How come that everytime there was a Manny Pacquiao fight, there always had to be an issue regarding how the National Anthem was sung?
A couple of weeks back, as we all know, unless you're living under a rock or in some distant cold planet, Pacquiao won another fight. (He just keeps on winning, it's really kinda getting boring). So while people ranted about how boring this fight was, how boring his opponent was, and how long it took for the boring fight to end, another "issue", or should I say non-issue, that came up was regarding the missinging (is this even a word?) of the National Anthem as performed by Arnel Pineda.
Okay, we get it. The Anthem should be sung with a marching beat. And that every word should be sung correctly. yada, yada. But do people seriously give a damn? Would people really care if in the end the total message of the song has been imparted and was never changed or otherwise bastardized? Why does that historical, cultural institute (whose name I've also forgotten) always make such a big fuss regarding how the Anthem was sung on every Pacquiao fight? I mean, come on, if the improper singing of the national song is such a crime, then tens of thousands of kids in grade school should have already been incarcerated for always interchanging mong with mo'y! Let's not even get started with how some kids replace some of the words to mean something about how corpses' noses are stuffed with cotton.
A song has about as many interpretations as the number of people who sing it - a really big number considering how big the population of this country is. And quite frankly, being so strict about the tempo or the proper wording of the song is just stuff for the the obsessive compulsive to worry about. Did the rendition of the song rouse your nationalistic fervor? Was it sung in such a way that no disrespect was meant? Personally, so long as these two criteria are met, I couldn't give a damn as to whether the song was sung in a funereal tempo or else sung in an upbeat manner ending in a china-shattering operatic soprano ending.
But on the other hand, I am also irked by how some performers make so many embellishments on that one simple song. It's just one song, for crying out loud! And the melody is one of the simplest tunes out there to remember. And nobody gives a damn how good of a singer you are. Fights like these are not your show, the spotlight here belongs to the boxers. So for the love of all that's holy, shut your artistic trap and ego and sing the song in a simple manner where everyone can sing along. And to be quite honest, with regard to National Anthems, I suppose people would also want to sing or hum along with you. But that's it. They are here to watch a fight not be amazed by someone's vocal prowess.
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Out of the many times I've watched Pacquiao matches, the only one "proper" rendition of the Anthem I can remember was done by Kyla, about a couple of years back, I think. She sang it in a simple manner, with a marching beat, and the words were exact and perfect. It was really good, I could remember feeling quite happy that at least and at last, someone got it right.
But of course, true to the Filipino nature of being such insufferable ranters, people still complained that her performance wasn't 100% perfect.
Dear Lord...
Photo from filipinasoul.com
