Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Agreda: Cathartic Songs in Christmas By Jesus Miguel Agreda Ubbog
AS I watched for probably the fifth time the DVD of the 2005 movie musical phenomenon "Rent" a couple of nights ago, a song in the movie kept repeating itself in my mind. It went like this, "In five hundred twenty-five thousand six-hundred minutes - How do you measure a year in the life?"
The song instantly became what my seemingly acronym-addicted generation call as LSS or the "last song syndrome." I sang "Seasons of Love" repeatedly in the shower, downloaded and saved it in my MP3 player, and hummed and even muttered a few lines of the song while riding a jeepney. I even made the song my phone’s ringtone. But aside from the song's seemingly catchy and addictive tune, while listening contemplatively to the song's lyrics, the more the song became trivial to me. It made me think on how well I fared in the past 23 years of my life.
Now that almost everyone is already looking forward to the long holidays, I suggest to everyone not only to be preoccupied with extravagant parties and lavish gift-giving but also to take time to contemplate and find ways to do away with their mistakes in order for all of us to enjoy an even more jovial Christmas and New Year's Day.
The ancient Greeks call this act of purging, cleansing and purifying oneself as Catharsis. The term Catharsis has also been adopted by modern psychotherapy, particularly Freudian psychoanalysis, to describe the act of expressing, or more accurately, experiencing deep emotions often associated with events in the individual's past which had originally been repressed or ignored and had never been adequately addressed or experienced. By looking for a song that would best express who you are and then contemplating on it or expressing it either through singing or dancing, one will be able to release emotions that have been repressed for a long time.
This is possibly one reason why many Filipinos tend to release their stress, tension and mood swings on songs they sing in karaoke. A good friend of mine who enjoys singing in karaoke bars when he felt depressed believes that singing sentimental songs creates a cathartic effect on him. After stretching his vocal cords to an almost nerve-splitting condition by belting out songs like Aegis' Luha and Bon Jovi's Bed of Roses, a happier aura would beam out of him the next day as he constantly displays his pearly whites. He would also greet me with a confident smile whenever I meet him around the city.
And now, as I write this, I'm still singing "Seasons of Love" to the point of annoying people at home. But who cares? I still sing "It's time now to sing out, though the story never ends. Let's celebrate, remember a year in the life of friends... Remember the love... Seasons of Love" because it brings back memories of friendships lost, gained and made even stronger through the years.
Aside from my loving family, friends play important and varied roles in my life. Some boost my ego, some provide shoulders for me to cry on and some never fail to make me laugh at times when I am down. For those who, like me, are already living their lives away from their parents, this is also a season to cherish our love for our friends.
With all these, "Seasons of Love" and the finale song of Rent entitled "No Day But Today" became my perfect cathartic songs for the holiday season. The lines of the finale song go this way "I can't control, my destiny, I trust my soul, my only hope is just to be. There's only now. There's only here. Give in to love or live in fear. No other path... No other way... No day but today."
Indeed, let's start to thank and enjoy the company of friends who stood by us through thick and thin no day but today. Merry Christmas to all!
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