Serenade (Harana) – I ❤ Weddings Series #8
Back in the day, men would woe their ladies with a serenade. In our culture, we call it harana. I hope you still got to watch those Rogelio Dela Rosa movies where the leading man would bring along his sidekicks and sing his heart out to profess his love, facing up the window of the bedroom of his amore. If he is favored by both the lady and the parents, he’s allowed to finish his song; otherwise, he’s yelled at or worse, I remember watching old movies where urine from the orinola was thrown his way!
When we celebrated our Silver Wedding Anniversary, my husband (who’s not really a singer but he does play the guitar and piano, and sometimes sings his heart out at home) decided to serenade me with a meaningful song Never Ever Say Goodbye composed by Willy Cruz and sung by Nonoy Zuniga. He sang the first couple of stanzas then decided to just let the professional singer continue the serenade. We just danced until the end of this beautiful and very pangkasal song.
Not to be outdone, I asked no less than Jim Paredes to sing with me one of the Apo signature songs entitled Panalangin. If you read the previous article, Milsetone Wedding Gifts, you will recall that after Marvin gave me that Huwow! gift (a song he asked Jim to compose for me). At that point, I thought I couldn’t stand up any longer because I was super surprised, overwhelmed and I felt my legs still wobbling. But Jim said, “Kaya mo yan!”
After the event, I realized that I didn’t even practise singing this song, not even a sing-along session via you tube. When I told my family about it, I got all sorts of comments. My sister said, “Really? Well, I give you an “A” for effort in your performance sister! You were todo-bigay!” My son said, “Wheh! How come you knew the lyrics so well?” I answered, “Everybody knows the lyrics of Panalangin! – something Jim probably knew, that’s why at some point, he asked the guests to sing along. Incidentally, this son dreams that when he gets married, Jim could also sing this song for him and his future wife. If I remember it correctly, he used this same song in his Promposal.
Watch how this non-singer Silver Couple sang their heart out and rendered their respective haranas to each other. Don’t hesitate to sing along as you watch! 
