So now, the news on TV is on Martin’s rendition of our national anthem during the Pac-Man – Hitman fight.

Objectively speaking

Personally, I really don’t have an opinion on whether it’s a big deal or not to “modify” our anthem (similar to how US artists sing the Star-spangled Banner); to each his own.

But regardless of my opinion, the law is the law. Just like with the Stoya open party issue; serving liquor [to minors] is illegal no matter what the culture thinks, as long as that law is in place (or isn’t amended), one has no reason to feel entitled to do it solely because they “think” they deserve such entitlement.

Going back to the anthem issue, this is what the law dictates: It’s cadence is march-type. It should be less than a minute, the intonation should not be modified one bit, yadda yadda – whatever Mr. Felipe has decided must be followed until the day the law related to it is changed or abolished.

It may be too strict, but the law is the law. It just so happens that most of the renditions run the risk of breaking said law whether by accident or purposefully.

Unfortunately, Mr. Nievera’s version, especially after you watch it, was obviously overkill.

Subjectively speaking

Some may ask why this issue is newsworthy, when there are other more pressing concerns that are never addressed, and they’re right to an extent. There certainly are issues I’d rather see fixed than this. But in fairness to those who do care, here’s a simple fact that the less patriotic people (myself included) should remember:

To some people (more than we may think), the act of representing one’s motherland is not a trivial matter.

Now that you’ve read it, it seems like common sense right? That it’s a given and needn’t be mentioned.

I mention it because I am not that patriotic – but I certainly will not judge people who are (provided they aren’t radicals). I mean if I was a superstar, and was to asked to sing the anthem, even if I wasn’t patriotic, I would respect the purpose of the song – which is to represent the Philippines and would try my best to do it justice. If “doing it justice” meant sticking to what I personally thought was a boring cadence, so be it.

It shouldn’t be about me; but about our country and national identity, and I wouldn’t dare assume I have the authority to decide what is best for it.

So it’s not even a debate at this point. it’s law, period. You want to do your country good, then be a good, law-abiding citizen.

My take

Having said that, I think that if it was possible, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have the law amended just a bit.

I think that as long as it’s tastefully done, and could make the anthem serve its purpose more effectively, there’s nothing wrong with infusing some “interpretation.”

Those “kulots” at the end of lines, I think to a certain degree, there should be an acceptable level to add more flavor. If the ends of lines have those certain transients – as long as they’re elegantly executed (elegant != excellent) and don’t result in calling too much attention to the artist’s performance rather than the song, then it should be fine.

The trouble is that people tend to overdo it in the spirit of showing skill – when it’s perfectly possible to put “just enough” individuality to a song without sucking the life out of it.

To give an example. Chris Daughtry has a signature “transient” where he always hooks his last note down after every major line. To me, it still sounds natural – meaning it doesn’t sound like he’s trying to change the spirit of the song, it’s simply his way of singing it. ¹ Probably even involuntary at this point It’s like how some people have round voices and others have shrill ones. It’s an individual’s vocal character – which to me, can positively add to any song and should have no penalty as far as how the interpretation is publicly received.

On the other hand there are “kulots” and “pasikat” that are simply overkill <insert usual R&#38;B artist name> comes to mind.

I guess the basis I use when judging if an interpretation of our anthem is “ok” (or not), is not if the law is followed (or not), but simply if the song still served its purpose.

Just like with vocals, I welcome having different instruments accompanying the anthem if it would make the song more compelling. I imagine an Ennio Morricone-esque treatment would work well… but it would entail breaking the law and having instruments other than a marching band or piano – which are the only acceptable forms of accompaniment from what I heard.

I can also imagine some well placed transients, could still sound tasteful if not overdone.

So again, it boils down to the fact that as long as it aids the song in serving its purpose of inspiring the nation, then any form of modification I’m willing to consider.

Culprits

Personal preferences aside, I can’t deny that Mr. Nievera, as Katz tweeted, made it about him… not the country.

It’s doubly irritating when you actually see his face when singing it; if you want to explain to a child the concept of “overacting (OA)” – watching him would be your best bet 😉

And his stance on issue is equally nakakapikon! He says he will not apologize for “inspiring people.” Inspire? really? If he inspired people, why all this crap in the news, he obviously might be in his own world thinking that people hating him are “inspired.” (Well, they are if you mean inspired to call him out on his crap)

He also says that the changing of the notes at the very end were to overpower the “boos” of the crowd – as if he was doing everyone a favor. That logic is wrong for a couple of reasons:

1. That would mean he winged the end – that it wasn’t planned. I find that very hard to believe.
2. I don’t think anyone this day and age would boo another nation’s national anthem out of sheer spite. So I’m pretty sure if there were boos, they were definitely from our countrymen – and were all precisely because he was murdering the song.

The thing that’s frustrating is that I think Martin has an awesome voice. He has nothing to prove vocally IMHO. I was hearing it on the radio (so no facial expressions) and while I noticed that him making a slow intro would be an issue, I really didn’t mind it that much, and the middle part was ok, it was march-ish, good solid voice, he didn’t change any note, and I also didn’t mind the different accompaniment.

But as he got to the end… I was really thinking “don’t… don’t do it! Someone tackle him, quick!” ² Ok, I just made the “tackle” part up But alas, his ego got the better of him.

Tas nag-flat pa siya sa huli… grrr! Gagawa ka nalang ng katarantaduhan, pumalpak ka pati don. Ni walang consuelo de bobo hahahaha.

Going beyond

I was trying to view the different YouTube videos of different artists singing the anthem. Christian Bautista, Karylle, Kyla, Lani, Charice, etc. Here are my opinions.

All of them aren’t sung in a marching cadence, so by law, no one made the cut.

But if I were to pick the best of what I saw, it would be Kyla’s hands down.

Christian is forgivable because it was more of a memory lapse. Notice that he didn’t change anything. He just missed blocks of phrases totally hahaha. There’s definitely room for reasonable doubt as far as that clusterfuck went.

Karylle’s “version” for me was actually ok as far as how she intended to sing it goes (meaning I don’t mind slowing down at the end, etc.), the problem was more of her being nervous to deliver the song properly. I’d sooner blame the substandard rendition due to not singing it well, rather than “messing with the original score” as it were.

Charice was like Martin’s less the intro. So the first part was ok… until she played too much at the end.

Lani’s was the worst of the lot IMHO… to think she’s the best singer of them all. But everything felt wrong. It was too slow for comfort ³ I usually don’t mind slowing it down for solemnity/drama, but it was just TOO SLOW then the end… oh. my. God. Total. Abosolute. Massacre.

Yeah, you proved you could sing well, lady (not that we didn’t already know), at the cost of our collective national pride. I hope it was worth those few minutes of international fame, Lani.

I actually feel sorry for Martin because I don’t think people called Lani out enough on her version. I attribute it to the fact that boxing wasn’t that popular then as it is now, now that the Pac-Man has made it as popular as it is. Martin had the (un)fortunate honor of singing our national anthem in one of the biggest events in Philippine sports history. With all eyes on him, he had a lot to live up to… and failed miserably.

My 2 cents.