Palo Grand Choir ready to sing for Papal Mass at Tacloban airport

Having rehearsed for less than two weeks, the 250-member grand choir that will lead the singing during Pope Francis’ Mass at the apron of the Tacloban City airport on Saturday this week said they are up to the task.

“We’re doing good and we’re ready. In a scale of 1 to 10, we’re 10 in terms of being prepared,” said Melvin Corpin, the director of the group composed of choir members from eight parishes in the Archdiocese of Palo.

Accompanying the choir is a 70-piece orchestra from Palo. The liturgical hymns are mostly in Waray, the dialect used in Leyte.

Corpin said it was the Holy Father himself, through Vatican emissaries, who expressed the desire to have the songs in the dialect understood by majority of the people who will attend the Mass.

“The pope wants the people to join in singing the songs during the Mass. He doesn’t want the choir to do it alone,” he said. Corpin said the archdiocese decided to use common songs during the papal Mass so people can sing along.

Favorite hymns
“Some people are surprised why we began the rehearsals only last Jan. 5. It’s because most of the songs we will use in the Mass are familiar to the people. They have been singing these songs in their respective parishes since 2012,” he said.

Corpin composed a set of liturgical songs in time for the installation of Most Reverend John Du as Archbishop of Palo on Feb. 25, 2012.

Among the songs he composed and will be used during the papal Mass at the Daniel Romualdez airport in Tacloban are “Ha Imo La” (Yours Alone), “Lamrag” (Light), “Halad Ko” (My Offering), and “An Dios Gud La” (God Alone).

The grand choir is also practicing songs in Latin such as Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” (Hail, True Body) and “Panis Angelicus” (Bread of Angels).

They will also sing Jamie Rivera’s “We Are All God’s Children”–the official hymn of Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines–and a Spanish hymn entitled Amigo (Friend), which Corpin said is among the favorite hymns of the Holy Father.

Music ministry
Since Jan. 5, the group held their rehearsals at the St. Therese Educational Foundation of Tacloban Inc. or STEFTI gymnasium.

They transferred to the airport yesterday for the final stretch of their preparations.

Directing the grand choir for the papal Mass in Palo came as a surprise for Corpin, a renowned musician born in Tacloban City who had resided in the U.S. since 2008.

He said he didn’t have plans to return to Tacloban City for the papal visit. But his brother, a lawyer, recommended to the archdiocese that he lead the grand choir for the Mass that will be presided over by Pope Francis.

“I told our priest that whatever songs you need, I’m going to send it through email or Facebook. I had no idea that I’ll be actually directing the choir,” said Corpin who has been helping the Archdiocese of Palo in its music ministry.

Challenges
He said his sister who works as a doctor had to pay for his plane fare from Las Vegas back to Tacloban City so he could lead the grand choir. “I’m extremely honored to direct this choir and orchestra,”

To ensure that the choir will be heard by everyone in the airport, Corpin requested that 20 to 25 microphones be set up at the area designated for them.

Fr. Raymund Mazo, chairperson of the Commission on Liturgical Music of the Palo Archdiocese, said members of the grand choir for the papal Mass were selected based on two requirements.

“First, they must be parish-based. Second, they have to be involved in archdiocesan affairs,” he said.

Mazo said several choir groups in the archdiocese wanted to be part of the grand choir but he could not accommodate everyone.

“Many are interested. But I can only select 250 members. That’s one of the challenges I encountered in forming the group. In the process, many got disappointed at me,” he said.

Mazo said he prioritized those who are part of previous archdiocesan gatherings and just added some choir members for the papal Mass. “The group is now ready. We’re just doing some refining on some details we have to attend to,” he said.