Non-Filipino Boys Choir sing in Tagalog!
The video above shows Libera singing the Filipino song Bayan Ko in the native language of Tagalog at the PICC in The Philippines October 30, 2009.
This traditional Philippine song touched the hearts of the audience causing the spontaneous applause which we feel adds to the emotion of the piece.
Libera is a vocal band of boys ages 7-16 whose recordings “hold their place in top-tens alongside major artists like Bocelli”. This is the second non-Filipino boys choir that I’ve heard sing in Tagalog…I get goosebumps with each viewing…
Bayan Ko was originally written as a poem in 1929 and later made into a song to protest the American occupation of the Philippines… it is a song that expresses the desire for and the right to freedom…poignant to me not because of it’s political significance, but because freedom is more common a struggle than we may all realize…
Bayan Ko (in Tagalaog)
Ang bayan kong Pilipinas,
Lupain ng ginto’t bulaklak.
Pag-ibig ang sa kaniyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda’t dilag.
At sa kaniyang yumi at ganda,
Dayuhan ay nahalina.
Bayan ko, binihag ka,
Nasadlak sa dusa.
Koro:
Ibon mang may layang lumipad,
kulungin mo at umiiyak!
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag,
Ang ‘di magnasang makaalpas!
Pilipinas kong minumutya,
Pugad ng luha ko’t dalita,
Aking adhika,
Makita kang sakdal laya!
Translation (more literal than lyrical, actually)
Philippines, my country
Land of gold and flowers
With love in her palms
She offered beauty and splendor.
And for her refinement and beauty,
Foreigners were seduced.
My country, you were enslaved
Mired in suffering.
Chorus:
Even birds that are free to fly
Cage them and they will cry,
How much more for a country so beautiful
Would she not yearn to be free?
My Philippines that I treasure,
Cradle of my tears and misery,
My aspiration is,
To see you truly free!
Below is video of a popular Filipino folk singer (analogous to Willie Nelson), Freddie Guilar, singing his rendition of Bayan Ko.
