On Philippine Anthem
“Bayang magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan, Alab ng puso sa dibdib mo’y buhay…”
Every time I hear those lines or the beat/melody of the National Anthem of my beloved nation, the Philippines, I couldn’t help but be proud of my country, its people, the heritage of generations long gone and the heroes that fought for the liberty of their descendants. Every time I heard the Anthem, I am engulfed by the past, the rich and glorious history of my people. My spirit is lifted up with patriotic fervor.
The Anthem is the spirit of the nation and its people. Great is my respect to it that I am disgusted to hear it being “murdered” by Geneva Cruz just before the fistfight between Manny Pacquiao and Solis. Geneva’s rendition disgusts me because she desecrated the Anthem by turning it into pop, a genre which she is famous (?) for (though she sang the Anthem into pop, her singing is bad enough that I will turn her down as a pop singer pretender).
This hoopla on singing the Anthem became the locus of debate between the National Historical Institute (NHI) and the backers of Geneva. In a TV interview, the NHI said that the Anthem is a march song, it is intended to be that way so that all Filipinos, singer or not can sing the Anthem and lift their patriotic spirit.
Geneva replied that what she did was not wrong because there is no law that decrees the right way of singing the Anthem. Shame on you Geneva, there is such law and it explicitly said that the Anthem should be sung and played based on the notes that Composer Julian Felipe arranged).
Danny Tan (judge of a singing contest), taking Geneva’s side, remarked that there is no wrong way of singing the Anthem as long as the singing comes from the heart. Oh come on, Danny, if that’s the case, then why you judge the contestants in your based on their musicality? Why do you have to take note if the contestants hit the right tune? Why are there no criteria for “singing the song from the heart”? if your remarks were followed, then there is no problem if the contestant is sintonado (off-tune). There will be no problem if we have a sintonadong Pinoy Pop Superstar (Oh maybe that’s why Gerald Santos became last season’s champ even though he was a no-gooder).
So, to all singers out there, please sing the Anthem in its proper way. Sing it as a march song so that all Filipinos can sing and imbibe the Spirit of the Nation.
Do you want more information about the Philippine National Anthem like its lyrics and history? Visit my my post The Philippine National Anthem for infos like the ones you are looking for.
Filed under: Observations
I enjoyed reading this blog. It made me realize how cool this blogging thing is. It really gives us an opportunity to voice out our opinion and express our wishes and desires.
You say you’re a pessimist. I think not. I think deep inside, there’s a tiny optimist voice that’s wishing and hoping for things to get better, for people to see things the way you do… for people to sing the national anthem in its proper way
Thank you Lester.
Yeah, the time I wrote my first blog (that was in MoTime then), I thought I could use it just to blabber all my angst against the people who I could not confront personally. But then again I got tired of that kind of blogging.
Then I realized that I could use this blog to express my opinion about the things that affects us here in the Philipines.
Oh, by the way, there is a current news here that Christian Bautista, a famous singer, forgot some the lines while singing the Philippine Anthem before an exhibition boxing match. He apoligized for the error and he promise that he will practice so that he will not err again in the future. I like him for that. Like they say, we humans are not perfect. I hope that no more blunder will happen again in the future. Famous singers should be careful because they have some status and a fans that will emulate their style and rectify the error they did in singing the anthem.
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