New Dawn Album: 'Bayan Ko' Edition Review

Written by Administrator on 04 January 2010. Posted in Latest News

I bought my New Dawn: Bayan Ko edition some days ago, and has since acquired 14 more copies for friends and acquaintances from other countries who wanted a copy, but I haven't opened my own or listened to it at all.

So for the first time I opened my New Darn CD and popped it on my player and immediately skipped to the last track. I was there on both Libera concerts (Manila and Cebu) and I have seen them perform Bayan Ko on both occasions, but hearing it on a studio tack is like hearing it for the first time. Off course its different without the overwhelming reaction of the crowd, but in the studio track you can actually hear the layer of voices that composed the song. It was indeed a beautiful rendition. Throughout the years I have heard this song sung by famous artists such as Kuh Ledesma, Freddie Aguilar and more recently Leah Salonga ( of Miss Saigon and Les Meserables fame) at the eulogy of former President Corazon Aquino, but Libera's version tops it all. I guess it is because it was sung with a group of boys from South London and offered as a gift to a grieving Nation. Just to know the hours they must have put into rehearsing the song and learning the language and its accent is just awe-inspiring. It was beautiful hearing Mini Ben and rising soloist Daniel Fontanaz join voices so to speak to lead the choir in this Prizeman arrangement.

I bet, even though those people who ordered the CD through me do not understand the language in Bayan Ko, they will be overtaken by the same magic that this haunting song expresses. Hope you all enjoy this bonus from Libera!

Footnote:

Special thanks to Mr. Roberto de Ocampo, the man behind the twin Libera concerts here, without whose help this bonus recording would not have been possible.

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