Martin Nievera was recently being criticized for doing his own version of the Philippine National Anthem in the recently concluded Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Las Vegas Nevada. I happened to read an article yesterday from Malaya (May 11, 2009) which was written by Nestor Mata. According to him, Martin Nievera may have sparked a change in the singing of the nationalistic words of the National Anthem.

Here’s the full article of Nestor Mata which can be read from Malaya – May 11, 2009:

THE BROUHAHA over “Concert King” Martin Nievera’s rendition of the Philippine National Anthem is very timely, indeed.

It’s time to ask if his soaring performance at the Pacquiao-Hatton championship match in Las Vegas, Nevada could sparked a change in the singing of the nationalistic words of the “Lupang Hinirang,” which played a great part in the revolution against Span and the construction of the Filipino nation by our forbears.

It’s time to ask, too, why other artists, mostly women, sung the anthem in their own styles at Manny Pacquiao’s past boxing bouts before Martin did his own? Those lovely singers were Karylle, Geneva, Yasmin, Regine, Ciara, Jennifer, Sarah, Lani and Bituin. One of them even dropped some musical notes, and another male singer, Christian, forgot a couple of lines.

And yet, not one of them has been “publicly censured” or punished by a fine or imprisoned for violation of Republic Act 8491 or the “Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.” Some were daintily “chided” by the National Historical Institute, guardian of the anthem, the flag, the emblems, the seals and other national symbols, as provided by that law. But no one has raised a big fuss over their “improper” or “incorrect” or “inappropriate” singing. Martin is the only one. He’s now in the center of a ludicrous storm over his stirring rendition of the hymn.

Oh, by the way, Martin was chosen by no less than the boxing hero called the “Pacman” to sing the anthem at his fight with Briton Ricky Hatton. And, as I wrote in this column last Friday, Martin should have been hailed, and not scorned, for his passionate singing that must have inspired Manny Pacquiao in sending Hatton to lullaby land, in an almost incredible record time of five minutes and several seconds before the end of the second round.

***

And now, isn’t it time, perhaps, to ask for a new evolution of our National Anthem, at least in the manner that it must be sung or played in these parlous times in our nation’s political history?

Of course, we must never forget that the anthem was a product of revolution, a response to the need of those revolutionary times that gave birth to it. And that need arose in 1898 when the revolution against Spain was in its second year and a Filipino victory was in sight.

As history tells us, General Emilio Aguinaldo recognized the need for national symbols to rally the Filipinos against the Spanish colonial masters. So he commissioned Julian Felipe, soldier and pianist, to compose a march for the revolutionaries or freedom fighters.

He named it the “Marcha Filipino Magdalo” (after Aguinaldo’s nom de guerre), and it was adopted and renamed the “Marcha Nacional Filipina.” And it was played in public for the first time when Aguinaldo proclaimed Asia’s first independent republic during which the national flag was unfurled for the first time, too.

Felipe’s music was simply a march, without words. The need for lyrics was just as great as there was for the music. That came when the Filipinos found themselves fighting the Americans, the new colonial masters, in February 1899. To match the stirring strains of Felipe’s original “Marcha Nacional Nacional Filipina,” otherwise known as “Himno Nacional Filipino,” they adopted Jose Palma’s poem “Filipinas.”

That was the beginning of the anthem’s evolution. When the Americans discouraged its singing in the 1920s, Palma’s original Spanish lyrics underwent several English and Tagalog translations. “Land of the Morning,” written by Camilo Osias and Mary Lane was sung during the American colonial period up to the Commonwealth Government years, and the Tagalog version “Diwang Bayan” during the Japanese occupation in the early forties.

Finally, after Ramon Magsaysay became president, in 1956 a committee of musicians, writers and technical staffs from various
government departments sat down to create “a spontaneous and apt Filipino translation” of the anthem. The result was “Lupang Hinirang,” the new Filipino version that became the official anthem that is sung today.

***

Why am I asking about the need for a new evolution of the revolutionary song?

Our National Anthem, as I have briefly recalled its history, proclaims the glory and courage of a patriotic Filipino nation at that moment of its birth of independence.
Indeed, the anthem’s nationalistic words were part of the construction of the Filipino nation, which spoke of the spirit and deep yearnings for freedom by our forbears.

Be it an anthem or those other national symbols, like the Flag, the National Motto, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Constitution, we often forget that those poetic words and legal documents were formulated by our forbears in a particular time and place over a century ago. But, I now wonder, were they meant to be preserved in their “perfection” forever?

In my view, they do not have the last word on our present political life and collective existence as a people!

I am not proposing the rewording or rewriting or even rephrasing or entirely changing the lyrics of the anthem. Rather, shouldn’t we accept the reality that our present times, ideas and values, have changed, and that the old style of singing the anthem should be changed, too?

As my esteemed colleague in punditry Ducky Paredes so kindly put it, its “staid and overly formal” rendition should be changed like the way Martin Nievera sung it as “a celebration of his being Pinoy,” and, as I have described it, with “fervor burning”!

I am assuming, of course, that we Filipinos today, whether we belong to the old or the new generation, want to think progressively about making our country a better place, economically, politically and morally.

So, let’s then start a new evolution of our National Anthem or “Lupang Hinirang”!

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