Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan, Pilipinas! 

Happy Indepence Day to the land of my birth. 

In the 1970’s, Maestro moved to New York City. In these early years, he was very lonely with no stable network of friends to support and anchor him so his compositions often expressed reminiscences of his childhood years and of patriotism. An example is Huling Pagsamo (The Last Plea), one of his first serious songs in Kundiman form (a traditional Filipino genre of art song). He composed it before receiving proper formal music training but it is a song that has been celebrated by his peers and of which he is still proud. It is a Nationalistic song wherein he asks his countrymen if they see the plight of their people. The purpose of the song is to instill pride and inspiration to continue the work of the Filipino heroes who fought for the country, so that their dreams were not in vain.

What an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to study this piece with Maestro. He conveyed to me the images in his mind as he composed this piece and how exactly he envisioned the words to be expressed and sung. I feel very fortunate and grateful to have been given this time to learn from the composer himself. A very special thank you also to Evelyn Mandac who taught me the vocal mechanics and more to sing this song. I am so blessed to have such amazing mentors.