Erneville Vinculado wins the silver medal for the Vocal Solo category for the Contemporary genre during the World Championships for the Performing Arts (WCOPA) in Long Beach, California held last July 12 to 21, 2019. | Contributed photo from Erneville Vinculado
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebuana singer Erneville Vinculado shares the one secret on how she made it to World Championships for the Performing Arts (WCOPA) 2019.
Vinculado said that her secret was honoring God and offering her every performance to Him, the giver of her talent.
“It was all because of God’s grace,” the 31-year-old singer told CDN Digital.
Vinculado is one of the four Cebuanos who brought pride to the country during the WCOPA 2019 held at Long Beach, California from July 12 to 21, 2019.
She bagged silver medal for the Vocal Solo Category for the Contemporary genre.
Read more: Cebuano singers bag medals for PH in World Championships of Performing Arts
Other Cebuano WCOPA 2019 medalists are Christian Cayobit, Vingenr Tan, and John Willace Tubalde.
Read more: Singers Christian Cayobit and Pinky Mari: Reaching the stars together
A native of Barangay Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City, Vinculado, works as an accounting staff. She comes from a family of singers. Her parents, aunts, uncles, and even cousins are inclined to music.
Vinculado started to perform on stage at the age of five with guitar accompaniment, and the first song she learned was, “Maging Sino Ka Man” by Rey Valera.
In October 2018, Vinculado was among the Cebuano hopefuls who auditioned at the SM City Cebu. She was encouraged by her friends to audition for the once in a lifetime opportunity.
Another motivation for her was when she learned that the Lapu-Lapu City government would also extend financial assistance to those who would qualify.
Vinculado recalled that she almost backed out because other auditionees also performed, Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” She thought that judges might compare her to the previous performances because of the same audition piece.
“I do not have a choice but to pursue because I already had my number. So I just said to myself that it would be okay if ever I would not qualify since I am not prepared,” she added.
When it was her turn to perform during the audition, she was looking at the judges and observed that they were talking to each other. She was then convinced that her performance was compared to others. Vinculado was about to go home when her friends stopped her and told her to wait for the results.
After five minutes, one of the staff from the organizing committee handed her a piece of paper.
“Congratulations, you are eligible to represent the Philippines,” she recalled.
During the WCOPA 2019, Vinculado joined three genres under the Vocal Solo Category which are Contemporary, Gospel, and Rhythm and Blues.
“First nako nga saka sa stage kay grabe ang kakulba,” she said.
(I was too nervous when I first went on stage.)
She performed Fantasia’s “I Believe” “Remember” (Lauren Daigle), and “Stand Up for Love” (Destiny’s Child) for Contemporary, Gospel and, Rhythm and Blues, respectively.
“Grabe akong kalipay, wala ko mag expect maka medal,” she said.
(I did not expect that I would win a medal for the Contemporary genre.)
Erneville Vinculado is a proud worship leader in a Born Again Christian Church in Lapu-Lapu City. | Contributed photo by Erneville Vinculado
Serve the Lord
The WCOPA 2019 is the first competition that she has ever joined.
But before she stepped into the international stage, Vinculado has been a worship leader in a Born Again Christian Church in Lapu-Lapu City since 2009.
The role of a worship leader is to lead the people to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth through songs.
When she joined WCOPA 2019, she realized that being a worship leader is very opposite to a performing artist.
“When you lead the people to worship, you need to humble yourself and you need to understand that it is not about you. The glory is all for the Lord. You are not performing for yourself. You are singing to please the Lord,” she said.
She also believes that when you offer your talent first to the giver of talents, God will elevate you.
Erneville Vinculado gives back through sharing her talent. She sings wedding songs for free. | Contributed photo by Erneville Vinculado
Aside from serving the church, Vinculado has another way of sharing her talent and giving back to the Lord by singing for free during weddings.
“It is my gift to the couple. Malipay lang ko mo serve nila through the talent that I have,” she told CDN Digital.
(It is my gift to the couple. I am happy to serve them through the talent that I have.)
Singing makes her happy and Vinculado feels happier too when she sees couples who are also happy while she sings their wedding songs.
“That is already a great return for me. Grabe pud ang favor sa Ginoo nako. Mura’g ang Ginoo na ang moreward ba,” Vinculado said.
(That is already a great return for me. God has given me a lot of favors and blessed me too much.)
After WCOPA 2019, Vinculado eyes of joining “Tawag ng Tanghalan”, a singing competition of ABS-CBN’s “It’s Showtime.” /dbs
