Harana art by IO REGALADO
By GILDA CORDERO-FERNANDO
THE FIRST recorded song I ever heard when I was 4 or 5 years old was Ang Bibingka by Vicente Ocampo and Atang dela Rama.
My yaya played the big breakable disc
over and over on our 1930s crank-up phonograph. The iconic Atang dela Rama and
the comedian, Vicente Ocampo, were vod-a-vil performers, and the song was
terribly raunchy. It went like this:
Ang bibingka kung lutuin
Ay kaiba sa lahat
May apoy pa sa ilalim
May apoy pa sa itaas.
Si nanay at si tatay
Minsan ay nagkagalit
Dahil sa bibingkang
Ayaw daw ni tatay
Na malagkit
Ang bibingka etc.
Shirley
My mama was crazy about Shirley Temple.
Like many moms of the era, she made scrapbooks of clippings of the precocious
curly-mopped child star. My mother made
me wear copies of her dresses which I hated because they were extremely
short.
The words of her most popular song go:
On the good ship, lollipop
It’s a sweet trip, to a candy shop
Where bonbons play
On the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay
Lemonade stands, everywhere
Crackerjack bands fill the air
Happy landing on a chocolate bar
I loved the song and saw many movies of
Shirley with my mama and papa. I even
own an autographed photo of her that my mother must have ordered from America.
Ibong Sawi
Because I was hyperactive, even as I
was growing up, my yaya from Cuenca, Batangas, would sing me a lullaby.
She must have been homesick because she often
spoke about her brother Igme and her sister Trining who told her Juan Tamad
stories that she in turn related to me.
The song she often sang was “Ako’y Isang Ibong Sawi.
It was so piteous and sad, it always made me
cry. Eventually I would cover her mouth
so she would not continue singing the song.
Here are the lyrics:
Ako’y isang ibong sawi
Na hindi na makalipad
At sa puso’y may sugat
Wala pang lumingap
Inabot ng hatinggabi
Sa madilim na paglipad
Saan kaya ngayon
Ang aking pugad…
Other songs which had very sad melodies
were for me Dandansoy and Ili-ili Tulog Anay.
Lubi Lubi
Although my playmates were panggalatok,
they liked singing Lubi Lubi, which is
a Bicolano ditty that I learned from them.
Most children then could sing Lubi Lubi:
Enero, Pebrero,
Marso, Abril, Mayo,
Hunyo, Hulyo, Agosto
Septyembre, Octubre,
Nobyembre, Disyembre
Lubi Lubi
Kon waray sin abaniko
Patay na ining lawas ko
Lawas ko, ay, ay!
Madidismayo
Sa balbas na dimasyado
For a long time I didn’t know what lubi
lubi was until a plant grew in our garden called lubi lubi. Lubi means coconut and lubi lubi is a slim,
6-ft imitation coconut plant with serrated leaves and small inedible fruits
that somewhat resemble coconuts.
Doon Po Sa Amin
Although I learned a lot of English
songs from school, it was always the Tagalog songs that stuck: Bahay Kubo, Chichiritchit, Leron-Leron Sinta,Paru-parong Bukid,Awit ng
Pulubi.
The latter is still one of my
favorites. It goes:
I
Doon po sa amin
Bayan ng San Roque
May nagkatuwaang
Apat na pulubi
Nagsayaw ang pilay
Umawit ang pipi
Nanood ang bulag
Nakinig ang bingi
II
Doon po sa amin
Maralitang bayan
Nagkatay ng hayop
Niknik ang pangalan
Ang taba po nito
Nang maipatunaw
Ang nakuhang langis
Apat na tapayan
III
Doon po sa amin
Bayan ng Malabon
May isang matandang
Nagsaing ng apoy
Palayok ay papel
Papel pati tungtong
Tubig na malamig
Ang iginagatong.
Another favorite was Leron-Leron
Sinta, specially its refrain that goes:
Ako’y ibigin mo
Lalaking matapang
Ang baril ko’y pito
Ang sundang ko’y siyam
Ang lalakarin ko’y
Parte ng dinulang
Isang pinggang pansit
Ang aking kalaban
Dungawin Mo Hirang
There was a renaissance of Tagalog
songs during the Japanese Occupation because singing English songs was
banned.
I was growing up and boys were
beginning to notice me. In the rural
areas, like where we evacuated, young swains made their intentions known by
singing a harana (accompanied by a guitar) below the girl’s window.
If the suitor was welcome, he was asked
to come upstairs. If unacceptable, the
father of the girl threw water (or worse, urine from the chamberpot) at the
singer. Here is the most common harana:
Irog ko’y pakinggan
Awit na mapanglaw
Na nagbuhat sa isang
Pusong nagmamahal
Hwag mong ipagkait
Puso ay ilawit
Sa abang puso kong
Naghihirap sa pagibig
Dungawin mo hirang
Ang nanambitan
Kahit sulyap mo
Man lamang
Iyong idampulay
Sa pagka’t ikaw lamang
Ang tanging dalanginan
Ng puso kong dahil
Sa iyo’y nabubuhay.
My father never opened window or door
and we all pretended to be fast asleep.
I just found everything so unbearably corny.
Then I learned that my own father used to
serenade girls in his youth! Since he
didn’t sing or play the guitar, he would attach a radio (then a relatively new
contraption) to the end of a long stick and raise it to the level of the girl’s
window.
Since his father was the town
doctor and people knew that my papa was going to follow in those footsteps, no
one, I’m sure, dared throw the contents of the chamberpot at him! - Inquirer
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