The origin of the Philippine National Anthem dates back to 1898 with music created by Julian Felipe for a march played by the San Francisco de Malabon Marching Band on the proclamation of Philippine Independence in June 12. In 1899, the national anthem adopted its lyrics from a Spanish poem written by Jose Palma.
In 1920, the American colonial government decided to translate the Philippine National Hymn from Spanish to English through the efforts of poet Paz Marquez Benitez of the University of the Philippines. It was until May 26, 1956 that the national anthem now titled, "Lupang HInirang" was finally sung in Pilipino (the national language before it became Filipino). This version was courtesy of Felipe Padilla de Leon and it remains today the official Filipino lyrics of our national anthem under Republic Act No. 894, the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, in 1998.
However ...
Last week, The Australian Filipina featured the new quarantine song from Pinoy music icon, Joey Ayala. In my research (aka through my partner’s memory of Joey’s genius in writing songs), I unearthed an old story that may very well be relevant to this coming celebration of Philippine Independence.
In October 13, 2013, Joey was featured by TEDxDiliman* as one of their speakers. In his talk, Joey presented a slightly different version of the Philippine National Anthem, recommending a different pronunciation to words that we have been mispronouncing for years and changed the time signature from 4/4 to 6/6 and a positive ending.
The result. Joey Ayala was arrested several weeks later for violation of Republic Act No. 8491 which states that “the rendition of the National Anthem whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe.” Interesting?
For Filos who could remember in the late 80’s, after the release of “We are the World,” a group of Filipino recording artists got together to record “Lupang Hinirang” using the same concept of multiple artists. The Philippine government however requested the producers to stop airing the ensemble performance for probably the same violation.
Here’s the link to his performance and tell us what you think:
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* TED is a non-profit effort devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.
References:
The Evolution of Lupang Hinirang
Joey Ayala's version of Lupang Hinirang