''Christmas in Our Hearts'' is the seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

and the first

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

singer-songwriter and businessman Jose Mari Chan. It was released on November 17, 1990, by

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. The album sold over 600,000 units in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in 2006, certifying Double Diamond by the

Philippine Association of the Record Industry The Philippine Association of the Record Industry ( Filipino: ''Kapisanan ng Industriya ng Plaka ng Pilipinas'', abbreviated as PARI) is a non-profit and private trade organization, that represents the recording industry distributors in the Phi ...

(PARI). It is considered to be the first OPM album to surpass the Diamond status. It is currently the biggest-selling album in the Philippines, selling more than 800,000 copies to date. Due to the recurring popularity of the song and album during the annual holiday season, Chan became known to Filipinos, as "The Father of Philippine Christmas Music." The album also features cover versions of "A Christmas Carol", "This Beautiful Day", and "Christmas Children" from the 1970 musical '' Scrooge''. The album has been re-released as a 25th Anniversary Edition on

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Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, and Spinnr on October 30, 2015.

Background

According to Chan, the title track and first single of the album, "

Christmas in Our Hearts ''Christmas in Our Hearts'' is the seventh studio album and the first Christmas album by Filipino singer-songwriter and businessman Jose Mari Chan. It was released on November 17, 1990, by Universal Records. The album sold over 600,000 units in ...

", was originally an arrangement titled ''Ang Tubig Ay Buhay'' ("Water Is Life"), based on a poem written by Chari Cruz-Zarate. He took him two days to set the words to music, intending to make it a silver jubilee song for the Assumption High School Class of 1963. He described the poetry of ''Ang Tubig ay Buhay'' as very beautiful, which he found easy to compose a melody for. Before production started, Chan had attended

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

at the

Santuario de San Antonio El Santuario is a town and municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. Part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia Eastern Antioquia ( es, Oriente Antioqueño) is subregion of the Colombian Department of Antioquia. The region consi ...

Parish in Forbes Park,

Makati Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...

; when a young lyricist named Rina Cañiza knocked on his car window. Cañiza would later replace the poem with the lyrics of "Christmas in Our Hearts" as we know it today, using Chan's melody for ''Ang Tubig ay Buhay''. Chan also contributed some words to the song upon its submission, wherein his record producer, Bella Dy Tan, gave her opinion that the song was not going to sell because it was a Christian song. Chan then came up with the song, "A Perfect Christmas", which Tan said would be a hit. However, when Chan played both songs at a press conference, the media and DJs singled out "Christmas in Our Hearts" as their favorite. Tan was astonished to observe that the public loved the song. "Christmas in Our Hearts" eventually became a runaway hit and remains one of the most played songs in public places all over the Philippines.

Commercial performance

''Christmas in Our Hearts'' is the best-selling album not only by Chan, but by an

Original Pilipino Music The music of the Philippines ( fil, Musika ng Pilipinas) includes the musical performance arts in the Philippines and the music of Filipinos composed in various local and international genres and styles. Philippine musical compositions are ofte ...

(OPM) artist to date. Just weeks after the album was released, it was certified triple platinum by the

(PARI) in 1990. In December 2006, it was awarded with a Double Diamond certification by the PARI on

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

's ''

SOP (Sobrang Okey Pare) ''SOP'' is a Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. It premiered on February 2, 1997, replacing '' GMA Supershow''. The show concluded on February 28, 2010, with a total of 672 episodes. It was replaced by ''Party Pilipina ...

'' for selling more than 600,000 units in the Philippines. It makes Chan the only Filipino artist to achieve the feat, with two Double Diamond albums—the other one being '' Constant Change''. It makes the album the best-selling OPM Christmas album of all time. In addition, it always tops album charts during Christmas season. The album has sold over 800,000 copies in the country to date.

25th Anniversary Edition

In celebration of the album's 25th anniversary, Universal Records announced on their Facebook page that ''Christmas in Our Hearts'' is to be re-released in a special 25th Anniversary Edition. It was first released online on

and Spinnr on October 30, 2015, and was released on CD on November 11, 2015.

Track listing

All tracks were produced by Jose Mari Chan. #"A Wish on Christmas Night" (Chan, Pinky Valdez) #"

Do You Hear What I Hear? "Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record ...

" (Gloria Shayne, Noël Regney) #" Mary's Boy Child" (

Jester Hairston Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on black spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include " ...

) #"Christmas in Our Hearts" (with Liza Chan) (Chan, Rina Cañiza) #"

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

" (featuring the Ateneo Glee Club) (

Leslie Bricusse Leslie Bricusse OBE (; 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films ''Do ...

) #"A Perfect Christmas" (Chan) #"Give Me Your Heart for Christmas" (

Robert Goodman Robert O. Goodman (born 30 November 1956) is a former United States Navy bombardier–navigator. He was shot down in his A-6 Intruder over Lebanon on 4 December 1983. Captured upon ejection from his stricken plane, he was held captive for 30 da ...

) #"This Beautiful Day"—Jaymie Magtoto (Bricusse) #"The Sound of Life" (Chan, Valdez) #"Christmas Children" (Bricusse) #"Little Christmas Tree" (

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

) #"

When a Child Is Born "When A Child Is Born" is a popular Christmas song. The original melody was "Soleado", a tune from 1974 by Ciro Dammicco (alias Zacar), composer for Italy's Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble, and Dario Baldan Bembo. The tune was based on Damicco's earlie ...

" (Ciro Dammicco, Fred Jay) #"It Is the Lord!" (Chan, Maria Christina Ansaldo Estrada) #"

The Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

" (Traditional) #"

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin and used in the 1954 film '' White Christmas''. It is commonly performed as a Christmas song, although the lyrics make no reference to the December holiday. Histo ...

" (

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...

) #"

May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" is a popular song by Meredith Willson, originally published in 1950. The song is now considered a standard, recorded by many artists. It was used as Tallulah Bankhead's theme song for her NBC radio program, ...

" (Meredith Willson)

25th Anniversary Edition bonus track

#"The Sound of Life (Instrumental)" (Louie Ocampo, Chan, Valdez) #"Christmas Past" (Chan, Ocampo)

Personnel

Credits were taken from ''Titik Pilipino''.

Production

*Dindo Aldaecoa - sound engineer *Aperture 32, Inc. - album concept and design * Jose Mari Chan - vocals, album producer *Homer Flores - arranger *Rey Magtoto - arranger *Eddie Munji - arranger *Emy Munji - arranger *Willy Munji - MIDI programming *Willy Munji - sound engineer *Alvin Nunez - arranger *

Louie Ocampo Louie Ocampo (born Jose Luis Ocampo on June 21, 1960) is a Filipino composer and arranger best known for his association with Martin Nievera. His numerous hits, mostly collaborations, include ''Tell Me'', ''Kahit Isang Saglit'', and ''You Are My ...

- arranger *Jun Orenza - sound engineer *Voltaire Orpiano - sound engineer *Monching Payumo - sound engineer *Marvin Querido - arranger *Ruben Remperas - sound engineer *Jun Reyes - sound engineer *Teddy Tan - photography

Recording locations

*Ad & Ad Recording Studio *Audio Captain Recording Studio *Greenhills Sound *Cinema Audio, Inc. *JR Music Recording Studios

Certifications

References

{{reflist

External links

*''Christmas in Our Hearts'' on
Titik Pilipino
' 1990 Christmas albums Christmas albums by Filipino artists Jose Mari Chan albums Pop Christmas albums