Loboc Children’s Choir to sing for visiting Japanese royals

“HO, HO, fireflies!” goes the Japanese folk song “Hotaru Koi,” a fun and light ditty that stirs the spirit and evokes the warmth of home.

Such will be the image in the minds of the young and well-traveled members of the Loboc Children’s Choir when they sing the song on Wednesday evening for Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

“It’s a music of joy. Whenever we sing it, we imagine we are home and there are fireflies,” said one of the senior members of the choir, 14-year-old Katja Anne Mahawan.

“Hotaru Koi” literally means “Ho, Firefly!” a popular Japanese children’s song for catching fireflies that dates back to that country’s Edo period.

The world-renowned choral group from the small town of Loboc in Bohol province will sing five pieces at the dinner in Malacañang for the imperial couple—the first time of this batch to perform in front of royalty.

“We are excited. We practice every day. We review our songs in our head,” said Kara Alcala, 15.

She said “Hotaru Koi” was the toughest song on their list and not on their usual repertoire. “We needed to make sure we got the pronunciation of words right.”

The other songs the choir will perform are “Light of a Million Mornings,” “Colors of the Wind,” “Nella Fantazia” and “Larong Pinoy.”

Alma Fernando-Taldo, the choir’s long-running musical director and conductor, said rehearsals had been “hectic.”

“We could only have rehearsals after school hours. That’s from 5 to 7 p.m. On weekends, it’s the same as school days but we start earlier at 3 p.m.,” the choirmaster said.

ACROSS GENERATIONS Japan’s Empress Michiko and Emperor Akihito meet students from Manila Japanese School upon their arrival at Sofitel Plaza in Pasay City on Tuesday. The two monarchs are on a historic five-day visit to the country to strengthen the relations between the two countries. LYN RILLON

She said the final list of songs had to be approved by the Office of the President. “We proposed a list of almost 20 songs to Malacañang. They were the ones who selected the songs.”

The entire performance is expected to last 20 minutes.

Taldo said Palace officials must have wanted a list that was a “mix of inspirational and happy music.”

“We were so nervous when we learned about this. It’s our first time to sing before royalty,” said Marjorie Mandin, 14.

A previous batch of the choir performed for Queen Sofia of Spain in 2002.

The Loboc choir’s performance is sponsored by the Liwayway Group of Companies, maker of the popular snack food brand Oishi, whose chair emeritus, Carlos Chan, is a longtime benefactor of the choir.

The choral group is composed of students of Loboc Central Elementary School, from ages 9 to 13.

The group bagged the grand prize at the 6th International Folk Songs Festival in Spain in 2003. It also won second place in the youth choir category of the 12th China International Chorus Festival in 2014.

After the killer quake of October 2013, the children sang in front of the ruins of Loboc Church, touching the hearts of everyone.