Testimonies of Faith, Hope, And Love, Year 2

The Bukas Palad Music Ministry, the voices and the composers behind the popular church songs such as Tanging Yaman, Hindi Kita Malilimutan, Anima Christi, One More Gift, and many more, is coming to Davao City to serenade everyone in the season of Advent and Christmas on December 9, 2023, at the Social Hall of the University of South Eastern Philippines.

In celebration of their 7 years of ministry, the San Pedro Cancer Support Community invites everyone to TESTIMONIES OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE, YEAR 2: a benefit concert featuring the inspiring stories of the SPCSC family and the music of Bukas Palad Music Ministry. Bukas Palad Music Ministry is a community of friends inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola to compose, record, and perform original Filipino religious music. Since 1986, The group has recorded 18 albums with the Jesuit Music Ministry, located at Ateneo de Manila University, and has performed in hundreds of solo concerts across the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Very few of the group’s members received formal musical training, but in its 37 years, they have grown to become an important force in Filipino music.

Many popular and well-loved praise songs in the Philippines were first sung and recorded by Bukas Palad. “Hindi Kita Malilimutan”, “Tanging Yaman”, “Sa ‘Yo Lamang”, “Anima Christi”, and “I Will Sing Forever” are but a few of the songs the group has sung and spread. The Music Ministry has produced almost three hundred original liturgical and inspirational songs composed by Fr. Manoling Francisco, S.J., Norman A. Agatep, Jandi I. Arboleda, and other Bukas Palad members. They continue to create new religious songs because the heart of Bukas Palad’s ministry is to give voice to people’s most fervent prayers. The Ministry hopes to put music to the desires and hopes that dwell in human hearts. Bukas Palad ministers with music by singing in liturgy. It believes that voices raised in prayerful song add grace and fervor to life’s pivotal moments. Masses, christenings, weddings, ordinations, and funerals are some occasions where they may be heard.

Bukas Palad is a highly acclaimed performing group in the Philippines. Their songs have been featured on countless occasions in concerts, on the radio, and on television. They have performed live in theaters, concert halls, convention centers, churches, and even shopping malls. Popular Filipino artists like Lea Salonga, Regine Velasquez, Gary V, Basil Valdez, Jamie Rivera, Joey Albert, Cooky Chua, and Noel Cabangon have recorded and popularized Bukas Palad songs. “Tanging Yaman”, “Hindi Kita Malilimutan”, “Sa ‘Yo Lamang”, and other Bukas Palad songs have even become theme songs and titles of movies and television shows. Finally, Bukas Palad hopes that other people begin to write and sing their own songs of praise and prayer and find their own voices. To this end, Bukas Palad conducts liturgical music workshops for parish communities and choral groups. They also conduct outreach activities for the marginalized, the elderly, the orphaned, the sick, and the imprisoned. (Ces B. Saavedra)