Twin Kapampangan books launch set November 24

THE revised edition of the book “Iniang Malati Ku” (When I Was Young) and its sequel Iniang Mangalati Tamu (When We Were Young) will be launched on Sunday, November 24, at the Robinsons Starmills in the City of San Fernando as part of the 22nd year of the Sinukwan Festival.

The book’s author, local culturati, composer and lyricist Irwin Nucum, who is also the executive producer, composer and arranger of Ite, Missa Est album and songbook, told SunStar Pampanga that seven years ago, he began rewriting the revised edition of the now out-of-print maiden Kapampangan book “Iniang Malati Ku” and simultaneously started writing its sequel “Iniang Mangalati Tamu.”

“The upcoming 136-page ‘Iniang Malati Ku’ revised edition, which contains around 240 animated illustrations of artist Ramcos Nulud, narrates my personal adventures as a young Thomasian. On the other hand, the 300-page Iniang ‘Mangalati Tamu’, which showcases around 435 nostalgic sketches also of Nulud, recounts our collective experiences as Kapampangans,” he shared.

Nucum noted that the renewed interest of Kapampangans in their own identity and history and their heartwarming reception to “Iniang Malati Ku” gave birth to the more comprehensive “Iniang Mangalati Tamu.”

“My new obra basically followed the structure of my first book as it boasts of additional chapters on our traditional way of living including the popular idioms, sayings and time-tested teachings of our elders. It resembles the famed ‘Book of Lists’ as it unveils what generally matters in the life of Kapampangans,” he said.

Nucum furthered that writing Kapampangan books goes beyond himself and that hios books and compositions in Kapampangan are his way of throwing “salva vida” (life saver) to the struggling “amanung sisuan” (‘sucked language from our mother’) amidst the rampaging waters of other languages ironically preferred to be spoken by Kapampangans.

“Anywhere in Pampanga, you would hear many youth speaking Tagalog, Tag-lish and English, but not in Kapampangan. Your support to Kapampangan writings and music would greatly help in our advocacy to save our dying language. It is about time to fill our local libraries with Kapampangan books and music. I lament, ‘How many of us can still speak, read and more so write in Kapampangan now? Are we not slowly giving up our own sense of identity and heritage as a Kapampangan-speaking race?’ The threat to our native language is real! Our Amanung Sisuan is constantly under siege and threat of possible annihilation by Kapampangans themselves who prefer to speak other languages except Kapampangan! The real threat to the life of the Kapampangan language is the Kapampangan themselves. To let our own language be extinguished is to let our own sense of identity be lost. Hence, we have to write, read and speak our language for its survival,” he stressed.

Nucum added that if there will be no books that would be written in Kapampangan, then there would be no reading materials that can guide the next generation in speaking the language well.

“With the gradual decline in the number of those who speak Kapampangan, the inevitable natural fate of our own language would be its demise and extinction. As both books introduce the roots of our being Kapampangan, these unique treasures will be of great help in rediscovering our heritage ‘DNA’ as a race.

Serving as wellspring of our own sense of identity, both works are envisioned to help in the preservation and promotion of our native language, culture and heritage. As they mirror our simple yet happy way of living, these literary contributions in the annals of our local history are like small holes where we can have a peek of our rich past. It makes me happy to see that sweet smile in the lips of the reader as he browses on each story of our uncomplicated yet blissful life then,” concluded Nucum. (JTD)