“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
***
“If there’s a will, there’s a way,” so goes a familiar saying. It means that if you have a strong determination to do something, then you can find a method and overcome whatever obstacle you’re facing.
Jojo Dela Cerna’s journey
That’s what Jojo Dela Cerna (Jovy Adlawan in real life) did. His name may not ring a bell in the Philippines, but in London’s West End, his is a familiar moniker. He played Thuy in the award-winning Miss Saigon for four years at thr Drury Lane Theatre Royal. Prior to that, he performed the same role in The Music of Schonberg/Boublil concert in Manila.
His West End major cabaret acts include “I’ll Be Here with You”; solo debut showcase, “Truly Grateful”; his album launching, “Music & Me”; and “We Can Be Kind” album. His most recent West End cabaret act venues include The Mountbatten Hotel Lounge and at the Jermyn Street Theatre.
Dela Cerna also appeared in the stage production of The King and I, Pacific Overtures, and Aladdin.
Jojo got interested in singing when he was between five or six years old. “I started entertaining my family between those ages,” he disclosed. “Both sides of my family always requested me to sing during family occasions, and my grandparents always ended up in tears of awe and adulation, perhaps I carried on singing that way – with feelings as always.”
It was his eldest sister who trained him at home. She regimented vocalization, especially in the morning in a neck deep drum of water for lung power. “But my whole family was the backbone of singing inspiration and support,” he says. “My family hired some guitarists to train my singing along with a guitar for rhythm and breathing techniques. It was a family effort, especially my mother’s. They boosted my confidence and helped me maintain composure on stage.
“I also had the initiative to run around Bansalan in the morning to improve stamina as part of preparation whenever an upcoming contest was about to happen knowing everything was at stake, and hoping to win,” he adds.
He believed persistence was the key to his success. “My singing journey started from joining contests around the province, and to the big cities, up to Manila, then representing the Philippines in Thailand eventually,” he recalls. “Win or lose was a constant challenge in every singing contest that I have been to; it was the root of my training ground and I have so much to thank for it.”
Adlawan did the unthinkable. He is not only talented; he also perseveres.
Persist or perish
American president Calvin Coolidge once said: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
“You never know what’s around the corner,” film actor Tom Hiddleston said. “It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.”
In his book, The Light in the Heart, author Roy T. Bennett wrote: “It doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. All that matters is you get up one more time than you were knocked down.”
In the same book, he also penned: “The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.”
Rocky
The life story of Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone comes to mind. While growing up, he knew what he wanted to do: to become an actor. But it wasn’t going to come easy for him. For one, the lower part of his jaw was paralyzed – the reason why he delivered slurred speech.
He was rejected over 1,000 times by agents. This didn’t deter him. “I take rejection as something blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat,” he was quoted as saying.
Married and without work, he resorted to stealing his wife’s jewellery and selling it. No wonder, he became homeless and was sleeping at the New Jersey bus terminal for almost a month. Since he could not afford to feed his dog, he sold the dog to a guy for $25.
At one time, he was watching a boxing fight and got an idea of writing a script out of what he saw. For the entire week, he wrote the screenplay until it was complete. Then, he brought it to some producers telling them he wanted to play the leading character.
They would buy the script but they won’t allow him to play the coveted role. But Stallone insisted and persisted. If he won’t play the role, he won’t sell the script. Finally, a producer gambled on him.
When Rocky was released in 1976, it became a box-office hit around the world. It won the Best Picture award from the Academy and he was even nominated for Best Actor.
The words of Isaac Asimov, an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, is a great reminder: “You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.” – ###
