Jose Mari Chan: “I’m not the king of Christmas”

CEBU, Philippines — It would take more than just a downpour to drive away the eager crowd waiting for Jose Mari Chan. The singer-composer was in Cebu last Saturday, Nov. 10, to perform at Ayala Center Cebu’s Disney-themed Festival of Lights. Despite the weather, people gathered at the sprawling Terraces to catch a whiff of the holiday spirit with no less than the OPM icon.

Before the grand launch of the light show directed by Voltaire de Jesus, with the Ballet Center Cebu dancing to orchestral renditions of Disney songs like “How Far I’ll Go,” “Let It Go,” “Reflection,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Under the Sea” among others, by former Hong Kong Disneyland musical director Rony Fortich, Chan welcomed the press backstage, where he waited with his wife Mary Ann Ansaldo, humming along to the Children’s Paradise Montessori Choir which was performing his songs on stage.

The first order of business were memes. As soon as September 1st hit, Chan was all over social media, his very being becoming a meme. It wasn’t even just a specific picture of him, but Chan himself, being a trending online subject for his contribution to OPM and Christmas songs.

“How nice!” Chan beamed of the memes. “I feel blessed that God has rewarded me with that gift. It’s a blessing.”

Although he doesn’t run a social media handle, Chan was quick to share that he is attuned to the language of memes, and that even he didn’t miss the ones made about him: jokes, photos, videos, remixes of his songs, each of them a reference to his long-standing career.

“Yes!” Chan quipped when asked if he was familiar with memes. “I’ve seen some of them. Some of them are funny and some of them are weird.”

“They help promote my Christmas songs. Some of them were very clever. There was one where they identify me with ‘Game of Thrones’, winter is coming…”

Posts about him promising fans to send them copies of his CD, and actually coming through with those promises with handwritten letters, also earned Chan praise. He said he surely takes the time to go the extra mile for those who’ve helped him along the way.

“Because of them I’m here. Because of them, my music continues to be played and I’m happy to do that. It’s a way of sharing my gift of music,” said Chan, who had asked for names and addresses at the Ayala event.

Despite the fact that people acknowledge that Christmas is also the season of Jose Mari Chan music, he begs to disagree on his iconic status.

“No, no,” he waved off. He understands what people mean by that but he makes it clear that he doesn’t at all own the season. “I’m not the king of Christmas. I consider myself one of the Filipino composers who have contributed to Christmas songs for our people to sing. I’m just one of the many composers.”

Within the past year, the crooner celebrated their college batch’s golden jubilee in Arizona, US. This year would also be his 48th wedding anniversary. Looking at all the things that keeps him busy, Chan noted, with an almost bittersweet tone, how his grandchildren are growing swiftly.

When he was in Cebu last year for a concert, Chan mused that he would want to make a musical with new songs. Asked how that was coming along, he shared how challenging it is to make new music these days because it might not be relevant to the new generation.

“To make new songs, it will be difficult. The musical style now has changed, and the music of the millennials is very different from what I write. I’m afraid that if I bring new songs, radio stations might not play them because it’s irrelevant to the young people,” he observed.

However, he finds comfort with how Christmas songs never seem to grow old.

“I discovered that Christmas songs are generic,” he said. “It doesn’t change. People won’t say that it sounds old-fashioned because it’s Christmas!”

Some might find it difficult to get excited about the holidays as they get older, what with experiences, circumstances, problems and responsibilities that somehow take the cheer away one year after the other. When asked if he’s ever felt that way, the 73-year-old answered in the negative. Understandably, because he does make his feelings clear in a song called “A Child Again at Christmas.”

“Christmas will always be Christmas, will always be special. Especially if you connect it to the family. Because Christmas is not Christmas without the family, without your parents, your grandparents, your children, your grandchildren,” he explained, before proceeding to share stories of childless friends who visit orphanages on Christmas Day, a friend who would hire a bus and drive around so they could hand out goodies to kids on the street, and a former employee who would spend December 25 at Enchanted Kingdom with street children every year without fail. These, he said, were examples of how one can make the holidays meaningful.

This year, Chan is most thankful for good health. “I still have a Christmas wish,” he confided. “I wish the gap between the rich and the poor in our country would narrow. The gap may never be filled completely but I wish it would narrow. That the prosperity of the rich could filter down to the poor.”

He repeats this wish on stage, saying how badly he wishes for it to happen in his lifetime. He added that the responsibility of reducing this gap does not solely belong to the government.

“The one percent. The richest Filipinos,” he said. “The responsibility is up to them to narrow that gap and make the seeds of prosperity filter down to the grassroots.”

Apart from performing hits like “A Perfect Christmas,” “A Love To Last A Lifetime,” “Beautiful Girl,” “ Please Be Careful With My Heart,” “Christmas in Our Hearts,” “Afraid for Love To Fade,” “Refrain” and “A Child Again at Christmas,” Chan also brought his jokes to Cebu, charming the crowd with his easy-going energy and comical anecdotes.

Apologizing about the weather, the singer went to the crowd (who didn’t mind sharing umbrellas), shaking their hands, calling them up on stage, and saying hello to old friends. Every time he would worry about the crowd and the rain – the audience, made of men and women, the young and old, squished together in an attempt to stay dry – almost always replied with a “Never mind!” or “It’s okay!”

The artist, who sees Cebu as his second home since his grandmother hails from Bogo City, quipped that even though he’s performed in many cities, provinces and other countries, the Cebuano audience remains the “most receptive and most warm.”

Before ending our backstage chat to prepare for his performance, Chan left this message for everyone this holiday season: “Keep your family, keep your marriage strong. Be kind. Be kind every day. If you have the chance to show kindness to others, do it.”