“Christmas In Our Hearts”, A Filipino Christmas Classic

As the sun was rising on September 1st, the hosts of the popular morning show Unang Hirit were excited for a familiar guest. Jose Mari Chan, legendary singer-songwriter, is there once again to sing his biggest hit, “Christmas In Our Hearts”, which propelled his 1990 album of the same name to triple platinum. His performance of it has become a hearkening of the beginning of the “ber” months, i.e. the Christmas season. However, before he began, he told the hosts that he had come up with some new lyrics for the song. The hosts, somewhat surprised but still enamored by his charm, asked him to elaborate. The 75-year-old Mr. Chan obliged:

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Whenever I hear girls and boys singing carols in my mind

I remember the past when everything was fine

Whenever I see people giving gifts to those in need

I believe this Christmas, we should be there to lead

Let’s open up our hearts for a bright tomorrow

In any way we can and drive out all our sorrow

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Mr. Chan performed the song over a Zoom call, along with all of his children (some are better at singing than others). It was a heartwarming display of the value of family as the Christmas season approaches. He is clearly saddened by the possibility of no caroling in the streets in Christmastime, as the Extended Community Quarantine continues in the Philippines. He recognizes the important role of Christmas music in the Filipino celebration of it. Music triggers a cultural memory in a way that not many other types of media can; I am reminded of a scene in Davy Chou’s Golden Slumbers, where one of the cinephiles said that he can remember the songs and the actors that play them in the movies that he watched better than he can remember the faces of his own family members that died in the Cambodian genocide. Mr. Chan believes that now, more than ever, music should be used to ensure that Filipinos do not lose hope.

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The rest of the new lyrics become an open (if not generic) plea for a greater sense of generosity this season. There is something interesting about how this comes from Mr. Chan, both devout Catholic man and the “Father of Philippine Christmas Music” and a Chinese-Filipino CEO of an international sugar company. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Christmas as a tradition seems to have the power of breaking through socioeconomic lines. But while politicians have often used it as a power play, this is a rare case of a rich man being truly accepted in Filipino society through his music. There is something beautiful about children in the streets singing Mr. Chan’s lyrics, even though they may not know what all the English mean, because the “feeling” of Christmas translates completely (no analysis of Taglish is necessary here!).

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While my previous two Ripped from the Headlines posts were somewhat rooted in reality or pessimism, I wanted this post to emphasize the “magic” of Christmas in that sense. Even the personification of machismo, President Duterte, falls into the Christmas spirit: “Hintay na lang kayo, kaunti na lang talaga (Let’s all just wait, it’s only a bit [of time] left). By December, sabi ko [I said] in the fullness of God’s time, we will have a, hopefully, a COVID-free December and we can enjoy this Christmas season”, he opined. The Christmas season seems to be a key fabric that holds Philippine society together; bordering between sacred and profane, it allows for an “even-ing” of a very uneven society, even if only in the imagination.