Let’s sing!

“THIS is the part when I say I don’t want ya/I’m stronger than I’ve been before/This is the part when I break free/’Cause I can’t resist it no more.”

Kanta na lang ta oi.

That’s Ariana Grande’s “Break Free,” by the way. Which some losing candidates may adopt as a mantra as they break free from the political party that helped them lose in this year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).

Helped them lose? Harsh. What sounds bitter, er, better then? Hmmm. Take your pick: dropped them from the sample ballot, demoted them from essential to non-essential, sold them to the lowest bidder. Ouch.

Let’s sing pa more. “Close the window, calm the light/And it will be all right/No need to bother now/Let it out, let it all begin/Learn how to pretend.”

Those lyrics are from Rita Coolidge’s “We’re All Alone” which actually starts with “Outside the rain begins/And it may never end.” But it did end. The ulan-ulan, that is. And the Pinoy now has to pretend that it didn’t happen at all? Time to move forward and all that jazz? Since “Once a story’s told/It can’t help but grow old,” as the same song goes.

The concert that the Pinoy may be looking forward to now is not that of Grande or Coolidge, though, unless he’s their fan.

If a Pinoy music fan is exactly like me, then, he must have been waiting also for Rivermaya’s reunion since forever, and it’s finally happening on Feb. 17, 2024. Yes, 17—my favorite number no less.

But it will be held at the SMDC Festival Grounds. This is the kind of venue that my senior moment had enough of, thanks to Coldplay’s “A Head Full of Dreams Tour Manila” in April 2017 held at the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds where we rubbed elbows with Luis Manzano and Jessy Mendiola who were standing right beside us. Operative word: standing. For many hours. That’s what the audience does at festival or concert grounds. While praying for a “Starry, starry night,” as the Don McLean song goes.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Pinoy appreciates ulan-ulan only during the elections. As for the real rain, the kind that makes him drenched to his skin, he appreciates it only when he’s already home with his sikwate, puto maya, and mango. But not while watching a concert. So, there he is at some grounds, waiting for his favorite band, ready with an umbrella in case the starry, starry night will morph into a rainy, rainy night.

If the losing BSKE candidate has still not managed to move on by February 2024, he should watch the Rivermaya reunion concert and sing along with their “Hindi mo maintindihan/Kung ba’t ikaw ang napapag-trip-an/Ng halik ng kamalasan/Ginapang mong marahan ang hagdanan/Para lamang makidlatan/Sa kaitaas-taasan, ngunit/Kaibigan, huwag kang magpapasindak/Kaibigan, easy lang sa iyak/Dahil wala ring mangyayari, tayo’y walang mapapala/Huwag mong pigilan ang pagbuhos ng ulan/May panahon para maging hari, may panahon para madapa/Dahil ang buhay natin ay sadyang ganyan/Umaaraw, umuulan/Umaaraw, umuulan/Ang buhay ay sadyang ganyan/Umaaraw, umuulan.”