UP Concert Chorus, ipinarinig kung paano dapat kantahin ang "Lupang Hinirang"

Kung ang UP Concert Chorus ang tatanungin, ganito raw dapat inaawit ang ating National Anthem.

Naniniwala silang dapat na igalang ang orihinal na komposisyon ni Julian Felipe, pero merong itong iba't ibang bersyon, may mabilis: "Bayang Magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan, Alab ng Puso sa dibdib mo'y buhay / Lupang Hinirang, duyan ka ng magiting sa manlulupig di ka pasisiil" at merong kasimbilis: "sa dagat at bundok sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw; may dilag ang tula at awit sa paglayang minamahal. Ang kislap ng watawat mo'y tagumpay na nagniningning, ang bituin at araw niya kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim. Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pagsinta, buhay ay langit sa piling mo; aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi, ang mamatay ng dahil sa'yo."

Ang mahalaga, sundin ang orihinal na himig na ito.

"And then, umaawit kay Pacquiao, si ating kaibigan, and, sana naman nag-consult muna bago para hindi naman sila magsalita uli, and merong kasing law", sabi ni Prof. Janet Sabas-Aracama, Artistic Director and Conductor, UP Concert Chorus.

Pirme na lang ang isyu ng "Lupang Hinirang" tuwing may laban si Manny Pacquiao, iba't-ibang sikat na singer na ang umaawit na ito pero halos lahat hindi umano sumunod sa orihinal na komposisyon.

"Bayang Magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan, Alab ng Puso sa dibdib mo'y buhay / Lupang Hinirang, duyan ka ng magiting sa manlulupig di ka pasisiil, sa dagat at bundok sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw; may dilag ang tula at awit sa paglayang minamahal. Ang kislap ng watawat mo'y tagumpay na nagniningning, ang bituin at araw niya kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim. Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pagsinta, buhay ay langit sa piling mo; aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi, ang mamatay ng dahil sa'yo." Di ba? Martial siya? And I think the way we should, that way good itself already," sabi ni Dr. Ramon Acoymo, Associate Professor Voice and Music Theater/Dance Department.

Isa pang bagay na laging na iniiba ng mga singer ay ang dulo ng "Lupang Hinirang".

Kung titignan natin yung original version ng "Lupang Hinirang" ni Julian Felipe, makikita natin na yung nota doon sa dulo parang ganito na siyang maririnig. Pero ang madalas ginagawa ng mga singers sa boxing match ni Manny Pacquiao na ibang-iba doon sa original na melody na sinulat ni Julian Felipe.

"Ang mga kulot, birit, ornament, dekorasyon, o embellishment should only sang the original intent from the music and the words. Kung ang ginawa mo ay nakakatanggal na focus, so dapat i-focus ang tao, masiyadong marami ngayon, it's too much", sabi ni Acoymo.

May kalayaan daw ang lahat na singers ng bigyan ng ibang interpretasyon ng isang awitin, pero sa kaso ng National Anthem, may sapat na dapat sundin, at malinaw sa RA 8491, section 37, na ang tamang pag-awit ng National Anthem ay ang bersyon ni Julian Felipe, dapat 2/4 beat ang pagtugtog dito, at dapat ay nasa 100 hanggang 120 beats per minute sa 4/4 beat kapag kinakanta.

Kapag ito ay narinig, tumayo ng matuwid, humarap sa watawat at ilagay ang kanang kamay sa kaliwang dibdib habang inaawit.

Ito ay pwedeng kantahin sa flag ceremony sa mga opisina at paaralan, pandaigdigang kumpetisyon na host ang Pilipinas o may kinatawan ang ating bansa; sa sign on at sign off ng mga istasyon sa radyo at telebisyon; bago ang pagbubukas ng oras ng trabaho at nagtatapos ang trabaho ng mga emplyeado; at sa una at huling screening ng pelikula sa mga sinehan at bago simulan ang mga teatrong pagtatanghal.

Ang Panatang Makabayan ay dapat na bigkasin pagkatapos ng pagkanta ng pambansang awit sa mga pangunahing institusyong pang-edukasyon. Ang Panunumpa ng Katapatan sa Watawat ng Pilipinas ay maaaring kabisado din, bagaman ang batas ay hindi tumutukoy kung sino ang kinakailangan upang gawin ito.

Ang sinong lumabag nito na babastusin o gagawing katatawanan ang pambansang awit ay mahaharap sa kasong criminal o administratibo o dapat na magmulta ng 5,000 to 20,000 pesos o isang taong pagkakakulong.

Mukahin ng UP College of Music, sana raw ang National Historical Institute ang orihinal na bersyon at masusing ituro ito ng mga mangaawit na hindi na muli pagmulan pa ng kontrobersya.

Kaya inaalam namin kung kabisado nga ba ng ating mga kababayan ang "Lupang Hinirang", ang lalaking ito, game nag-sample ng kanyang bersyon ng National Anthem.

Sa umpisa ng kanta, nakakabilib  kami. "Bayang Magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan Alab ng Puso sa dibdib mo'y buhay"

Pero sa kalangitaan: "Lupang Hinirang duyan ka ng magiting sa manlulupig di ka pasisiil sa dagat at bundok sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw; may dilag ang tula at awit sa paglayang minamahal. Ang kislap ng watawat mo'y tagumpay na nagniningning, ang bituin at araw niya kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim. Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pagsinta, buhay ay langit sa piling mo; aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi ang mamatay ng dahil sa'yo."

Ang isa nito naman, nag-kasablay-sablay: "Bayang Magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan Alab ng Puso sa dibdib mo'y buhay / Lupang Hinirang, duyan ka ng magiting sa manlulupig di ka pasisiil / Sa dagat at bundok sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw; may dilag ang tula at awit sa paglayang minamahal. Ang kislap ng watawat mo'y tagumpay na nagniningning, ang bituin at araw niya kailan pa ma'y di magdidilim. Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pagsinta, buhay ay langit sa piling mo; aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi ang mamatay ng dahil sa'yo."

Pero paliwanag niya, "na lupain naman ng pagiging Pilipino natin, kahit na kalimutan iyon, pero, siyempre, iba pa rin kabisado mo 'yung "Lupang Hinirang".

Ang mamang ito seryosong sumagot sa aming mga tanong. Pero alam kaya niya ang title ng ating national anthem? "BAYANG MAGILIW po."

Pero, ang aling ito, alam niya ang title ng ating national anthem, pero?
JAMIE SANTOS: Pero, ang pambansang awit ng Pilipinas?
Interviewer: "Lupang Hinirang"
JAMIE SANTOS: Kabisado mo ba natin?
Interviewer: Hindi po, eh!
JAMIE SANTOS: Bakit po?
Interviewer: Eh, walang practice! Eh, sa mga school na ngayon, minsan, every Monday na lang, dapat EVERYDAY!

Sa kabila kasi ng reklamo ng NHCP ukol sa paglabag sa Republic Act 8491, hindi masampahan ng kaukulang kaso ang mga mang-aawit sapagkat ang umano’y “krimen” ay naganap sa ibang bansa kung saan walang bisa ang naturang batas.

Pero, alam niyo ba na may karampatang parusa sa lalabag o hindi mag-bibigay galang kapag tinutugtog ang ating pambansang awit?

"Mayroong kahulugan parusa dito, maaaring magmulta ng 5 hanggang 20,000 o makulong ng isang taon", Atienza said.

“Sinasabi nila, sa ibang bansa ginawa iyong pagkakamali. Pero malaki ang epekto nito sa lahat ng mga Pilipino. Hindi lang iyong mga nasa ibang bansa, pati iyong mga nandito sa bansa,” ani Atienza.

Ayon naman kay Eleazardo Kasilag, pangulo ng Federation of Associations of Private Schools Administrators, panahon na para tumanggap ang publiko ng ibang paraan ng pag-awit ng Lupang Hinirang.

“Originally, it was a march, yes, because of the war, but in the 20th century, I found that passable. After all, even the Filipino flag is no longer the original one. The word Pilipino is now Filipino. The singer stuck to the lyrics anyway. So many cultural traits have lost their germane applications which should have been guarded and we do not complain about them,” dagdag pa niya.

Para naman kay Atienza, dapat galangin ang pambansang awit at panatilihin sa orihinal na bersiyon nito sapagkat ito ay inaprubahan ng ating mga bayani, at ang “mga kumakanta ng mali ay walang galang sa ating mga bayani.”

Sinang-ayunan ito ni Sunico na nagsabing hindi puwedeng gawing rason ang pagkamalikhain ng mang-aawit para baguhin ang interpretasyon ng pambansang awit.

“The National Anthem is, by itself, a sacred thing that we cannot tamper with,” aniya. “If they want to be creative or they want to show-off their high voice, they want to show that they can sing with a lot of impressive technique, then they do it for other pieces. But as far as the National Anthem is concerned, there is a straightforward way of rendering it.”

Kung may panuntunan sa tamang pagkanta ng National Anthem ng Pilipinas, gayon din sa pagtaas ng ating watawat.

Sa ilalim kasi ng Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, mariin na ipinagbawal na gupitin, tapakan o sirain ang ating watawat, bawal rin ito gamiting pantakip at hindi ito idikit sa mga sasakyan. Bawal ilagay sa ilalim ng larawan o painting o ibaba sa anumang platform. Hindi rin itong gawing costume, at kailangang palitan kung punit-punit na.

Inaatasan ang lahat ng tanggapan, pribado man o pampamahalaan, na magpakita ang pambanasang watawat mula Mayo 28 o ang National Flag Day hanggang Hunyo 12 o ang Araw ng kalayaan.

Isang araw lang kada taon ginugunita ang ating kasarinlan pero habang-buhay at araw-araw ang pagiging Pilipino.

Isang paraan kung paano tatangkilikin ang “Lupang Hinirang” ay sa pamamagitan ng pagbabalik nang araw-araw na flag ceremony sa mga opisina at paaralan. Sa kasalukuyan, tuwing Lunes na lang ginagawa ang flag ceremony at saka uulitin ng Biyernes, kung kailan ibababa ang watawat.

Kung araw-araw na kakantahin sa umaga ang “Lupang Hinirang”, tiyak na makakabisado ito ng mga mag-aaral. Napapanahon na para ibalik ang da­ting nakaugalian nang pag-awit sa “Lupang Hinirang” para naman hindi mawala ang pagmamahal sa bansa. Malaki ang naidudulot nang sama-samang pagkanta sa Pambansang Awit. Naisasapuso at nadarama ang labis na pagkamakabayan.

Ang "Lupang Hinirang" at ang ating watawat, mga simbolo ng ating kalayaan dapat buong buhay nating pinapahalagahan.

'Dive industry totally against us and the kids': Tom and Eileen Lonergan's parents

John and Kathy Hains are well aware of "Open Water," a new movie inspired by the disappearance of their daughter and son-in-law off Australia's northeastern coast.

"Open Water" debuts in limited release today. It opens in hundreds more cities, including Baton Rouge, on Aug. 20.

The Hains have no interest in seeing the film.

"It truly doesn't mean anything to us," John Hains said this week.

"We won't go see it. Friends and members of our families will probably tell us all we need to know about it."

"We've had a bazillion phone calls from media people," Kathy Hains said. "Other than that, we've not given it any thought."

The Hains' 28-year-old daughter, Eileen Lonergan, and her 33-year-old husband, Tom, were the subjects of worldwide news stories in 1998 after a dive boat left the Baton Rouge couple in the St. Crispins Reef area of the Great Barrier Reef, about 38 nautical miles from the resort town of Port Douglas, Queensland.

Although the Outer Edge Dive company noticed the Lonergans were missing when the boat returned to Port Douglas that Sunday, the company did not alert authorities until Tuesday.

The massive, three-day search that followed yielded no clues to the Lonergans' whereabouts.

An inquest ruled that the Lonergans died at sea because they were left behind by their dive boat.

A 1999 trial, which the Hains attended, acquitted the boat's skipper, Geoffrey "Jack" Nairn, of manslaughter.

"The dive industry was totally against us and the kids," John Hains said. "They were protecting their interests. Every year several people had been left behind. There had been some deaths over the years, but nobody had ever been charged with anything. This was the first time anybody had ever been charged, but they got him off."

Publicity for "Open Water," a Lions Gate Films release, doesn't mention Eileen and Tom Lonergan by name. A studio press release says "the idea for the film came from a particular news event that circulated in dive magazines and newsletters a few years ago."

Chris Kentis, the film's writer-director, distances himself from the Lonergans in the Lions Gate publicity.

"When I sat down to write the film," Kentis is quoted, "I wasn't interested in portraying the real people involved. I did no research on them. I didn't want to represent their relationship or their lives."

"If they made this couple like Eileen and Tom really were," Kathy Hains said, "they would be so boring that no one would go to the movie. Tom had his nose in a book all the time. Neither one of them was a conversationalist. They were quiet, they pretty much kept to themselves, which is probably one reason why nobody ever noticed they were there."

Eileen Lonergan's brother, John Hains Jr., wishes the film's director had made at least minimum contact with his parents.

"It would have been cool," he said from St. Louis, "if he'd given Mom and Dad a call and said, 'Hey, I'm making a movie. I want you to know so that you don't get blind-sided by it.' But I don't begrudge him making the film. I am a little aggravated that Lions Gate is trying to put as much distance between the film and Eileen and Tom as possible. It's almost like they're lepers to Lions Gate. They could at least say, 'Yeah, there's a lot of similarities.' "

Kathy Hains is more sympathetic.

"If they'd asked for permission," she said, "then they'd have nosy parents and siblings telling them, no, this isn't right, no, this isn't what they were like. Then they couldn't have gone and done their little artistic thing that movie people do."

The "Open Water" synopsis describes the film's principals as a workaholic couple with a strained relationship. Just before flying to their island holiday, they realize they desperately need a vacation.

"Eileen and Tom were different," John Hains said. "They just had three years of escape working in the Peace Crops, which they loved."

Eileen Lonergan was a native of Baton Rouge; her husband a native of New Orleans. The couple met while attending LSU.

"Tom," Kathy Hains recalled, "was a fabulous husband to Eileen. He worshipped the ground she walked on."

Before the Lonergans' trip to Australia, they'd worked in the South Pacific as Peace Corps teachers in Tuvalu and Fiji. Her daughter, Kathy Hains said, especially enjoyed spartan and remote Tuvalu.

"No electricity, no beds," Kathy Hains said. "Eileen loved those people. Even though she was blond with blue eyes, she wanted to blend in. I asked her to take a video camera so I could see where she'd been. She said, 'No, I don't want to look like a tourist. I'm there for those kids, not to be taking pictures of everything.' "

Australia was to be a stop on a world-circling journey including Indonesia and Paris. After their trip, they planned to return to Baton Rouge and later attend graduate school in Hawaii.

"They were excited about their trip around the world," Kathy Hains recalled. "They were gonna do a lot of scuba diving, which is what they love to do best."

The Hains cherish their memories of their daughter and son-in-law. The fact that their tragedy at sea inspired a movie won't change that.

"There's not a day that goes by that our hearts don't ache for Eileen or that we might cry a little. But we don't mind the movie. If the movie makes a difference in the dive industry, if it saves somebody's life, it's a wonderful movie," Kathy Hains said.

https://web.archive.org/web/20070227192831/http://www.cdnn.info:80/industry/i040806/i040806.html