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Sunday, March 16, 2003
Jamie: modern-day minstrel of God
By Orlando J. Cajegas
If most of us are born with a mission, Jamie Rivera believes hers is to spread the Good News and be a modern-day minstrel for God. How else, she surmises, do you explain her victory at the Yamaha Musicmate tilt many years back, the Miss Saigon stint, the hit song, Hey It’s Me and the runaway winners Jubilee Song and Heal Our Land and now the phenomenal Only Selfless Love? Jamie would like to believe it’s a matter of destiny.
It’s Divine Providence, God’s long-term plan. He gave me a taste of celebrity and molded me as a singer,” she muses. This way, she was able to build a solid following (read: fans) who readily accepted what she offered, from pop songs to gospel music.
Jamie was not even looking for it at first. Her older brother Jun, whom she describes as her adviser and idol, happened to be a member of the Lingkod ng Panginoon Charismatic group. It was he, together with other friends, who conceptualized the Jubilee album for Star Records, where he is also a religious consultant.
It was but natural for him to ask Jamie to record her own version of Jubilee Song, never mind if other artists had interpreted it before. And it was but natural for Jamie to say yes.
Jamie’s version, as we know by now, became a hit.
Maybe because it had the seal granted to us by the Philippine Solidarity Fund, and I religiously attended all the events related to promoting the song,” Jamie explains the secret behind its success.
By events, she means conventions, talks in Catholic schools sponsored by her recording studio, Star Records, Mass offerings, Jamie tirelessly promoted the album through mall shows and concerts, came even to Ormoc, Leyte and Cebu, where she spent one whole morning reaching out to whoever cared to listen, especially students.
I sing as naturally as I can so people can easily sing along,” Jamie says, at the same time revealing the secret behind the success of her other inspirational songs like Heal Our Land, and the latest, Only Selfless Love, composed for the Fourth World Meeting of Families held ast Jan. 22 to 26 this year.
Since the Pope’s trip to the Philippines didn’t push through, we felt the need to promote the album more. That’s why I am promoting Only Selfless Love as much as I can,” says Jamie.
The song, composed by Fr. Carlo Magno Marcelo, is very Jamie. It talks about the Holy Family, home, mercy, faith, hope, peace and love. The album has reached the gold mark and is turning platinum.
Jamie is particularly proud of the instructional video that shows how one can interpret the song using simple hand movements. This, Jamie says, is for those without DVD in their homes.
As is her wont, Jamie surely sang Only Selfless Love with joy when she performed here in Cebu Coliseum recently in an evangelical concert called A Night of Selflesss Love with Bo Sanchez, Jeanne Young, Chad Borja, Adrian Panganiban and the One In Him band.
Star Records has also tied up with former President Cory Aquino’s Prayer Power Movement, which visits different schools to pray the rosary and render inspirational messages in schools nationwide. For Jamie, this means singing Only Selfless Love in schools where the movement goes. (Jamie is also part of the Mysteries of Light album, where our very own Ricardo Cardinal Vidal prayed one decade of the new mystery.)
It’s not an easy task for a mother like Jamie, who has to leave her six-year-old daughter Reine and her businessman husband behind, while she goes around the country as a modern-day bearer of the Good News. But it’s something she has to do, and with all her heart and soul at that.
After all, wearing her faith on her sleeve is something Jamie not only does all the time, it’s something she’s proud of. “No its not a liability to show your faith on stage,” she asserts. And yes, she doesn’t mind being abstrusely called the ‘Inspirational Diva’. Like most talents of Genesis Entertainment headed by Gary Valenciano, Jamie sees the Hand of God in everything she does.
She cites a case in point.
I had a show in Guam. And I was so sick my friend had to carry me on her shoulders backstage. But there was no more turning back. My name was about to be called on stage,” recalls Jamie.
So they prayed as hard as they could. Wonder of wonders, reports Jamie, she felt well in a jiffy, and was even able to finish all three songs of hers with nary a hitch.
No wonder Jamie is confident. Someone up there is guiding her all the way. She knows her projects, like a compilation called Seasons, so named because it contains a song for every special event (e.g. Christmas, graduation, weddings), will attract a steady following.
Seasons recently won the Best in Album Design for Jamie, Ming Tinana and Mat Rosanes at the Katha Awards. She also knows one of her most recent honors, being named in the Who’s Who of Philippine entertainment, is a blessing from above.
That kind of outlook seems to be Jamie Rivera’s magic formula. In looking heavenward, she has found solace, succor and success. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
Luckily, her fans are saying amen to that.
(March 16, 2003 issue)
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