rate of one’s success or impact is measured by the number of times the audience stood up from their comfortable seats for a standing ovation. We could have done the same or even better. We are lovers of music after all, right? No?

Examine yourselves!