Kamote, Kalabaw

I stumbled upon this video on YouTube while searching for "Pinoy Idol". The moment I heard the very first few notes of the boy, I was mesmerized, tears welled in my eyes. Fantastic, angelic voice!

I was searching the YouTube for "pinoy idol". It gave me more than 3,000 results. I wanted to know which video had the highest hits and I found this video on the top list - an audition of 13 year old boy Andrew Johnston at the "Britain's Got Talent". The moment I heard the very first few notes, I was mesmerized. This is what talent is all about. The voice comes from within his heart and soul.

Let's look back at the finale of the very first, and the very last, "Philippine Idol" when Mau Marcelo won. Mau sang "Try It On My Own" and she was definitely good. Mau has one album to date. If Mau were part of the remaining Pinoy Idol finalists, she would still be the best. Ram Chaves would be the second best.

Last night's performances of the remaining 7 Idol hopefuls were good surpassing amateurish singing. Truly, these remaining hopefuls have improved. But, despite that, one of them will go home tonight. Based on last night's performances, Penelope, who sang "Weak" by Freestyle, is my best vocals. Her notes were exact, smooth and clean. Gretchen Espina, who sang "Ikaw Lang Ang Aking Mahal" by Brownman Revival, is my best stage performance. I enjoyed her performance. It was entertaining. The judges, however, didn't like it. Ram Chaves, who sang "Sandalan" by 6Cyclemind, as usual, delivered a very good performance and vocals. Daryl Celis, who sang "Nasaan Ka" by Pupil, did a simple rendition. He has improved a lot, yet, not better than Ram or Robby or Penelope. Warren, on the other hand, did a poor version of South Border's "Kahit Kailan". Kid Camaya also did a poor performance. He sang "Stay" by Cueshe. Jayann, who

Who will be out of the Idol tonight? Last night's performances of the top 8 were OK. Two of them I consider exceptional. Indeed, the remaining Idol hopefuls have improved a lot. Penelope and Daryl Celis did their job well. Ram Chaves had a bad beginning but nailed it on the second part of his song. Penelope has learned the dynamics of singing. That's good. Daryl started singing from his heart. That's also good. But next time, he should open his mouth well so that he could pronounce the words well and modulate his voice. Noticeably, when he's singing with the group, he barely opens his mouth. So who will be eliminated tonight? But before that, let's see how the cast-outs were doing. JJ Jr. performed in SOP (GMA7). He looked promising. He can be a popular young celebrity. Jeni Rawolle on the other hand, was singing ahead of the time signature. When singing with a group, she should learn how to sing in unison. I thought Kid Camaya or Jayann would be out of the Idol, bu

Last night's performances showcased the song popularized by Regene Velasquez. The best performance for me was that of Warren Antig who did a reggae version of "Urong Sulong". I'm surprised to hear Daryl Celis improved. He was able to sing "Paano Kita Iibigin" well. Good for Daryl! Singing from his heart improved his performance. Though it's normal to close one's eyes and turn your hear to the side when singing a heartfelt song, it should not be done all the time. For a beginner, it's OK. Another good performance was that of Penelope. The quality of her voice has improved. Ram's and Sue's performances were not good. The rest were just OK, nothing extraordinary. The judges praised Ram Chavez for a poor performance. When the judges did the same thing to Robby Navarro, the voting public eliminated him. Here's one of the best performances of Robby Navarro. Now that Robby Navarro is out of the Idol, the quality of Pinoy Idol has diminished.

I hope Daryl Celis would be able to read this. I have some tips for him which might help improve his performances that will make his fans happier and make him worth voting for. Hit the first note right The first note is very important. The first note creates first impression. If you started with a bad note, most likely you will be singing out of tune. So how do you hit the exact note? Preparation. Before you hit the first note, sing it in your head. Once the exact note has registered in your brain, it follows vocally you will be singing the exact note. Don't worry about the brain's multi-tasking ability. The brain is superior at that. In microseconds before you produce the sound from your vocal chords, you can actually prepare it first in your head. Sing with confidence Performing on stage can be nerve-racking. The technique is to imagine an empty auditorium. Imagine you have no audience at all, that you're alone on stage. Avoid eye contact especially to those in the front

Why an underdog like Daryl Celis keeps on winning? Filipinos are very sympathetic. The judges and Daryl's fellow idol hopefuls have been bombarding Daryl with a battery of negative comments. Daryl on the other hand kept his quiet, modestly accepting and respecting the negative criticisms even to the point of his embarrassment. It's a typical Filipino attitude that Filipinos love to love. Daryl is becoming to look like an outcast. He is aware that everybody wants him out. He is becoming the cause of elimination of the better contenders. On the other hand, Robby Navarro's elimination may make the other contenders jubilant for the reason that their greatest threat, who is also the judges' favorite, is now out of the game. Maybe, if the judges and the idol hopefuls wanted Daryl to be eliminated, they should start saying nice things about him. Did you know that as early as today, Daryl already has a web site. It's www.darylcelis.com. How does Daryl sound? Here's his

Who will be eliminated tonight? Based on their performances last night, here's my top 10. 1. Ram Chavez (Wish he could be original.) 2. Kid Camaya 3. Penelope 4. Warren Antig 5. Robby Navarro (He has become too confident. For the past two weeks, he's been singing out of tune.) 6. Toffer Rei 7. Jayann Bautista (Wish she could sing effortlessly.) 8. Gretchen Espina (Her brows have nothing to do with her singing but they make her face look arrogant and charmless.) 9. Daryl Celis (He has to polish his vocals to make it powerful.) 10. Sue Ellen Unfortunately, Robby Navarro is out of the game. Robby is one of the best, if not, the best of them all. He has the voice and the personality. So what happened? Here's my view. Three of them are from Pampanga, thus, he was not able the solid votes of his fellow Pampanguenos. His performance for the last two weeks were not good. He was singing out of tune, trying too hard to sound R&B. He has become too confident that even at times whe