Featured Filipino performers who banded together to form one huge group were members of the Abu Dhabi Concert Chorus, Dubai Vocal Ensemble, Filipino Social Club Chorale, Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit at Mananayaw sa Abu Dhabi, St. Mary’s Filipino Community Choir and 10-year-old Dubai-born Filipino Peter Rosalita.
Filipinos and foreigners alike experienced a sample of the unique brand of Filipino Christmas, as Paskong Pinoy Christmas chorale concert top-billed the first week of the December program at the ongoing World’s Fair in Dubai.
The Philippine Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) assembled a 190-member performing ensemble composed of four Abu Dhabi and Dubai-based Filipino choirs, one performing arts group and a young Filipino finalist from an international singing competition.
The performers were the Abu Dhabi Concert Chorus, Dubai Vocal Ensemble, Filipino Social Club Chorale, Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit at Mananayaw sa Abu Dhabi, St. Mary’s Filipino Community Choir and the 10-year old Abu Dhabi-born Peter Rosalita, who was a finalist at “America’s Got Talent.”
The concert was held at the Jubilee Stage, the Expo’s largest performance venue, to the enjoyment and amazement of thousands of Expo visitors from different countries. Adding an unmistakable Pinoy holiday feel to the show were the famous “ParulSampernandu” lanterns, which made the stage more festive with their dancing lights.
A special video message from the UAE’s Minister of Culture and Youth Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi was featured during the show, which drew applause from the audience for praising the Filipinos, saying, “We in the UAE admire the work, culture, and the ever-friendly and smiling nature of our brothers and sisters from the Philippines. You have become an integral part of our social fabric.”
Paskong Pinoy sa World Expo was the brainchild of Philippine Ambassador to the UAE, Hjayceelyn M. Quintana, who has organized the Paskong Pinoy chorale concert as an annual event in all her current and previous diplomatic posts. Amb. Quintana said that Paskong Pinoy, or Filipino Christmas captures everything that is beautiful in the Filipinos and in their culture and traditions.
