Their Songs Inspire the Heart

I first had a taste of their inspiring performance when the kids rendered a number during the launching of Catholic Mass Media Award at St. Peter’s Auditorium in August last year. A month later, I had the chance to see them perform at the Plenary Hall of Central Bank here in Davao in a show titled “Tagumpay”. In both instances they never failed to warm my heart.

The kids I’m talking about belong to a performing group called Songspell who’s got a four-year old as its youngest member.

The Songspell foundation as the group is legally known, started from an inspiration by Nelly Castro, Songspell’s Musical Director. Nelly, inspired by the successful performances of her two child proteges (Ana Basa and Kia Ledesma) in the musical production of “Les Miserables”, thought of starting a musical workshop. That single seed of inspiration grew and bore fruit as the number of children who came for training increased.

The first workshop consisting of 22 students had their initial musical rendition at Kristin’s Restaurant. The performance drew a lot of attention and inquiries from people who became interested to enroll their children in the foundation’s training program.

Since March 1996, the foundation has conducted three summer and school year workshops. The children come every day during summer while on school year workshops the kids meet only on Saturdays from 2:00 to 5:00 PM.

Speaking to Lita Olaguer, the foundation’s treasurer, I could feel the sense of commitment not only in her but also among the other members of the foundation who are actually the parents of the children. Lita shares with all simplicity the struggles and the hopes of the foundation to train children in the area of performing arts. According to her Songspell Foundation envisions to discover, develop, enhance and promote the musical abilities of Davao children who will provide excellent performances to various communities. This is precisely the reason why the foundation put up a scholarship program for poor but gifted children.
I guess Lita at this point feels a bit consoled that the foundation appears to be gaining ground. The children have already a series of performances to their credit. Those performances have all been enthusiastically received plus the fact that the kids have also been invited outside Davao. They have already performed in Mati and in Bohol. The children understandably are very enthusiastic. They are setting their sights to further places. In the States, perhaps? Who knows?

The foundation boasts of 56 students at present. The group meets at Woodridge Clubhouse for its weekly session every Saturday afternoon. This time, their weekly sessions are spiced up by their anticipation of an upcoming concert in Samal, to celebrate the Garden City’s anniversary of cityhood on March 6.

The kids will cap their yearlong workshop with a recital titled “Best of Broadway” on April 17 at Woodridge Clubhouse in Maa. Aimed to showcase their God-given talents, the children will sing, dance, choreograph and direct their performances.