You know that Christmas is just around the corner when, at the onset of the “ber” months, you wake up to hear Jose Mari Chan and daughter Liza Chan-Parpan on the radio ushering in the joyous season with soul-stirring Christmas in Our Hearts. For years now, with that song from his best-selling album, Joe has been acting as the harbinger of Christmas.
And then you open your TV set and there, Joe Mari is as a doting lolo with lovable kids as the Christmas Ambassador of the Shopee commercial, dapper in what could be an ensemble by Uniqlo which is the other product that he is endorsing.
“I feel humbled and truly thankful that, at my age, I was picked to be Shopee’s ambassador,” Joe Mari told Funfare, “and also as endorser for Uniqlo.”
According to Joe Mari, his children and grandchildren at first couldn’t believe when he told them about the Shopee commercial which is made livelier by a song that resonates especially with the kids.
This family photo of Joe Mari and wife MaryAnn Ansaldo with their children and grandchildren was taken early last year on Mount Rokko in Kobe, Japan. ‘That was before our seventh grandchild, Vivi, came into our lives,’ said Joe Mari.
“Doing that Shopee commercial made me feel so young,” added Joe Mari who looks and sounds much younger than his years. “And it’s a blessing, indeed, that my Christmas songs (The first album, Christmas in Our Hearts, has sold more than a million copies, making it the country’s highest-selling album, regardless of genre, of all time. His other Christmas album is titled Going Home to Christmas. — RFL) are embraced, sung and enjoyed all these years by both young and old alike.”
Joe Mari and wife MayAnn Ansaldo have been blessed with five wonderful children and eight lovable grandchildren, one of whom, Ramona Isabel Bunag-Chan, sings a duet with him on Song of the Firefly, one of the tracks in Going Home to Christmas (which is the title of his concert set for Dec. 22 at Solaire). Part of the song’s lyrics goes: …there is a light like a firefly, shining deep inside my heart. It’s the light of Love that tells me we are never far apart…Let your loving light shine through. Wear a happy smile and all the world will brighten up with you.
“The second album is about the importance of family and Christmas,” explained Joe Mari. “The title track is dedicated to our OFWs, far away from home and family during the Yuletide Season.”
With his four children (Liza, Joe, Michael and Franco), Joe Mari reminisces about Christmas memories and values learned from the past in the song Christmas Moments. The lyrics: Christmas creates cherished moments so dear. It means many things to us from year to year. Years come and go like a river they flow but what remains is the Love that we know. I remember my Christmas when we went around…we drove down to some orphans in town. We gave some goodies away. Happy faces made our day. We learned that giving and sharing is the real Christmas way.
Another touching track is titled A Child Again at Christmas. The lyrics: …the reason for the Season is Baby Jesus being born. Forget the hurts and disappointments of the past. And let us renew the ties with friends and make them last. It’s great to be a child again at Christmas and all through the year…
Said Joe Mari, “One of my precious rewards as a songwriter is that a few of my songs have crossed borders. Foreign artists have recorded cover version of my songs…singers like Kamahl of Australia; Aaron Kwok of Taiwan; Paula Tsui, Sandy Lam and Sally Yee of Hong Kong; and Janis Siegel, Toots Thielemans, Lisa Fischer, Roger Treece and Lauren Kinhan of USA.”
Any advice to young songwriters?
“Most songwriters write to please their audience, which is natural. But my advice is this: first and foremost. Write something pleasing to yourself with words that should come from your head and heart. A good song is an ideal marriage of words and music, complementing each other like husband and wife.”
(E-mail reactions at rickylophilstar@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)