Found in translation
I was caffeinating at the mall when a youthful lady with white hair said hello. It was Celeste Legaspi. “I’ve been listening to your versions of American pop songs translated by Tinio!” I babbled. That album came out ages ago, she laughed. “I copied it from my friend’s iTunes library last year,” I said. “Please record again.”
The music industry is so different now, she said. Commercial considerations override all others. “You could record the tracks in your house and upload them on the net,” I went on. Her daughters laughed. “She’s lazy,” they said.
When I was growing up in the 70s, Filipino musicians regularly did Tagalog versions of songs in English. Hajji Alejandro did the Bee Gees’ Charade as Tag-Araw, Tag-Ulan, and in his cover of Barbra Streisand’s The Way We Were, Rico J. Puno suddenly switched to Tagalog and turned the song into something else entirely. They didn’t cover songs the way Pinoy singers do today (note-for-note exact imitations, down to the breathing and the hand movements. Today’s most successful proponents of the full mimicry (‘plakado’) approach: Arnel Pineda/Steve Perry of Journey and Charice Pempengco/Whitney Houston.) The material was borrowed, but they colonized it completely (“Namamasyal pa sa Luneta”).
The finest translations/adaptations of the words to popular songs were by the great Rolando Tinio. He’d already translated Shakespeare into Filipino, so pop music must’ve been a breeze. Take the Burt Bacharach-Hal David songs, One Less Bell to Answer and A House Is Not A Home. Every time I hear them I start giggling. Look at these lyrics:
One less bell to answer
One less egg to fry
One less man to pick up after
I should be happy but all I do is cry
(Note: Were you the lover or the maid?)
A rudimentary literal translation would begin:
Isang timbreng di sasagutin
Isang itlog na di piprituhin…
How about that Philo 11 hommage:
A chair is not a chair
Even when there’s no one sitting there
But a chair is not a house
And a house is not a home
Literally:
Ang salumpuwit ay salumpuwit pa rin
Kahit walang nakaupo roon. . .
Instead of a literal approach that would expose the cornball silliness of the lyrics, Tinio went for the literary.
Di na hahainan
Di na susundan
Tuwing siya’y may kinakailangan
Sinong hindi pa
Pasasalamat na
and
Walang nagpapalit
Sa datihang ayos ng silid
Nguni’t di magpapalit
Ang himbing ng pag-idlip…
The risible has been made poignant, and with Celeste Legaspi’s lovely theatrical delivery (very clear enunciation) it’s positively heart-rending. Remember when singers interpreted songs rather than belting the hell out of them? A lot of what passes for singing these days is actually song abuse.
The masterpiece among the Celeste Legaspi-Rolando Tinio collaborations is their version of Rodgers and Hart’s The Lady Is A Tramp. Their title: Ako’y Bakyang-Bakya. It’s not merely a linguistic translation, but an adaptation from one culture to another. The original lyrics are full of American references; Tinio placed the song firmly in a Philippine context while keeping its wickedly funny spirit.
I’ve wined and dined on mulligan stew and never wished for turkey
As I’ve hitched and hiked and grifted too, from Maine to Albuquerque
becomes
Ang hilig ko’y butong-pakwan, ayoko ng pastillas
Nagdi-jeep ako miski saan, hanggang sa Dasmarinas.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
March 22nd, 2009 at 17:26
This was (is) a great, fun album! Even managed to make “Do You Know Where You’re Going To” (remade as “Sa’n Pa Ba Ibig Mapunta”) listenable. Found the remastered CD a year or so ago at PHP150 at O music @ Rockwell…in case other readers would like to track it down.
March 22nd, 2009 at 23:02
Also Brooklyn Bridge’s “The Worst That Could Happen” was done as “Panakip-butas” by Hajji. The latter was so Pinoy in words and cadence and intonation and spirit that it made the original sound like an awkward english version.
March 23rd, 2009 at 05:53
i miss rolando tinio!
March 23rd, 2009 at 09:42
How about this crude attempt at Cole Porter’s “Night and Day. ” My apologies to his fans.
Night and day, you are the one
Araw gabi, ikaw lamang
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Naka-siksik sa isip sa gitna ng lansangan
Whether near to me, or far
Malayo o kalapit
It’s no matter darling where you are
Pareho lang ang degree ng init
I think of you
Nais kita
Day and night, night and day, why is it so
Araw gabi, gabi’t araw, bakit
That this longing for you follows wherever I go
Ang pananabik ay walang haplit
In the roaring traffic’s boom
Sa init ng …Edsa
In the silence of my lonely room
O sa lamig ng Greenbelt
I think of you
Kapiling ka
Day and night, night and day
Araw gabi, gabi’t araw
Under the hide of me
May kilig sa liig
There’s an oh such a hungry yearning burniang inside of me
May nagbabagang sabik
And this torment won’t be through
Ang yamot na ito sa dibdib
Until you let me spend my life making love to you
Di yata kakawala… kundi ka kaniig
Day and night, night and day
Araw gabi, gabi’t araw
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:09
I sometimes begin my treadmill run with “Ako’y Bakyang-bakya.” Which easily translates to “Ako’y baklang-bakla.”
March 24th, 2009 at 00:16
One that I immediately thought of was that localized version of There Will Never Be Another You. The sentiment seemed even sweeter when translated to tug at Pinoy heart strings.
March 24th, 2009 at 13:00
“One that I immediately thought of was that localized version of There Will Never Be Another You. ”
That would be “Ikaw pa Rin” by Tito Mina and you’re right it sounds so naturally Pinoy.
March 25th, 2009 at 16:17
Definitely more deserving of local airplay than Tagalized versions of the likes of “Umbrella” and “Low”
btw…if you heard the track “Kick, Push” by rapper Lupe Fiasco, it samples Celeste Legaspi’s “Bolero Medley”