Charice

By Ramil Digal Gulle, abs-cbnNEWS.com

"Hi Charice. Hi sweetheart. I have to tell you that I am speechless, to
start with–and it’s not a good way to start–I have, hmm, I have heard
you sing. I have seen some, a little bit of your life story. And I am
extremely ecstatic like the rest of the world who is watching right
now. I can tell you that we have lots of things in common. And I also
had a mother, still have a mother, who is my strength. My passion I
carry in my heart. And so my beauty. And David Foster, you cannot even
think of finding somebody even better than that to bring the best out
of you. You have more talent than most people."

These were the
words of a mother with a seven-year-old son who spoke to 15-year-old
Filipina singer Charice Pempengco during an episode of Oprah. Charice,
who has been the toast of music lovers all over the world, has probably
heard similar praise before.

The difference is, the mother speaking via video conference from Washington, D.C. happens to be Celine Dion.

The magical moment, the words, the shocked expression on Charice’s
face when she realizes it’s Celine Dion talking to her, are all
captured in a YouTube link sent to abs-cbnNEWS.com. It’s all there at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkLjVJOH41U

But that’s not all. Dion goes on with her message to Charice with even more good news for the young Filipina:

"You can sing. You can speak and sing with your heart. You can play the
guitar… And you can have dreams because your life story is quite a
painful one. Thank God your strength comes from your mother and your
heart will go on and I’m pretty sure of that.

"And if I may
I would love to propose something. I would love to do something very
special with you. Next week, I’m gonna be singing at Madison Square
Garden and I would love to ask you to come and sing a duet with me. And
we can sing together. Maybe we can sing "Because You Loved Me", and
maybe we can dedicate this song to your mother. So I hope you can
travel and come in New York to meet with me," Dion told Charice. According to www.oprah.com,
Dion will perform at Madison Square Garden on September 15 and 16. (For
the complete list of tour dates and venues go to this link: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080908_tows_celine)

Dream come true

Charice has met with a measure of international success but that moment
with Dion is so far the peak experience for the former. Charice has
always been open about her admiration for Dion, revealing that the very
first song she learned to perform was the Canadian superstar’s "My
Heart Will Go On" which was the love theme of the Hollywood global
blockbuster "Titanic".

It wasn’t exactly God speaking to
Charice, but that was probably the closest the Filipina singer could
get to a similar experience. This was Celine Dion inviting her to sing
a duet in Madison Square Garden!

No other Filipino singer has ever been bestowed with such an honor by a singer of such immense, global stature as Dion.

Dion in her message also told Oprah, "You have somebody amazing", referring to the Filipina.

Dion, who earlier told Charice that she could find no better person
than David Foster to bring out her talent, then told Foster:

"David, take good care of that girl."

Dion is currently on a worldwide tour and will perform in every major
city in North America. Dion’s Madison Square Garden performance is part
of that tour–and now Charice has received a personal invitation from
the superstar to sing there as well.

Under wraps

abs-cbnNEWS.com a few months ago already received unconfirmed reports
that there were talks for Charice to perform with "somebody really,
really big" in the musical firmament.  However, there was no way to
confirm if the news was true, nor the identity of the "really big"
music superstar.

All sources available to abs-cbnNEWS.com were keeping information about the talks very tightly under wraps.

Until the YouTube links were emailed to abs-cbnNEWS.com by an alert reader.

The Oprah episode did a substantial report about Charice, her career
and the painful experiences in her life and her triumphs, including an
exclusive performance with international tenor Andrea Bocelli in
Tuscany. You can watch the report on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii4jUSmFwUA

Perhaps, this story of a young Filipina singer’s success is just what
we need to hear to make us feel better, especially with all the bad
news coming to us about our Court of Appeals, which has begun to seem
very unappealing by the day.

If only, like Charice, more of us
could reach for better, loftier things for ourselves and our fellow
Filipinos, at a time when even some supposedly honorable members of the
judiciary seem to have become comfortable debasing themselves.