Charivari at UP Law

(With my friends Gay, Tess, and LSG Prez Lobit, who could sing like a pro.)

Last February 28, 2008, I attended an event at my alma mater, the University of the Philippines College of Law, entitled "Malcolm IDOLaw: Sing You in Court (UP Law's First Ever Concert)".

It was a lot of fun to see my professors dress up to sing, dance, and read (poetry) on stage, with the current students of UP law.  During my time, we sang, danced, and read poetry about our law professors.  What has happened to the world?  They're all friends now.  Probably the Law Student Government (LSG) is doing a great job.

CD Asia was there to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event.  I wondered if the students did any studying during the week leading to that concert.  They claimed that they were able to pull it off in the middle of exams.  Back in the day when I walked the corridors of Malcolm Hall, I could not even survive exam week in one piece.  

There was even an inter-batch choral competition, and after watching too much American Idol, I was frustrated that I couldn't be a judge.  My opinions didn't count.  But my choices won.  Hooray, sophomores.  It did show that you had the most time on your hands.  (Again, flashback to 1996, I was active in the LSG during my sophomore year as well.  And only during that year.)

I was thrilled by the performance of the founding members of the UP Law Charivari, the resident choir of the College.  I sang with the Charivari in my senior year.  It turns out that the original members were gifted singers aside from brilliant law students who topped the bar, graduated cum laude, etc.  Well, at least I could sing.  Haha.  

The word "charivari" is familiar to every freshman law student as it comes up in the Revised Penal Code as one of those unusual but memorable crimes we had to study.  Classified under "Alarms and Scandals", there's a penalty for "any person who shall instigate or take an active part in any charivari or other disorderly meeting offensive to another or prejudicial to public tranquility.

Webster's Dictionary defines it as:  (Char*ri 'va *ri) Noun. French. A mock serenade of dissonant noise done with kettles and tin horns meant to annoy. Generally when an older person married a very young person. 

There was discordant noise alright during Malcolm IDOLaw night, but it all came from the audience who could not get enough of the professors' entertaining performances.

 

The videos of the event are all over YouTube.  Catch them before they are flagged or banned, especially one famous professor's dance number "Dontcha", which had all the Deans of yesteryear whispering and paying attention.