| All rights reserved. Filipino Globe |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| c o m m e n t |
filglobe.com
filipino globe online edition
| back to top |
|
|
Where have all our great talents gone?
So much for Western clones and those bizarre names
First it was Lea Salonga, some years ago, and now there’s Arnel Pineda who’s
on the way to making his name abroad. I have to admit that, living in Hong
Kong as I do and not up on the latest rock stars at home, I’d never heard of
Arnel.
But my niece informed me that he’s a terrific singer and well known in Pinoy
musical circles. So now he’s headed for international stardom as well.
First it was Lea Salonga, some years ago, and now there’s Arnel Pineda who’s
on the way to making his name abroad. I have to admit that, living in Hong
Kong as I do and not up on the latest rock stars at home, I’d never heard of
Arnel.
But my niece informed me that he’s a terrific singer and well known in Pinoy
musical circles. So now he’s headed for international stardom as well.
We should be
asking
ourselves why
countries like
India and China,
even Singapore,
can produce
persons of great
accomplishment
asking
ourselves why
countries like
India and China,
even Singapore,
can produce
persons of great
accomplishment
Obviously I’ve been on the far side of the
generation gap, being clueless about who’s
cool in Manila’s music world.
And so everyone’s delighted that Arnel was
discovered and hired by the US rock band
“Journey.”
I’d also never heard of the group, having sort
of given up after the Beatles because what
followed them has been loud and dissonant,
on top of which they sport bizarre names like
The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, U2,
Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Police, etc.
generation gap, being clueless about who’s
cool in Manila’s music world.
And so everyone’s delighted that Arnel was
discovered and hired by the US rock band
“Journey.”
I’d also never heard of the group, having sort
of given up after the Beatles because what
followed them has been loud and dissonant,
on top of which they sport bizarre names like
The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, U2,
Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Police, etc.
All that rebellious punkness, to me, can’t be classified as music – it’s just
plain noise.
So I’ve stuck to classic jazz, Dixieland, Latin music, ’50s tunes, even going as
far back as the Golden Oldies (the sort that Hong Kong disc jockey Rey
Cordeiro features on RTHK’s Radio 3, which I’d enjoy more if he didn’t
preface everything with his corny spiels). All those have tunes one can
whistle and lyrics that make sense.
And one can dance to them, instead of having to stomp around and shake to
today’s rock noise with its migraine-inducing drum beat.
No doubt about it, Pinoy singers can say, like that George Gershwin song
goes, “I got rhythm!”
Weren’t we all thrilled when Leah Salonga won both the London and New
York awards for her role in “Miss Saigon”?
That was reminiscent of the time Manila went wild, first when Gemma Cruz
won the Miss International crown, soon to be followed by Gloria Diaz, Margie
Moran and Aurora Pijuan.
A string of our beauties kept winning more international crowns, and
nowadays the reaction seems mainly to be smug satisfaction, as though we’
re saying “So what else is new?”
So we take for granted that Pinay beauties are as plentiful as our fine
mangoes in the summer, and we beam when some can actually reply to
presenters’ questions without sounding too dumb.
I don’t think any have been like Aurora Pijuan who, when asked how many
languages she spoke, said she only used her native tongue with her
servants. The poor dear, of course, merely reflected the feudal nature of her
country.
So now with our singers making it to the big time, shouldn’t we stop and
think: will Pinoy singers just continue being clones of Western ones? Does
making it abroad mean our artists’ main goal is continually to ape
Westerners?
Lord knows we’ve had our Pinoy versions of Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams,
Tina Turner, Celine Dion, etc, and it looks like we’ll continue duplicating other
popular ones. So are these really the country’s greatest achievement?
I think it was only when Nora Aunor came on the scene that we had our Tunay
na Pinoy epiphany.
What was appealing about her was not only that she didn’t look like an elite
mestiza, she didn’t try to imitate Western crooners. Her music reminded us of
our inherent love of music, our romantic native nature.
She could make us think of the traditional kundiman because she didn’t sing
pale reflections of Western ballads.
But sadly, her promoters Westernized her music – and her looks – and now
she’s been swallowed up by American culture in California.
We really should be asking ourselves why countries like India and China,
even Singapore, can produce persons of great accomplishment in the
different fields of endeavour.
Where are our world-class scientists, writers, poets, painters, architects and
inventors?
We do have excellent artists and writers (think Bencab and Jose Dalisay), and
we like to trot out that line about a Pinoy having had a hand in creating Nasa’s
moon buggy.
But where are the genuine intellectuals, wizard technicians and world-class
medical scientists?
Let’s hope the new budding generation, if not the next one, will surprise us.
plain noise.
So I’ve stuck to classic jazz, Dixieland, Latin music, ’50s tunes, even going as
far back as the Golden Oldies (the sort that Hong Kong disc jockey Rey
Cordeiro features on RTHK’s Radio 3, which I’d enjoy more if he didn’t
preface everything with his corny spiels). All those have tunes one can
whistle and lyrics that make sense.
And one can dance to them, instead of having to stomp around and shake to
today’s rock noise with its migraine-inducing drum beat.
No doubt about it, Pinoy singers can say, like that George Gershwin song
goes, “I got rhythm!”
Weren’t we all thrilled when Leah Salonga won both the London and New
York awards for her role in “Miss Saigon”?
That was reminiscent of the time Manila went wild, first when Gemma Cruz
won the Miss International crown, soon to be followed by Gloria Diaz, Margie
Moran and Aurora Pijuan.
A string of our beauties kept winning more international crowns, and
nowadays the reaction seems mainly to be smug satisfaction, as though we’
re saying “So what else is new?”
So we take for granted that Pinay beauties are as plentiful as our fine
mangoes in the summer, and we beam when some can actually reply to
presenters’ questions without sounding too dumb.
I don’t think any have been like Aurora Pijuan who, when asked how many
languages she spoke, said she only used her native tongue with her
servants. The poor dear, of course, merely reflected the feudal nature of her
country.
So now with our singers making it to the big time, shouldn’t we stop and
think: will Pinoy singers just continue being clones of Western ones? Does
making it abroad mean our artists’ main goal is continually to ape
Westerners?
Lord knows we’ve had our Pinoy versions of Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams,
Tina Turner, Celine Dion, etc, and it looks like we’ll continue duplicating other
popular ones. So are these really the country’s greatest achievement?
I think it was only when Nora Aunor came on the scene that we had our Tunay
na Pinoy epiphany.
What was appealing about her was not only that she didn’t look like an elite
mestiza, she didn’t try to imitate Western crooners. Her music reminded us of
our inherent love of music, our romantic native nature.
She could make us think of the traditional kundiman because she didn’t sing
pale reflections of Western ballads.
But sadly, her promoters Westernized her music – and her looks – and now
she’s been swallowed up by American culture in California.
We really should be asking ourselves why countries like India and China,
even Singapore, can produce persons of great accomplishment in the
different fields of endeavour.
Where are our world-class scientists, writers, poets, painters, architects and
inventors?
We do have excellent artists and writers (think Bencab and Jose Dalisay), and
we like to trot out that line about a Pinoy having had a hand in creating Nasa’s
moon buggy.
But where are the genuine intellectuals, wizard technicians and world-class
medical scientists?
Let’s hope the new budding generation, if not the next one, will surprise us.
search this site
|
| ||||||||
| QUICK LINKS |
|
|
|
|
|
| ADLINKS |
|
|
|
|
|
| ADLINKS |
view pdf image
leave a comment
|
close this page
|
|
pinoy dimsum