Category: independence day

anthem angsts

the tempest over the national anthem in the wake of martin nievera’s relatively radical version is no small teacup thing.   this is one question that every pinoy who grew up memorizing and singing lupang hinirang feels qualified to weigh in on.   and i dare say that pinoys who hated it that martin played around with the beat and the endnotes outnumber pinoys who didn’t mind at all, whether they liked martin’s arrangement and/or rendition or not.

martin was warned:

If only Martin Nievera listened to the advice of maestro Ryan Cayabyab, he would not be embroiled in national controversy.

The renowned musician said here that he warned Nievera not to change the melody of the National Anthem at the opening of Sunday’s Pacquiao-Hatton bout in Las Vegas.

“Martin, papatayin ka ng tao. Huwag mong papalitan yung huling part kasi delikado ka. (Martin, you will be crucified for that. Don’t change the last part or you’ll be in trouble),” Cayabyab recalled telling Nievera.

He said Nievera sent him a copy of his nontraditional rendition of the Lupang Hinirang five days before the fight.

Cayabyab, who’s fondly called by his friends and singers as Mr C, said that the country’s concert king first confided to him about his plan to jazz up the national anthem during ASAP, ABS-CBN’s Sunday noontime variety show.

He urged Nievera to sing Lupang Hinirang the regular way because other Filipinos would join him in singing.

Nievera, however, told Cayabyab that he would push through with his plan because he’s “doing it for the country.”

Still, Cayabyab insisted that he should not change the last part.

… Cayabyab said he would be open to join the debate on how the National Anthem be sung.

“As a musician, I will stick to the original because that is how the composer meant it to be,” he said.

the latest news is that martin has sort of apologized in the face of very negative feedback from the national historical institute and the threat of criminal charges being filed against him by a cavite congressman for violation of Republic Act 8491, or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.

“I do apologize only to the people afraid of progress and change, of course, the lawmakers and to whomever took offense to my interpretation of probably the most beautiful song I’ve ever come across,” Nievera said in a text message.

fighting words, for an apology.    i suppose because martin has powerful backers from the palace right all the way to the partylist left, who are even hoping to amend the law to allow for freedom of expression and artistic license.   big mistake.

bottom line the question is:  do we hew to the traditional, the original, the classic, or do we bow to the the new, the fresh, the modern, the cool.

now i’m usually all for creativity and change, improvisation, breaking out of patterns, but in the matter of the national anthem i am all for the old-fashioned way.   i am all for hewing to the traditional, the original, specially on big occasions here and abroad.   because pinoys in the audience will be singing along.   whether quietly or out loud we will be singing along, we will want to sing along, and there can be no singing along if singers are allowed to sing it any “creative” way they please.    there can be no getting into the spirit of the anthem when the beat is unfamiliar, the phrasing unusual, the notes unpredictable, the singer self-indulgent.

Our anthem is march music borne out of a revolutionary struggle. It is the spirit of the anthem. Felipe composed the music as a march, commissioned by Emilio Aguinaldo for the proclamation of the Kawit Republic on June 12, 1898. It was originally titled “Marcha Filipina Magdalo,” and was first played by the San Francisco de Malabon Band. It was composed to fire up revolutionary spirit and resistance, to fight against all odds as the Kawit republic struggled for its life.

…Nievera said he was told by many, including Pacquiao, “not to sing it slow.” They wanted him “to sing it like a march, the way it was written.” Ignoring those warnings, Nievera interpreted the song the way he understood it. He said that “from the deepest part of my heart I sang for my country.” He explained that he tried “to inspire a nation-which was all I tried to do.”

Many Filipinos did not like what they heard. Many believed his tampering with or distortion of the arrangement of Felipe robbed the anthem of its martial context. The revolutionary spirit was lost in the alteration. It sounded as if the music was composed in a milieu of peace and tranquility when in reality it was composed amid one of the most turbulent periods of the Filipino people’s struggle for independence and national sovereignty. The period was the end of the Spanish empire and the advent of another colonial rule by the expansionist, imperial America.

Nievera’s explanations do not justify his alterations. Singers without a sense of history, who sing for their pleasure, strip historic musical themes of their meaning.

martin also said, to justify those radical end-notes:

“I have watched many of Manny’s fights, and whenever the national anthem is sung, I could never hear the most important line, ‘Ang mamatay nang dahil sa ‘yo (To die for you)!’ So I elected to end the song big, [the better to] be heard over the usual screams and boos, and … get the final message of the song across.”

hmm.   how was the anthem sung ba in previous pacquiao fights.   di ba’t iniba-iba rin ang interpretation every time?   di ba’t iniangal ng nhi every time dahil hindi ayon sa orihinal?   next time pacquiao should invite a singer who has nothing to prove except the ability to lead filipinos in song.   with pacquiao’s pinoys singing along, i have no doubt that that most important line will resound for all the world, and martin, to hear.

the real rigodon

peque gallaga always emails interesting stuff that i usually open right away, except for one last week with two fwds on gloria’s junkets, thinking, so what else is new. but today i clicked on it, by mistake? and i’m so glad i did. because while the first was indeed something i’d received before, the second by perry diaz was new to me. especially the last half of it which was all about how gloria celebrated her last (it better be) independence day in the palace.

i had the blues that day, almost forgot kasi, working day kasi, no celebration kasi, whereas gma pala had a very exclusive, very grand ball behind closed doors, at our expense of course:

During the 110th Independence Day last June 12, Arroyo cut the cost of the Independence Day program at the Rizal Park to show the people that she’s willing to conserve money at a time of rising food prices. However, on the night of June 12, Arroyo hosted a glitzy reception at the Malacanang Palace for the diplomatic corps and the country’s elite.

What is appalling was the ostentatious display of pomp at the Malacanang reception, especially the revival of the elitist dance, the “rigodon de honor.” Arroyo handpicked the 20 couples — the country’s rich and famous or, I might say, the cream of Gloria’s “Enchanted Kingdom” — who participated in the rigodon.

It is interesting to note that the last time the rigodon was performed in Malacanang was on June 30, 1981 during the third inauguration of President Ferdinand Marcos. When Cory Aquino ascended to the presidency after Marcos was overthrown, she prohibited the rigodon from being performed in all official functions, an oblique rejection of a dance considered to be fitting only for the high and mighty ruling elite. After 27 years of not performing this unnecessary display of power and affluence, Gloria revived the rigodon at a time when the people are in dire need and impoverished.

After all the speeches at the June 12th reception had ended, the media people were unceremoniously told to leave. Thus, nobody from the media witnessed the “rigodon the honor” except one — outgoing Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye. Bunye disclosed and described the rigodon in detail — including the names of the participants — in his weekly newspaper column. Arroyo should have told him to leave the reception too.”

at once i googled “toting bunye rigodon” and found that he has a website pala where the column was supposed to be posted but i couldn’t find it, LOL, recently deleted maybe? so i clicked on manila bulletin online instead and there it is: history & rigodon de honor in all its decadence.

…For the revival of the Rigodon for this year’s Independence Day celebration, the President handpicked the participants and took the time to occasionally drop in on their rehearsals. At one rehearsal, I understand that she also gamely learned the steps, partnering with Secretary Art Yap.

The twenty couples who performed the Rigodon were:

Congressman Albert Garcia and Congresswoman Carissa Coscolluela
Mayor Freddie Tinga and Ms. Zareen Baqir
Chairman Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III and Ms. Abby Ramos Claudio
Mr. Butch Ramirez and Mayor Jenny Barzaga
Congressman Mark Enverga and Congresswoman Mitch Cajayon
Mr. John Gaddi and Ms. Joanne Reyes
Ambassador David Pine and Ms. Assunta de RossiLedesma
Governor Leo Campos and Ms. Angie Cadungog
General Arturo Lomibao and Ms. Elizabeth Lee
Congressman Robbie Puno and Atty. Patricia Bunye
Mr. Sonny Tanchanco and Ms. Paula Locsin Bondoc
Congressman Martin Romualdez and Ms. Dawn Zulueta-Lagdameo
Mr. Nestor Jardin and Ms. Tessa Prieto Valdez
Mr. Alex Macapagal and Ms. Anna Marie Periquet
Congressman Joboy Aquino and Ms. Marissa Andaya
Congressman Dato Arroyo and Mayor Kimi Cojuangco
Secretary Arthur Yap and Ms. Lani Mercado Revilla
Former Senator Tito Sotto and Ms. Mons Romulo Tantoco
General Generoso Senga and Congresswoman Rachel Arenas
Secretary Peter Favila and Ambassador Kristie Kenney

The entire Independence Day reception and Rigodon de Honor was directed by Ms. Lupita Kashiwahara. Choreography was by Ms. Bujing Danao and Ms. Dalah Pia, assisted by Mr. Renato Delgado and Mr. Jerry Mercado. Music was by Gloria Gatmaitan and her band.”

my, what a star-studded extravaganza. so, did the choreographers change the steps a little, jazz it up a little, or was it faithful to the old boring quadrille? so, what were the women’s ternos like? sinong winner sa coutouriers? and the best family jewels must have been out on display, patalbugan blues, palakihan, pakinangan ng diamonds at pearls, among themselves lang of course, then back to the vault, hora mismo. so who was the belle of the ball, dawn zulueta? asunta de rossi? lani mercado? tessa prieto? rachel arenas? kristie kenney? o talbog silang lahat kay glory glory hallelujah? i would have loved to watch the show, kahit sa tv lang, di ba. for a sense of history, why not?

independence day blues

i want a president who has a better sense of nation than gma. it’s not right that we do not celebrate independence day the way we used to. the way we should.

like smoke, i forgot, until the receptionist at a doctor’s office reminded us. when we got home the first thing we did was to bring our flag out and hang it by the window, the way my father did religiously all his life.

i like to think that smoke, who feels the same, speaks for the youth:

It’s what today?

When the taxi driver greeted me with a ‘hapi independens day, mam!’ I had a brief moment of ‘it’s what today?’

When i recovered my wits, I was mortified.

This, i think, is the reason why the independence day holiday should never be moved to the nearest monday or whatever. With all the things you need to do just to survive, the higher things – like remembering to commemorate Independence – tend to get snowed under. If today were a holiday, Independence day would have been the first thing on my mind. Instead, all I could think about was making my ten o’clock meeting.

To a large extent, forgetting was a personal failure. But still, I was pissed to find out that I wasn’t alone in my lapse. After being reminded by that taxi driver, I made it a point to put on a bright smile and greet everyone a happy independence day. Most of the people I greeted returned the same blank stare that I’m sure I gave the taxi-guy. And like me, those blank stares were quickly replaced with memory and a mumbled, ‘I forgot.’

But that’s not the worst of it.

There were some people who just looked at me with a kind of sneer and said, ‘so what?’ They knew it was independence day, but they didn’t care.

This is the kind of trivialization of important observances – independence day included – that ‘holiday economics’ promotes. It kills our sense of history, numbing us to the sacrifices of our forebears and thereby robbing us of the ability to see ourselves as being part of the tapestry of history – if nothing else, then as inheritors of people who fought and died for the freedoms we now take for granted. It’s shameful, I tell you.

By reducing independence day to the status of just-another-excuse-to-skip-work we are slowly but surely inducing a national amnesia of our forefathers’ sacrifices, and we make ourselves more and more incapable of asking what we can do for our country and our people. Instead, we find it ever easier to ask only what our country and our people should do for us.

Without reminders of our place in history, we tend to focus only on what we need to do to ensure individual survival, reducing the national psyche to subsistence levels, and inculcating in us a pathologically mendicant mentality. Ultimately, this will result in psychic stagnation – the state of being so fixatedwith the here and now, with what our entitlements are, and with the utter sense of despair thatwe never get everything we have convinced ourselves we unconditionally deserve thatwe can no longer imagine – much less work for – a grand future.

I’m sorry I forgot it was independence day. I will not forget again.”

me too. it’s not only mortifying, it’s saddening, and who wants to be sad on independence day? but yes, sad for the nation, sad for ces drilon, sad for lorna tolentino, sad for the poor and hungry, sad for us all.