HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes
Sunday, February 24, 2008
I thought I’d write about something different for today.
This being the time of the year when we both celebrate the wonderful, historic and inspiring events that took place on EDSA 22 years ago, and at the same time gnash our teeth and curse ourselves for what we’ve done with the golden opportunity years after, it is only fitting that I devote some space to this event that is indelibly part of our being the people that we are.
As I am writing this, I am taken back to a time in 1986 a few months after EDSA. Cory was installed president. I had just written Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo a few months earlier and still had not shaken off the high that came with the critical and commercial success of the song.
I wanted to do more stuff like it; I wanted to write not just the usual pop songs about love but songs with non-traditional themes, those not always associated with the current music played on radio. I wanted to write songs about current history.
I called award-winning writer Joey Reyes and asked if he was interested in collaborating on a song project for an album my friends Danny, Boboy and I were recording then. The vision I had was a song about EDSA in the style of Don Maclean’s American Pie, which was poetically cryptic and full of allusions. At that time, I remember being so mesmerized with Maclean’s musical narrative about the history of rock and roll. I wanted a song that would describe the events, people, movements and the zeitgeist that would describe our own recent history similar to that Maclean style, but in Pilipino.
Joey and I both agreed that the song should cover the breadth of pre-EDSA history up to the revolution itself. Below is what Joey came up with, lyric-wise. Try to identify which persons, places, movements or phenomena are being alluded to. Transport yourself to the time when events were unfolding dramatically during the sunset years of the desperate Marcos era and meander about up to the time the dictator was flown out to Paoay and on to Hawaii by helicopter. Try to recall the characters, the headlines, the spirit of the times. Now read Joey’s poetry and see how much you can identify.
Here are a few hints: There’s a US president alluded to, and a former priest turned rebel, an exile in Utrecht, a building that collapsed, “The True, the Good and Beautiful.”
Okay, that should help you get situated. The text below is very rich in historic allusion. Anyone who can decipher everything is a real history whiz.
If you want to listen to the music as sung by APO, you can go to http://apojim.multiply.com/music and look for the title below.
Kung Sino-Sino, Kung Saan-Saan
Words by Joey Reyes, music by Jim Paredes
Performed by APO Hiking Society
I.
Hawak kong peryodiko
Na kung saan bawat tao
Minakinilya lang ang halaga
Siyang tula ang sandata
O silang may tapang kumanta
Ang dating sinusumpa’y ginawa ng bida
Iniwan ang kapilya niya
Sa bundok siya ay nagtago na
Walang altar kung saan siya nagmisa
Nagsilabasan ang hantik
Pati bundok mukha’y inukit
Nagsayawan kami hanggang umaga
REFRAIN
Kung sino-sino
Kung saan saan
Kaaway kaibigan
Kilala ko sa pangalan lamang
Silang alamat, multo at talino
Bumubuo ng aking kasaysayaan
II.
Pati dagat pinatuyo
Ngunit nang templo’y gumuho
Kami napipi sa madugong ganda
Ngunit langit ay nagdilim
Nang kalapati’y paslangin
At sa kalye ang luha ay bumaha
Mula sa pula niyang libro
Natuliro na lang si Pedro
Iniwan ang bukid at siya’s sumama
Sumabog ang entablado
Sinabayan ng delubyo
Binihag ang mga matatanda
REPEAT REFRAIN
III.
Pati ilaw sa gintong telon
Hinugis ng munting alon
Ngunit sabi di yan ang totoo
May babaeng napaiyak
At luha naming pumatak
Tuyo na ang kamay ng babaeng pilato
Nagpainom si Pandora
Ngunit tumutol ang iba
Kaya naghikab na lamang ang demonyo
Sinimulan sa kandila
Liwanag niya’y nakagiba
Nag-alsabalutan ang tatlumpong balo
REPEAT REFRAIN
IV.
Bumalik na si Gabriela
Hindi itak ang dala niya
Kundi ulan may sinag na dilaw
Nakita ko sa may pintuan.
At siya’y napangiti lamang
Habang namulaklak ang bagong araw
Lahat sila’y nakatingin
Bibit ng ibon ang sakitin
Nilunod ng sigaw ang ating awit
Pati sila’y sumayaw na rin
Sa sari-saring tugtugin
Ang awit palang ito
Likha namin
* * *
The Tapping the Creative Universe (TCU) workshop begins its 38th run this March, fresh from a successful Sydney run last January.
Last week, I suggested to those who are in transition in their lives and paralyzed by inertia to just “jump and the net will appear.” If it doesn’t, what may happen is you may discover that you can grow wings!
This workshop will awaken your awesome creativity, which may have been dormant these past years, and give you on experience of unlimited joy, power and achievement. If you are in-between dreams, relationships, careers, lives, or feel that parts of you are stuck, this is the workshop for you.
TCU will be held from March 10 to 14, and concludes on March 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. at 113 B. Gonzales, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. The fee for the six-day seminar is P5,000.
Those interested can get a copy of the syllabus by calling 426-5375 or 0916-8554303 or send e-mail to emailjimp@gmail.com and I will be happy to respond.
i visit during weekends but i’m too lazy to comment.(sorry!) hehehe!
my blog — > http://ashleypigtail.blogdrive.com
That’s alright. Enjoy the reading!
Jim
I love that song!great site here…
Sir Jim,
I enjoy your blog.
Just curious about the song–Kung Sino-Sino,
Kung Saan-Saan, but it’s not loading.
Feedback lang po at maraming salamat.
Man-ong
The irony here is that the lady who started it all, Cory Aquino, was also the person who destroyed it.
You might want to check out this brilliant video on today’s disturbing trend towards “hitting the streets” yet again:
http://www.getrealphilippines.com/agr-disagr/12-7-msg_to_cory.html
(YouTube video is embedded in the above page which also contains a transcript of the message for those who do not have a broadband connection).
Back in 09 Sep 2005, Amando Doronila wrote in an INQ7.net article:
“[People Power’s] potency has been depleted by frequent use. The sputtering of protests after the House vote [on the 2005 impeachment bid against Arroyo] should be a rude reality check to Cory Aquino. She has been deserted by people power. And nothing could be more pathetic.”
This is an article I cited back in 2005 when i wrote about the utter ridiculousness of how we conducted ourselves after Congress failed to impeach Gloria on that year. Check out the full article here:
http://www.getrealphilippines.com/agr-disagr/18-6-majority.html
That’s the way the cookie crumbs. Pinoys seem to have a talent for perverting otherwise brilliant ideas.
Sir,
I saw your interview on Studio23 last night. Ang galing, 2 minutes niyo lang po pala sinulat yung kanta para sa EDSA. I was only 8 years old when EDSA 1 happened but the memory is still fresh in my mind, especially your song.
More power!
Lester
Wow! One of my favorite singers blogs too! Forgive my ignorance, just started blogging recently. I will surely enjoy reading your blog regularly.
Great song sir!
As I am writing this, my poor hunk of a husband is stuck in some limbo place in the middle of a horrendous traffic due to checkpoints. And in my mind’s eye I can hear the particular stanza above that goes:
Kung sino-sino
Kung saan saan
Kaaway kaibigan
Kilala ko sa pangalan lamang
Silang alamat, multo at talino
Bumubuo ng aking kasaysayaan
——-
hah’..everything that is happening is a surreal vaudeville….but I must admit, there is this little spinkle sparkle of hope that finally, could it be that finally…in spite of all the seeming dementia, we are as a country becoming collectively aware…you know, aware in the sense that each and all want to do..I mean actually really do..something.
How blessed for you..that you have your beautiful music to carry us through.
ps: When I was a very very very veeeery young girl..waaay back in the 70’s……well, I believe, I kissed you ( in the cheek) in a wedding where I was a flower girl and you where an honored guest :>
lovely blog..enjoyed my read. Thank you.
Re: EDSA 1, I was full of hope for our country back then but sad to say I have to leave…
There is a dysfunctional government, oligarchy is the order of the day, the wealth of the country still in the hands of 40 families while the economic divide widens evenmore.
This is not the hope that I envisioned 22 years ago.
Mr. Paredes, please dont get me wrong, just an honest observation.
Hi sir, I visit your site frequently and I always adore your realizations. I had the chance to visit your exhibit at CSB and I could not helped but be fazed with all those creativity.
I watched your interview in ANC last monday and I must say, hearing you singing the song sent goosebumps. I wished I had the chance to relive the 86 revolution. Like you, I am also concerned with what’s going on right now. Can you spare me a few advices on what the youth can do in the current national situation?
Edsa means many things to many people. Perhaps it would help if we look at the flight of the Isralites from Egypt. Despite the ‘miracle’ of the parting of the Red Sea, it took them 40 years to reach the so-called Promised Land. A quick fix EDSA aint. And to those who look at participation in mass actions and rallies as the ONLY thing they are willing to do, I assure you great disappointment
EDSA is not about being rescued by ‘leaders’. It’s about each citizen awakening to nationhood and accepting the responsibilities and duties that entails.
Matauhan na tayo!
Matchykoi–my advice is be informed of the situation and appreciate with both heart and mind the efforts needed to change things.
Mandaragat–Like I said, we all have great pride and disappointment.
Lady–Gosh, I was kissed by an angel!
Lester, Allan–Thanks. keep visiting.
I’ve compiled a kind of a scorecard of Philippine street “revolutions” so far undertaken:
Hall of shame: Philippine street “revolutions”.
What is the common denominator across the four major street “revolutions” that adorn Philippine history over the last two and a half decades? None other than the Lady-in-Yellow herself.