There are Christmas songs I like, like when The Pussycat Dolls sang “Santa Baby,” or perhaps “White Christmas,” no matter how racist it sounds. Yet I sometimes wonder what Christmas in the Philippines would be like without the music of Mr. Jose Mari Chan.
From what I understand, JMC is a businessman specializing in the sugar business, but he’s really passionate about singing and songwriting. Over the years, though, the name Jose Mari Chan has been synonymous with the Holidays.
I like to call him Jose Mari Christmas. Somehow, “Christmas Man” or “The Voice of Christmas,” or “The Christmas Knight.” But those nicknames have been already taken by Santa Claus, the voiceover guy for Christmas specials, and the renegade elf who became the North Pole’s version of Batman
Yes, I’m itching to translate JMC’s Christmas specials, but I’ve already fulfilled my weekly quota of translate-ables. Yes, it’s quite tempting to translate “A Perfect Christmas” to the tune of something like… hmmm… screw quotas. I’ll do “Christmas in Our Hearts” and “A Perfect Christmas” for today, because McDonald’s Session Road only allows me two hours of wifi.
