Chant encounter

Otherworldly, somber and as elegant as the windswept ruins of a monastery: such is what comes to mind when hearing the Gregorian Choir of Paris, the world-renowned ensemble which is currently touring the country to spread the essence of faith through sacred music.

Led by the French organist Pascal Marsault, the choir performs today at St. Joseph the Worker Cathedral in Tagbilaran, Bohol, a province which is still recovering from the devastation of the Oct. 15, 2013 earthquake.

“The earthquake left a profound earthquake-like turmoil in our collective soul that we hope can be quieted by the soothing effects of the Gregorian chant,” says Fr. Ted Milan Torralba, executive director of the Permanent Commission on the Cultural Heritage of the Church of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Brought to the Philippines by Ayala Malls in partnership with the Embassy of France and Alliance Française de Manille, the 26-chorister group has been performing in various Ayala retail properties and nearby churches since last week, enthralling the public with plaintive and soaring vocals in exultation of God in gorgeous Latin.

Two more performances are slated within the week: at Centrio Mall in Cagayan de Oro City on Feb. 25 and Abreeza Mall in Davao Feb. 27. “Performances of Gregorian chant in non-traditional settings, such as the malls,” says Fr. Torralba, “are supported to gain traction for its promotion by publicizing the Gregorian chant as a privileged form of prayer that one can utilize especially in the world’s marketplace.”

He clarifies, however, that “Gregorian chant is liturgical music and its natural habitat, natural environment is sacred liturgy, especially the Mass, where it is given pride of place.” One of the highlights of the choir’s tour was their concert, “In Civitate Dei” (In the City of God) held at the San Agustin Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, last Thursday in commemoration of the 450th year of the presence of the Augustinians in the Philippines.

Paris-based but with members coming from different parts of the globe, such as France, Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, Slovak Republic, Colombia, Madagascar and South Korea, the Gregorian Choir of Paris was established in 1974 with “the mission to preserve and spread the tradition of sacred singing of the Gregorian chant, centered on the all-encompassing love of the Virgin Mary.”

Composed of male and female groups, the male voices sing at the Notre-Dame du Val-de-Grâce Church in Paris while the female voices interpret the Gregorian repertoire within the liturgy of the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church in Paris. Both groups perform side-by-side in the tour of Gregorian Choir of Paris here.

With the choir’s timely arrival at the start of the Lenten season, the mall- and church-going public is treated to sacred music whose roots can be traced to Central and Western Europe in the ninth to tenth centuries, during the so-called called as Dark Ages. Gregorian chant gained musicological resurgence, breaking through popular attention during the ‘80s when Chant, a recording by the Benedictine monks of Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain, was launched From then on, various Gregorian choirs have released their own musical albums, giving exquisite proof to what St. Augustine of Hippo said: “Qui bene cantat bis orat” (He who sings well prays twice).