Regine Velasquez on what happened at her Silver concert: 'There was a lesson for me to learn'

Dalawang araw matapos ang kanyang Silver anniversary concert ay live na nagpa-interview si Regine Velasquez sa H.O.T. TV, ang Sunday showbiz talk show ng GMA-7, kung saan isa sa mga host ang Asia’s Songbird. Ang nag-interview kay Regine kahapon, November 18, ay ang kanyang co-hosts na rin na sina Raymond Gutierrez, Jennylyn Mercado, at Roderick Paulate. Tinalakay sa panayam ang pagkakaputol ng concert ni Regine sa Mall of Asia Arena noong Biyernes, November 16, dahil sa pagkawala ng kanyang boses. THE VIRUS. Bagamat paos na paos pa rin ay ikinuwento ni Regine ang mga nangyari sa kanya bago ng concert. “I’m sick. I got a virus na hindi ko ma-explain. “Pero sa concert kasi… ang dami ring nagkaroon ng sakit sa amin na pare-parehong walang boses—so I also got it. “Si Direk Rowell [Santiago, concert director], my sister also had it, my son Nate also had it before me." Nung rehearsal pa lang ba ay naramdaman na niyang may sakit siya? “Actually kasi, two weeks before the concert, my son was already not feeling well. “He celebrated his birthday two weeks prior to the concert. “And I brought him to his doctor, so ganun, wala siyang boses, malat siya—as a baby, malat siya!" ang medyo natawang sabi ni Regine. Patuloy niya, “I was also feeling not very well, pero hindi ko masyadong iniinda. “Tapos nung week na nga nang magre-rehearse na ako, I was still okay. “I was singing all my songs ‘coz I needed to rehearse them. ‘Coz although they are my recorded songs, and I’ve sang them many times, marami sa kanila new arrangements. "So I needed… siyempre ganun naman talaga ang concert. Tsaka sanay ako dun—lahat ng concert, lahat kami dito sa Philippines, ang concert talaga, nagre-rehearse the week before. “By the time nung performance, batak na batak ka na talaga. So normally, hindi ka talaga nawawalan ng boses. “Unless you get sick." CANCELLING THE SHOW. Minutes before the concert, napag-isipan nga ba nilang i-cancel na lang ang show? Saad ni Regine, “Actually, the night before, yung dress tech namin, which is the fifteenth. So the night before of the concert, I had a fever that day. “So nag-medicine lang ako but, still, I was okay. “I was rehearsing but I wasn’t really singing, I was just going with the flow. “But that night, I noticed na I was already starting to cough, and it was different kasi masakit na masakit ang lalamunan ko. “But again, I still didn’t think anything of it. “The morning when I woke up, talagang I had no voice! So I started to panic na! “I told my husband [Ogie Alcasid], sabi ko, ‘What am I gonna do?’ “Tinawagan ko na yung kapatid ko [Cacai Mitra], sabi ko, ‘Should we cancel the show?’ “Because I didn’t wanna disappoint anybody… and I didn’t wanna disappoint, siyempre, yung sarili ko. “So yung repercussions ng pagka-cancel ng show, medyo malaki," ang nagsisimula nang umiyak na sabi ng Songbird. “Akala ko nga, na yung pinakamalaking desisyon na gagawin ko… I thought the hardest was to cancel the show. “Akala ko, iyon yung pinakamahirap na gagawin ko—ang mag-cancel ng show. "Hindi pala. “It was actually pushing through with the show that was the hardest thing pala I had to do, ‘coz I had no voice. “And, normally, it was funny because sa lahat ng mga nakakakilala sa akin, I would always tell them na, ‘I don’t have a voice!’ But when I sing [lumalabas]! Yes, I always have it. “Nakakatawa dahil, sa sarili ko, kilalang-kilala ko yung sarili ko, ito yung pinaka-reliable sa akin—yung boses ko. “My health will fail me, my brain, my eyesight, my two legs will fail me, but never my voice. Never. “I’ll open my mouth and, always, my voice will come out. “For the first time, nothing came out. “So it was very difficult, but it was a journey for me and it was a lesson. “There was a lesson for me to learn." NOT AFRAID. Saan niya kinuha ang lakas sa gitna ng mga pangyayari? Na kahit nakikitang nag-ii-struggle siya'y ibinigay pa rin niya ang makakaya nang gabing iyon? “I was telling my husband na… Minutes before the show, I was trying to vocalize, I was still trying to… “I was hoping for a miracle. I was hoping that something would come out. “But minutes before the show, I said to him [Ogie], ‘I think I’m gonna be okay. “And then he said to me after na, ‘Alam ko, you’re gonna be okay.’ “Kasi nakita raw niya na parang in-accept ko na raw na nothing was going to come out. “And for some reason, I was at peace with that. “And for the first time also, in my whole entire career, hindi ako natakot. “I was somehow at peace… “I don’t know why, but I think it was God telling me na, ‘I’m not gonna give you back your voice, but I will give you something better.’ “The love that I got from my audience that night was very humbling!" LESSON LEARNED. “So… yes, I did not get back… Yeah, I did not get to sing, hindi ako gumaling, hindi ako nakakanta, hindi ako nakapag-perform nang gusto ko sanang ibigay sa audience ko. “But binigyan ako ng lesson na napakalaki na… “Nagising nga ako dun sa sinabi ni Vice Ganda, e, na ano pa nga naman yung kailangan kong i-prove? “I have been doing this for twenty-five years. “And siguro, pagbali-baligtarin man, alam n’yo na kung… how I sound when I sing. “Parang iyon na yun, iyon yung lesson sa akin, na parang everybody was there to celebrate with me. “It wasn’t about me showing everybody na I still have it, that I can still do it. “It wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about me. “It was a celebration… It’s really for the fans! “Iyon yung experience na very humbling for me kasi I was really expecting talaga for the worst. “That people would start standing up and leave. I was expecting that. “I was expecting even na magbu-boo sila or yung magre-refund—I was expecting all of that already. “But as it turned out, hindi iyon yung nangyari." LOVE FROM THE AUDIENCE. Lahat ng tao sa Arena noong gabing iyon ay nanatili sa kanilang kinauupuan at wala ni isa mang umalis. Halos lahat din ay kumanta with the Songbird. “Iyon nga yung nakakatuwa, kasi parang ako dapat yung magpe-perform for them—ang ending, sila yung nag-perform for me. “So, maraming-maraming salamat sa lahat ng pumunta, nag-stay. “Yung totoo… kasi may lift yun, di ba, parang may elevation [sa stage]. "Nung itinataas na ako, feeling ko, yung tatalon ako sa bangin, yung ganun!" at napatawa ang Songbird. “Ganun yung feeling ko, pero for some reason, I wasn’t afraid ‘coz I know God was with me. “Tapos, ‘Sige na lang, ikakanta ko na lang!’ “Siguro ito na talaga yung magiging buhay ko—na kahit wala na akong maikanta, kakanta pa rin ako." Habang kumakanta na siya sa Arena that night, ano ang tumatakbo sa isip niya? “Gusto kong tumakbo, gusto ko nang tumakbo palabas ng MOA!" at muling tumawa si Regine. “Hindi ko alam, parang… kasi nga, first time nangyari sa akin na wala talagang lumalabas. “Kasi kahit… dati, pagka malat ako, pagka naka-tatlo o apat na kanta na ako, yung the rest, mani-mani na yun sa akin, e. Kahit malat na malat ako. “Kaya pag nagko-complain ako na ‘malat ako,’ no one would believe. “Pero first time talaga, at alam ko na hindi talaga siya lalabas, so kaya I just continued on with the show and… “May bago na nga akong title, e—Piyok Queen na!" at muling natawa ang Songbird. -- Rommel Gonzales, PEP