Kapatiran--comradeship--the Musical Number, and the Occasion Itself

The first major musical highlight of the Gawad Buhay! night last Sunday was the PETA ensemble singing a stirring Kapatiran, a number from the PETA original musical 1896, with music by Lucien Letaba and lyrics by Charley Dela Paz. The late Dela Paz, an actor and playwright, was being honored as one of the night's Natatanging Gawad Buhay! awardees, and the number was in tribute to him.
Led by soloists Rody Vera and Bodjie Pascua (whose opening lines I missed in the vid below, mea culpa), the anthem sounded muscular, big-hearted and thrilling, a virtual call to arms--and quite the ideal number for the theater artists that had gathered at the lobby of the CCP Main Theater for a night of comradeship. From where I sat, ang sulo ng kapatiran was burning bright in that community that night.