|
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Essay: Kayang-kaya ba?
By Erma M. Cuizon
Sun.star essay
There’s this 4-year-old boy from Bukidnon who recently came to the city for the Christmas holidays. Miguel showed how much smarter and a year older (since he last came) he has become and how many more things he knows how to do now since he visited Cebu the other time last year.
After the small family with the mother came in from the boat, we asked him if he was brighter this time, cleverer, too.
He nodded quietly, putting out a smile that was like a dare.
“What’s your favorite new song?” we asked next.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he ran to the middle of the room, stood with his body posed like an Orange and Lemon vocalist and was set to dance the day away. In his right hand, he held an invisible microphone that he put nearest his lips and then he screamed, “Pinoy, ikaw ay Pinoy!”
He loved it all the way and his voice gave life to the word “Pinoy” as he whipped up a beat, as though lost in the heat of the song.
Another time one early morning from a neighbor’s house came the sound of a small voice screaming the song. “Ipakita sa mundo!”
In another time in a government office, we heard a boy sing the song, although he had not much chance to emote because his mother was pulling him away from the crowded service windows after she was through following up a loan. She had no one to leave his son to, she brought him along not to a playground but to a crowded government service station where on one corner of the wall is put up a sign which reassures: Dulugan ng Bayan. But the boy knew how to survive in the wrong places. Unfettered by the noise and the strangers around him, he kept singing, “Ibang-iba ang Pinoy!”
Filipino boys before school age are singing of sticking together as a people and winning through the dark days. This is how we see the boy singing in a government office, and all the hundreds of thousands of small Filipino boys in the archipelago who have taken a liking to the song.
The “Pinoy Ako” beat is apparently very attractive to children; the people behind the Pinoy Big Brother show (of which the song is the soundtrack) probably didn’t plan it this way. Perhaps the Orange and Lemon band was thinking of getting the attention of yuppies and students, but children? Unless the musical lyricists Clemen Castro and Jonathan Manalo had the children in mind, in the first place.
Among the children, it’s a boy’s song, attractive to boys, or so it seems. It sings of strength, confirmation. It speaks of children’s future that lights up, not the gloom of old boys’ club.
As you know, good or bad things begin with the children (and the ones behind them).
Do the children have an inkling of the meaning of the song? Why not the parents telling them?
“Iba’t ibang kagustuhan ngunit iisang patutunguhan.”
In the eyes of children, does this mean, “Let’s play, let’s not have angry frats, no killing, please.”
Who and what does the Pinoy fear? A challenge for a strong heart is in the song, it says he’s hardy, he’s big, bigger than the next guy.
“Huwag kang matatakot.”
The Pinoy doesn’t fear anything, not anyone, or so he tells himself deep in the hot night when he’s alone with his thoughts, for he has a lot of things to think about.
And then comes a lesson for the small boys when they think like adults, “Talagang ganyan ang buhay, Dapat ka nang masanay…”
If the children understand the lyrics, how much of it do they bring to adulthood? Which memories will stay? The lessons, such as “Wala ring mangyayari Kung laging nakikibagay? The song, a dare for the timid, or for the intrepid who don’t know they are.
“Nais mong ipakilala kung sino ka man talaga.”
It’s one of those rare chances for anyone to transform society through children, in this case through songs whose messages hopefully stick.
Would the meaning stay or is the popularity of the song skin-deep, a product of hot media air, good until the blitz blows over and another song makes it to the list?
But never mind the lyrics of any song that calls for unity, understanding and proof of inner vigor, if the meaning is lost on children.
As for the big guys, the lessons are nothing new.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 5, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
