Madonna

She is not the material girl and she’s not white. She’s not blonde either and neither is she an icon of erotica. But she’s got talent and she’s a Filipina - Madonna Decena. Another youtube hit, Madonna qualified in Britain’s Got Talent show sometime ago.

I would not say she’s an extraordinary talent in the league of Salonga or even Pempengco or, even yes, Pineda. She comes off like a typical club singer I’ve seen (well, I understand she is a club singer in Britain.) This is not to mean club singers are not good, they are - but not always exactly very impressive.

Not even her personal story - a mother hoping to win the contest (more work and more opportunity) for her daughters’ future - is unusual. Other OFWs have stories more tragic and more heartbreaking - and sometimes more strange.

But sing and win she did to the approval of a sobbing female judge, the impossible-to-please Simon ( yes, the bane of every American Idol wannabe) and teary-eyed audience in standing ovation. I’m amazed at how her life story and song performance (the undying Houston’s I’ll Always Love You) tightly fused into a two-hanky drama and made her win. Must be the human interest aspect that tilted the balance in her favor.

What concerns me most however is how a typical Filipino story seems so tragic in the foreigners’ eyes it yanks at their hearts wholesale. Multiply this Madonna story by the extent of Filipino diaspora and there we’ll see - they might actually be crying for our benighted land (or accursed nation.)

Madonna’s story has become so common and natural to us like traffic at EDSA and corruption in government we have become immune to or unmoved by it. Underdevelopment has caused so much poverty that almost everybody leaves at the price of separation and even death in foreign lands, or if one’s lucky, to win a talent competition ( while also using a tale of sorrow to full advantage.)

Such simple personal victory for Decena actually becomes a showcase of our nation’s tragedy for all the world to see - if it has not yet become plainly obvious - a nation so desperate its people oddly join talent (or sports) competitions not game shows ( well, there’s no statistical data but, on TV, I’ve seen more Pinoys in talent shows than in game shows abroad) for their family’s future if not survival.

It is an indictment of our society that eats its own children or drives its own people to take desperate measures to survive. It is an indictment of our government that, since the great promise of colonization, fails the people at every turn and succeeds only in sending them to their doom.

At the same time, should we not realize that every time we celebrate a small success of our kababayan in every corner of the world, we actually proclaim our failures at our homeland? Should we not learn that every struggle we make in distant shores mirrors our own inaction in our tiny islands? Should we not finally begin to understand that every little fame Filipinos across the continent gain is easily lost in the shadows of every monumental shame of our country?

Truth to tell, Madonna’s talent victory is really our people’s sob story.

But who wants to see this kind of depressing reality on TV?

Labor Day Lyrics

It’s international Workers’ Day and the proletariat across the globe are busy commemorating  (in the US, Labor Day was moved to the First of September - an irony considering May Day’s origins - why? well, your guess is as good as mine) this significant day.

I understand that in the US, immigrants in several cities held marches and protest rallies and  dubbed it as Immigrants (or Immigration?) Day.  It hasn’t lost its significance  in the belly of the beast after all - a sign that the struggle of the oppressed and exploited is as real as the rice crisis and Iraq war (or occupation)?

On this occasion I’m quoting some beautiful and meaningful lines from some of the more popular (to the acquainted at least) workers’ songs.  Thanks to Deo for his decent collection of working class literature - it is a welcome respite from the dominant bourgeois literature.  A class-conscious literature provides a badly needed reality check  in times like these.

I wish I could translate these in English but alas I am not capable of doing it without losing its meaning and lyrical power.  So here they are, a few of what I enjoyed and found interesting.

From Awit ng Manggagawa

Yama’y ating likha ano’t busabos

Ati’y kalayaan, bakit nakagapos?

Ang lakas natin bakit dinudurog?

Katarungan ang sigaw ng nalugmok

Katarungang tayo rin ang tutubos.

The lines reveal the analytical mind of the workers -  questioning the irony of being poor while creating wealth,  of repression when they desire freedom, or the annihilation of their force.  To this they, the downtrodden (nalugmok), cry for justice with the determined realization that only they, the workers, themselves can claim it.

This reminds me of the song Manggagawa (by Rody Vera which enjoyed some airtime during the 80’s) from the Mike de Leon opus Sister Stella L (Vilma Santos played a nun while Laurice Guillen played the other nun also named  Stella).  It went along the same lines with practically the same message.

Manggagawa, kayong lumilikha ng yaman ng bansa

Kayong malaon nang iginupo ng dahas

Magkaisa’t labanan ang pang-aapi

Kahit na libong buhay man ang masawi

Walang kailangan kung ang magiging kapalit

Ay ang kalayaang matagal ng minimithi

While the former merely states the need for workers’ action, the latter actually incites them to action, thus

Panahon na, panahon na mga kasama

Ipakita ang lakas ng ating pagkakaisa

and finally connects workers’ struggle for emancipation  with  genuine national freedom

Nang makamtan ng bayan ang tunay na kalayaan.

Well of course, workers’ songs are not complete without the workers’ anthem - the  Internationale - it has rhythm and beat so epic in movies (The Sicilian)  as in real life (Mao Tse Tung docus or your Liwasang Bonifacio/Mendiola demonstrators).  Its unmistakably anti-feudal, anti-idealist line was very revolutionary in its period

Wala tayong maaasahang bathala o manunubos

Kaya’t ang ating kaligtasa’y nasa ating pagkilos.

What can I say?  It was true then.  It is true now.

The US Occupation of the Philippines Series (#1)

A little research in my blog gallery led me to this. (Click on the picture for a larger view)

Contrary to rumors, makeover started in the Philippines during the American colonization, not in the US reality TV shows.

The origins of imitation? My lips are sealed. Oh, but how we’ve come a long way. We have now mastered this art to near perfection. Ask (feel free to supply the name).

Postscript to Pineda’s Journey

It is not that I have nothing good to say about Arnel Pineda. Of course I do - and this would not be missed in my two previous posts by a careful reader. It is just that it was probably not sufficiently amplified to his fans’ satisfaction. But I felt a need to write this again nonetheless, since I have been obviously misconstrued by some.

I fully agree that he is a very good singer. I personally like the way he injects emotions in his songs just as I am awed by the way he delivers the lines and hits those vocal cords-straining notes with relative ease. That he is a Filipino is only incidental, an add-on even without which my appreciation of him would remain the same. That he is now the frontman of Journey is immaterial. I won’t think more of his talent with the luck or opportunity that came his way in the same way that I would not think less of him if he were still a small time gig player in some obscure bar outside the metropolis.

And I am happy for him as well - knowing the difficult and lonely - well - journey he has taken. It is a sweet fulfillment of a life-long personal dream - something we Filipinos love to identify with, like a modern day male cinderella of sort.

But this appreciation cannot and should not go beyond this dimension. And this is where we need to step on the brakes - to stop, look and listen.

So let us stop this proud-to-be-Filipino yadda-yadda. Let us refrain from the insane future-of-Journey declarations or the more insane better-than-the-original hype. Let us resist with informed intelligence this mad rush to equate his personal journey with national pride and identity. Let us by all means avoid calling him a “true filipino artist” when we cannot even appreciate in a much lesser magnitude Amado Hernandez or Lino Brocka.

By all means, let us sympathize with the fulfillment of his personal dream but without mistaking it as a trailblazing act of a great filipino musical artist. Let us relate to his personal success as we would to the rest of our struggling kababayans in their quest for a better life.

Let us do him a big favor by putting him in his proper place - as part of the Filipino diaspora’s lonely search for its own place in the sun. A search that will ultimately lead us back to where we came from, the unmistakable origin of our - yes - journey.

Pineda’s Journey (2)

Fanaticism, like love, is blind and fans cannot see. And what makes this whole Arnel Pineda sensation a virtual festival of the blind is the revelers’ tendency to misconstrue their idol’s act as the hallmark of Filipino identity and the triumphant torch of Pinoy pride and talent. They would like to believe that the rock clone is now a great artist, a musical demigod poised to take the nation and the world in an uplifting, well, journey.

Well, a closer scrutiny will reveal that the hosannahs are misguided, and if voice and singing-style could be patented or copyrighted, the stamp proudly Philippine-made would certainly invite legal action unfavorable to Pineda.

At the bottom of this Pineda fanfaronade is the idea of a successful Filipino whose talent impresses the world and whose hard work has paid off. Nothing wrong with that except that this whole idea, when gleaned from or in the context of the Pineda experience, is a misconception, a faulty assumption based on a misappreciation of circumstances and weak understanding of culture and society.

There is no argument that Pineda sings very well - every note is sang with musical precision, every melody filled with emotion. But this talent becomes problematic when viewed from the perspective of originality and purpose. It becomes an issue when this talent is used to imitate another, especially a popular one, and pass it off as good as if not better than the original.

Pineda was hired as Journey’s frontman not because he is distinctly Pineda, but because he sounded like Steve Perry - every note, every melody. I would like to ask - would they hire him if he sang like Justin Timberlake or John Mayer? Or, let’s not go far, would he be the vocalist that he is now if he looked and sang like Yoyoy Willame? I wonder how Journey would be received by fans in the audience if a John Mayer wannabe sang Open Arms. I wonder if they would record an album to revive the group if his singing resembled that of Timberlake’s. And I wonder if Pineda’s fans would still be in ecstatic rapture the moment a Yoyoy Willame look-alike and sound-alike belts Faithfully.

Seen from this, Pineda’s talent in singing is actually a talent in imitating. And this is what endears him to his fans - his ability to sing the songs they love, in a manner so close to the version they care to listen to. They love him for the covers he does, be it Survivor’s or Journey’s. He can sing Heart’s Alone really good, but where will that take him to? Not a frontwoman stint in that band I am sure.

The truth is, Pineda is admired not for singing his own songs - he has some originals I understand - but for recreating Journey’s hits as popularized by Steve Perry. Another truth is, he is really talented - and I believe he is - but he should strive to become his own and develop his musical artistry outside of the Perry mold. This should be the true measure of Pineda’s talent, not the musical costume his fans love him to wear and gauge with their copycat barometer.

An analogous situation would help explain things. What’s the point in producing a fake Louis Vuitton purse using quality material and excellent labor then pass it off to the world as good as if not better than the original when one could have used the same resources and talent instead in creating something orignal? Where is pride in this sense? What is the Filipino mark in this?

If Pineda is really a great talent that Filipinos are so proud of, why would it take a clone act in a popular band to recognize that talent and make it big? Why was the degree of appreciation by his fellow countrymen during his pre-Journey days not as high as it is now? Why were there no declarations of “proud to be a Filipino” when Pineda was still a small time gig player for God-knows-how-long? Why does that pride surface only now when a popular foreign group has taken him in?

Why do we have to measure our success by our ability to become like others and never by our ability to become our own selves? We have talent, so rich and so abundant, yet we would rather waste it endlessly trying to copy - literally - what others have already achieved.

Which brings us to the issue of Filipino identity. What is Filipino in Journey’s songs? What is Filipino in Steve Perry’s voice? What is the Filipino music and culture being promoted by Pineda’s singing talent? Whatever Filipino identity Pineda has in his journey is one by accident - being born in the Philippines - nothing more. And that is not the true measure of being Filipino.

Of course Pineda is a Filipino. I did not say he is not. But he is only by nationality. And it simply ends there. Of course Pineda is also proud to be a Filipino. I do not doubt that. But his pride does not emanate from identity and consciousness - going by the success story of his personal career. He is, like most of us are, only proud of where he comes from, but not proud enough to proclaim a consciousness of his own people’s distinct arts and culture.

Sadly, he is not representative of Flipino cultural development, or of people’s genuine aspirations. He is not indicative of our collective forward march as a people. He is a poster boy of the sorry state we are in, a testament to our synthetic culture and an indictment of our society.

This is not to hate Pineda. This is to put his story in its proper perspective, see it in real light and cast away its illusions. This not to put Pineda down but to appreciate him and his - well - journey for what he and it is really worth. This is not about jealousy with an individual but a sincere concern with what is wrong with our society.

I assume that this Pineda festival will continue. But, with due respect, let the fans be forewarned, no matter how much it may dash their hopes or dampen their spirits: that by remaining a copycat, Pineda is only as good as the last Steve Perry hit or sound he imitates - faithfully.

One Year, One Wish

Full Circle is now a year old!

It hasn’t grown fully over the year, though, having been dormant for the most part (6 to 8 months). But hey, it managed to revive itself, just as when it was in its last gasp of cyberlife. What can I say? You choose to hibernate longer than you would be active, you’ll be consigned to zombie-like existence if not total oblivion and eventual death.

So here I am again, pounding my worn-out yet recently cleaned laptop keys (thanks to my friend for providing me a cotton ball taken from his mom’s dresser and an effective cleaning solution from his work - it pays to have a resourceful person in your phone book you see) as I watch the newscaster announce the unstoppable Filipino invasion not only of the US but the world as well.

Two new faces join the famed hall of Pinoys making it big in Hollywood - a certain de Tagle in Hannah Montana and a certain Copon in a Scorpion King prequel. Filipino pride - proudly declared Copon. Ahh, there it is again - the favorite battle cry rousing the diaspora.

Pinoy pride - right slogan for the wrong reasons. But I will save that for a different piece - because today is my blog’s birthday. And like all other birthdays, I will make a wish.

Hate it or love it — I wish that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gets ousted and, along with her mindless and murderer minions, made to pay dearly for their crimes against the people.

And if she doesn’t get ousted before the term of her usurped office expires? It’s okay. I can live with that, taking comfort in the firm belief that the long arm of justice as seen to it by the people, will eventually get her. I won’t leave it to God - it is a sorry excuse for us in not exercising our sovereignty as a people and charting our fututre. I would leave it to the Filipino people to serve justice and finally reclaim itself before the world.

This is the type of dignity and pride we all sorely need as a people. And this is my wish. Not the escapist fanfare of glamour and glitter ignorantly peddled by a lot of our confused countrymen.

Pineda’s Journey

Contrary to what his growing multitude of euphoric fans would want to believe and proudly proclaim, there is nothing Filipino in former Olongapo-based band Zoo vocalist Arnel Pineda’s successful personal journey to, well, Journey. And if there ever is, it is only but the individual desire to make it big (the kind associated in capitalist entrepreneurship , that is, success equals money) common to most if not every Filipino.

Hiring a talented copycat to recreate an 80’s rock nostalgia does not promote Filipino music or cultural integrity, it only promotes commercial success - for there is nothing Filipino in Journey or any of its songs no matter how blindly we identify with them.

By stepping into the shoes of Steve Perry - faithfully sounding like him every note, every melody - Pineda’s singing evokes only feelings and memories of songs popularized by a missed idol, not the painful laments, heroic struggles or rich stories of his own people.

It is ridiculous how he could be called the fututre of Journey, as if Journey has not made its name or smelled success. Such extreme hype and premature credit by his fans only further enlarges the shoes he needs to fill and even more constricts the Perry straitjacket he is in. Why prefer the imitation salt when you can get the real thing?

Ahh, but he is rich and popular now, so the fans declare, wowing stunned crowds from Chile to Chicago. Perhaps. Or let us just assume — the stunning feat being arguable. But do his defensive fans eventually get to share his financial rewards or small fame, or whatever trickles down from it, if there is any?

Sad to say, whatever Filipino there is in Pineda’s journey (pun intended) and whatever talent Pineda has - and i am sure he does - they are overwhelmingly buried in the sights and sound of the overpowering rock and roll stage he chose to inhabit and his fans love with open arms.

Janina

Her video clip viewed 2.1 million times as I write this, Janina San Miguel can easily be crowned Binibining Pilipinas - You Tube as well, hands down, rising from being a tuff (top) ten to tuff one in no time. Owe it to the instant metastasizing of her pageant night question-and-answer performance from being a subject of criticism and ridicule to that of an entertainment fare. It beat Miss International and once supermodel finalist Melnie Marquez’s melanisms — the don’t judge me I’m not a book kind –perhaps primarily because there was yet no internet in her time.

But San MIguel is more than this caricature of brainless beauty queen as she is being portrayed by most. She is the epitome of what is wrong with our culture in many ways, chief among them being our tired insistence to use English when Tagalog is preferably the easier and more sensible one. Note Janina’s confused cha-cha of the P and F (which is rather common among the lower social strata ), or persons and people and even the more confused usage of they, there and they’re or their. Add to this her Mass Com majoring in college. And finally, her not answering the question. There you get a disaster but entertaining (for the others) act in what should have otherwise been a night of beauty, brains and culture.

San Miguel is not a tragedy by herself, but the mirror of our own. She is at the very least the proof of what is wrong with us and how we refuse and fail to see our own shortcomings as a people. We use English as our medium of instruction and as the official language in government when all studies point that the best way for children to learn is to teach them in the language they best understand. Our collective psyche gauge intelligence, beauty and social standing by the knowledge and use of the English language. Never mind that it is ungrammatical and senseless as long as it sounds “slang” ( which we take to mean having an American accent.)

We claim to be the second or third largest English-speaking nation in the world and yet majority of us do not understand basic grammar and syntax. Take a quick peek at you tube comments and you’ll see that most of them are written in English — the horrible and ridiculous type. Watch your variety shows and you’lll be amazed at those pa-sosyal Inggliseras entertaining the audience with mindless chatter. Talk to your kababayans abroad in Tagalog and they will reply in English, in their funny Americanized accent and bad grammar.

Filipinos think they look smart if they talk to each other in English when they actually look fake and stupid.

Which brings us back to Janina. She could have answered the question in Tagalog (the host apparently reminded her so) but instead chose not to — in a futile attempt to impress everybody and regain composure. What could have been a shining moment of glory in a not-so glorious event turned out to be a comedic yet humiliating act of tragedy (but figuratively only because she won the title anyway.)

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our country, whose tragedy is both literal and figurative, having been left way behind by the rest of our non-English speaking neighbors even as we continue to ape our western masters.

Next time there is beauty pageant, whether of the Barangay, the Gay or the Binibining Pilipinas type, it is best to ask the questions in Tagalog and let them answer in the language they truly understand and are comfortable with.

It is high time that we make these queens promote the beauty of our native language as well, no matter how miniscule it would be in representing our cultural integrity.