Lea Salonga Sings for Dayo, 1st Filipino All-Digital Animated Film

Dayo (Wanderer) is the first Filipino animated film that uses paperless 2D and 3D technologies. If you're a Filipino, this is really totally cool since this is not expected of us as creators but only as employed animators to the big guys like Pixar or Marvel. You can still watch it in cinemas since it's included in the ongoing Metro Manila Film Festival. (You can also get a raffle stub for watching all MMFF entries.)

Here's the MTV of Dayo with none other than Lea Salonga and the FILharmoniKA conducted by Gerard Salonga.



THE OBAMA FACTOR ON DAYO

“[...] Dayo is different, something special,” said Lea. “I didn’t have to voice any character, I just sing the theme song. The song is something incredibly inspirational, two minutes and 49 seconds long. It tells people to fly high, aim high and reach for their dreams.”

The main character, Buboy, is a dayo (stranger) in the Land of Elementalia where he tries to save his grandparents against all odds, a feat which Lea likened to Barack Obama’s landmark victory in the recent US presidential election.

“I guess that, like Obama, the song could be seen as an inspiration for our countrymen — you know, to aim high and to always look up. Don’t look down and do everything to make your dream come true.”

Source: The Obama Factor in Dayo

WHO IS LEA SALONGA AGAIN?

Everyone knows who Lea Salonga is. If not, they have probably spent the last decade or so in a deep, dark hole in the middle of nowhere. But just for the record – Lea Salonga is the first Filipina to ever star in a West End and Broadway production [Miss Saigon of course] and the first Filipina to ever win international theater accolades including the most prestigious award in British theatre, the Laurence Olivier Award, the Antoinette Perry or the Tony Awards for Excellence in Theatre, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Awards and the Theatre World Award.

Lea was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway. All these firsts make Lea a veritable First Lady in the world of theater – and I do mean world! Now this theater Titan, adds another first to her list. She is singing the theme song, “Lipad,” of the upcoming Filipino animated feature “Dayo sa Mundo ng Elementalia.” Though Lea has been the singing voice in animated films before - Princess Jasmine and Mulan in Disney’s Aladdin and Mulan respectively – this is the first time she is singing for a Filipino animated production.

Source: ClickTheCity - Another First for Lea Salonga

Related Links:

• Dayo: Official Site
  
• Dayo integrates characters from Philippine mythology
• Dayo creators learn from Urduja experience 

P.S. This is my first post for the year 2009! Let's inspire 2009. ;)