July 7, 2025 • 34 mins
Join us as we embark on an auditory journey to the Philippines, a vibrant archipelago of 7,641 islands known for its rich tapestry of culture and biodiversity. This episode unravels the fascinating story behind “Lupang Hinarang,” the national anthem that weaves together threads of patriotism, historical struggle, and musical heritage. We’ll explore the dramatic backdrop of the Philippines’ colonial past, marked by Spanish and later American influences, and how these shaped the national identity that the anthem embodies. The discussion delves into the lives of its composer, Julian Felipe, and poet, Jose Palma, both of whom were deeply intertwined with the nation’s revolutionary spirit. So, whether you’re a history buff or just in it for the catchy tunes, prepare for a mix of enlightening insights and a sprinkle of wit as we navigate through the lyrical and melodic heart of Filipino pride.
Hey!!!!!! if you're reading my notes 2.5 years into my show you're cool
- https://web.archive.org/web/20170525084350/https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1998/02/12/republic-act-no-8491/
- chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.wintercrowroost.com/wp-content/uploads/research-ward-raim.pdf
- https://ebird.org/species/labcro15
- https
- ://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8944339/
- https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/2084
- Aurelio, Mario A. (July 18, 2008). "Shear partitioning in the Philippines: Constraints from Philippine Fault and global positioning system data: Shear partitioning in the Philippines". Island Arc. 9 (4): 584–597. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1738.2000.00304.x
- https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/rof.html
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/42633898
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240315154103/https://library.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/pacific/magellan/magellan.html
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248654807_Malay_Muslims_The_History_and_Challenge_of_Resurgent_Islam_in_Southeast_Asia
- https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ny_pubs/221/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign hello and welcome tothe Anthems Podcast. I'm Patrick
and I'm here to tell you thestory of a song that helps to tell
(00:23):
the story of a nation Today wewe are traveling 4,887 miles or 7,221
kilometers as the crow flies.And since that is actually a term
for the straight line distanceon the surface of the planet, we
are going to try and use it asa time. A North American crow does
(00:44):
a three day migrationdescending from 95 to 43 to 28 miles
and that averages to 55ishmiles per day. And crows only travel
during the day so they canfollow local birds to prime roosting
spots to sleep in. And they'llneed 89 sleeping spots to reach the
(01:06):
home of Corvus philippinus,which means that if you're very familiar
with Southeast Asian aviantaxonomy, then you knew I was about
to say we'll be talking aboutthe Philippines. Officially the Republic
of the Philippines. We are ina country that consists of 7641 islands
(01:28):
because one of my favoritepeople was born there and recently
went back after many yearsaway. An amazing trip to an amazing
place that is full ofdiversity in culture and in nature.
The Philippines are one of themega diverse countries on the planet,
meaning that about 5,000 ofthe species there are endemic, which
is a new use of the word tome, and it means they are found nowhere
(01:51):
else. The country also musthave a robust marine ecosystem that
is supported within theborders, one of the many things that
make this archipelago one ofthe prettier strings of islands that
the Ring of Fire wears.Sharing in that diversity of nature
and culture and food and thedanger of living on seismically active
islands with volcanoes leadsto amazing ideas like Capua. It's
(02:17):
an understanding that I'vesort of come to in my own life. That
means that we're all part of abigger project and it's something
that we are definitely notgoing to see the end of ourselves.
That sense of community andthinking about the next people informs
a great deal of Filipinoculture, and it turns out to be an
excellent reason for me totell you about a Lupang Hinarang,
(02:40):
or chosen Land. Again, myknowledge is limited pre episode
here. I've seen a couple ofold war movies in the endless series
that I watched with my pop,and they had shallow and problematic
depictions of non UScountries, including the Philippines.
I also knew that this was infact an important part of what happened
(03:01):
in World War II, but notexactly how and here too, though,
I love the food and Filipinoadobo gets made in my kitchen eight
or nine times a year and youshould make it too. It gets me thinking
that we ought to just sharecuisine and shut up about all the
disputes, but definitely keeptalking about the songs we hear.
(03:21):
Just like this one, my actualfirst thought was @ least I know
(04:30):
what I'm playing and I didn'tchange my mind after hearing 24 other
versions of the song. Here weget to hear the Philippine Philharmonic
accompany Jake Zyrus, formerlyknown professionally as Charisse,
during a presidentialinauguration, so everyone involved
is at the top of their game.It's also another song that immediately
feels like a national anthem,even if you know nothing else about
(04:52):
it. Continuing with themes ofself explanatory significance and
places I Want to Go to, thiscountry contains a place called the
Puerto Princesa Subterraneanriver, one of the coolest things
that you can see on theplanet. This national park sits on
a gigantic limestone karstthat got Swiss cheesed by water and
time, and the last 5.1 milesof the Cabayungan river flow through
(05:17):
a cave before dischargingcompletely into the sea. You can
get nearly three milesupstream from the river on a tour
boat, and this place is anecological treasure trove that leads
me to believe there is areally, really long list of species
that we don't know about yet.Just this cave has species in it
that have been found nowhereelse on the planet. So where do we
(05:39):
have to go if we're going tosee this one of the country's many
UNESCO heritage sites inperson? In locating this country,
I get to have a small mathnerd moment with trigonometry because
the Philippines is very nearlyin the center of a triangle formed
by Papua New Guinea, Taiwanand Laos. Three countries I've covered.
There is no numbersignificance I'm aware of in it being
(06:01):
episodes 12, 21 and 25, but itdoes mean that for some reason you're
keeping close track of what Ido. You already know where we are.
For the rest of us, I I thinkit's easier to get there from China
than Australia. The IndochinaPeninsula is a group of countries
that includes Laos that sortof is hanging off the middle of China
(06:23):
and Vietnam is almost all ofthe coast with the South China Sea.
If you head east from Vietnama bit less than 180 miles or 1250
kilometers, it'll get usproperly into the archipelago. It
is north of Indonesia, southof Taiwan, and sandwiched inside
a handful of seas,specifically Celibus Sulu, the West
(06:45):
Philippines, South China andthe Philippine Sea. They are all
well within the area that aredefined by today's geology. Fact,
the Ring of Fire. I know Ialready mentioned it, but it's a
cool one. It seemed like lowhanging fruit, but that is in fact
the best tasting fruitsometimes. Plus, as we have discussed
(07:06):
previously when discussingislands with areas of underwater
volcanic activity, we don'tget islands like the Philippines
without lots of time andvolcanoes in the ocean. The Ring
of Fire not only lets meconfess my reverence for the music
of the late, great Mr. JohnnyCash, even if his claim to being
the first American to hear ofStalin's death is most generously
a misinterpretation ofsomething that he said. Anyway, depending
(07:29):
on how we count, there arebetween 750 and 950 volcanoes around
the ring. That is basically2/3 of all the volcanoes on Earth,
but that also means 90% of allthe earthquakes on the planet. All
this happens because ofdifferent subducting ocean plates,
continental plate boundariesand complicated intersections. In
(07:51):
other places, it leads tobeautiful tropical islands with rich
soils coupled withoccasionally existential, scary tsunamis
that most recently happened in2023. And we are starting the story
significantly earlier. Thereare two colonial periods in this
story. Because I can't escapethe ridiculous deep and wide historical
(08:12):
influence of that stuff, itseems, at least I can't for the material
that I have chosen, becauseit's a crucial part of the history
of a given place. And you getanthems when you become independent.
Yes, actually it's maybeusually mostly sometimes like not
like that at all. But becomingindependent almost always involves
a colonial power doing someoppressing that you want to be free
(08:35):
of. So let's start the storywith the Spanish and specifically
with the death of FerdinandMagellan. His ships arrived on the
Islands on March 16, 1521,with Ferdinand claiming every island
that they saw and travelingaround trying to convert the locals
to Catholicism. By April 27thof the same year, things were so
(08:56):
out of hand that Magellan wasleading Spanish forces and local
allies in a military actionagainst a chief and he was fatally
wounded. I definitely suggestreading about the events that surround
the battle of Mactan and ChiefLapu. Lapu. Interesting stuff that
helped lead to heavy Spanishinterest over the next few decades.
And the islands being namedafter the future King Philip II in
(09:18):
1543. From there, 350 years orso of Spanish empire occupation,
alliances, wars, winds, lossesand expenditures of life and money.
The colonization efforts fromEurope really begin to get going
in about 1565 and by 1578, theSpanish had enough of a presence
(09:40):
there that they started a warwith Brunei. Predictably, it was
a religious war. They're notalways religious wars, but this one
was definitely going to be. Itwas because they were trying to Christianize
a Muslim area and being toldno by the government that was already
there. Despite thereasonableness of this suggestion,
Spain declared war and tookcontrol of the Philippines. If not
(10:00):
for cholera entering the fray,they might have taken Brunei as well.
Within the island, they werewell on their way to full control
because the place was verysparsely populated with small fragmented
kingdoms that easily fell tothe empire's war machine. The Spanish
were involved in thePhilippines pretty deeply from the
beginning and were workingvery hard with the church to help
spread Catholicism. There wassome notable reason from Islamic
(10:23):
regions in the south, but theindigenous religions never stood
a chance against the twinengines of Western education and
economic advancement. Theempire co opted local leaders and
created an oligarchical systemof rule that eliminated ideas of
communal control. And despitelargely being allowed to integrate
local practices into Catholicpractices, there was an enormous
(10:46):
cultural shift all over theplace. The Spanish spent most of
the 17th century establishingcommunities, the hardening defenses
with a fort network and tryingto get the economic exploitation
going. Except that thingsnever planned out exploitation wise.
A serious effort was made withinfrastructure and educational improvements
and the building of the famedManila galleons. But none of it made
(11:10):
the Philippines profitable forthe Spanish, even though they were
there from the middle of the1500s until 1872. So again, 300 years
despite not making any money.What did happen was that they made
a distinct culture a new one.Because people eat together, they
live together, work together,and along the way develop their own
(11:31):
language and the collectiveidentity. That stuff is the backbone
of many a revolution story inpost colonial countries. We're going
to talk about this one in afew. First we're going to jump to
the beginning of the 19thcentury and then mostly skip the
story of Spanish decline inthe region that is the 18th century.
Well, that and we're alsogoing to skip what is somehow more
(11:54):
racism than usual in what I'mreading about. And a lot of conflict
with Muslim forces trying todo what the Catholic Church was doing
via Spanish forces. There werealso some pretty brutal Japanese
piracy situations thathappened and a brief British occupation
that all teamed up to leavethe treasuries of the Philippines
pretty exhausted. With theactual jump into the 19th century.
(12:18):
Spain saw a new constitutionin 1812 with the provision that it
didn't have colonies Anymore,just overseas territories. And it
was almost not just a changeof accounting. There was a bunch
of that, but there was moretoo. And they made more investments
in infrastructure, education.And the region was given a semi independent
(12:41):
sort of government. I'm stillnot sure colonialism or imperialism
have ever been a good idea.Despite my birth being contingent
on the both of them. The partof the record that I have read is
not terribly clear if ourcomposer's existence also depends
on either of the two. But thearc of his life would certainly have
been different. So we will beback to that timeline in a bit because
(13:05):
we are close enough to his arcfor me to get on it without actually
having to talk about anythingthat happened in the 19th century
yet. Julian Reyes Felipe wasborn on January 28th in 1861, present
day Cavet City in thePhilippines. His parents were Gusto
(13:27):
Felipe and Victoria Reyes. Itseems he had a brother named Housto
as well. I think he was older.We are still following the pattern
though, with me not knowingmuch about the man's early life,
except that he went to publicschool and then he received private
instruction in music from afriar named Pedro Catalan. Pedro
was a recollect priest that isa reformist offshoot of the Augustinian
(13:52):
hermit friars. A rabbit holethat I did not go down. I'm sure
it's pretty deep though.Father Pedro went ahead and hired
the talented Julian as anorchist at the parish church. Being
a working musician gavePhilippe a chance to get great at
what he did, and he definitelydid that. And he was soon composing
(14:12):
well received music. Duringthis span he also became employed
as a piano instructor at anall girls school. And his musical
work earned him awards and an1895 membership in the Santa Cecilia
Sacred Music Society. Rightbefore he waded into a very complicated
part of history because in1896 the islands revolted against
(14:34):
the Spanish. On the heels ofCuba's revolt the year before, Philippe
joined the revolution and wasarrested by Spanish authorities with
the 13 Martyrs of Kvet. Theywere executed September 12th the
same year. But our composerwas found innocent and released on
June 2, 1897. He promptlyrejoined the revolutionaries and
(14:56):
began composing music forthem. Sometime in the first half
of 1898 he was asked to writesome lyrics by the leader of the
revolution, Emilio Aguinaldo,another super interesting person
that I spent way too much timereading about. And that music was
played while the Declarationof Independence was signed. We'll
(15:18):
discuss when it finally becamethe national anthem in a little bit.
Philippe's involvement in allof this got him appointed as the
director of the national bandof the First Philippine Republic
in 1899. Sometime later thesame year, he was thrown in jail
again, this time by theAmericans during the Philippine American
War. We will talk a littletiny bit more about that in a little
(15:42):
bit. After the war, Julian waselected as a counselor in Cavett
and later became a band masterfor the US Navy. He also taught piano
for like 40 years andcontinued to compose music. Philippe
died on October 2 in 1944,leaving behind a legacy of Filipino
music and patriotism. Ourpoet, Jose Isaac Palma e Velasquez
(16:08):
was born June 3, 1876 in theTondo district of Manila to Hermogenes
Palma and Hilaria Velazquez.His father was an employee of the
independence movement and hisbrother Rafael Palma was a relatively
prominent politicianjournalist. Hermogenes also sports
(16:31):
that name, which I love. It'sinteresting that a Filipino man in
the middle of the 19th centuryends up with the same name as one
of Socrates best friends. Factcheck that it's true. Sadly, our
poet died of tuberculosis whenhe was just 26 years old, so there's
not really much to know oftheir life because not a lot of it
happened. But he's not acomplete ghost, so we get something
(16:53):
of a timeline here for sure. Ican say that he went to public school
in Manila and he was enrolledinto Ateneo de Manila University
and sharpening up his poetryacumen at 16 years old. Jose's first
and only published collection,as far as I can tell, was from 1893
and called melancholics, apoetry collection. The title makes
(17:16):
a lot of sense if you considerthat it was penned by a 17 year old
boy. All the while, therevolution against the Spanish became
more inevitable and Palmajoined the Catapunan, which was the
name of the politicalresistance party. Jose joined the
revolution and had his studiesinterrupted by in 1896, but he didn't
(17:37):
see any battle then.Tuberculosis seems like it was either
a long process for the poorguy or the culmination of a not very
healthy life. That meant whenthe fighting switched from against
the Spanish to against theAmericans and he finally got boots
on the ground out in thefield, it was mostly to entertain
his fellow revolutionarieswith poetry and traditional Filipino
(17:59):
storytelling. He made a veryquick transition into working as
a writer for the Tagalogsection of the newspaper La Independencia.
The writers at the paper,according to enough sources that
I'm going to mention it, spenta lot of time on the run from American
forces. And they used brakesin that fleeing process, I guess,
(18:19):
to write revolutionary poetry.Palma wrote Filipinas during this
time and saw it published withthe music on September 3rd of the
same year. All of this stuffhappened extremely fast though, as
it often does once it startshappening. And we're going to hear
about it in a bit more detailpresently because there is not much
(18:41):
more to say about Jose exceptthat he finally succumbed to his
illness on February 12th in1903. No one is terribly sure where
the man is interred, but it isrumored to be the small church of
Santa Cruz in Manila. So weare again talking about an anthem
where both the poet and thecomposer are directly involved in
(19:02):
different parts of arevolution in the country. That all
happens in the very end of the19th century. But we've got to tee
it up a little bit neaterbefore getting through or it's not
going to make a ton of sense.The ideas that led to revolution
migrated into the Philippineswith international commerce and were
nursed by the growingnationalistic individuality that
seems to have cropped upbasically everywhere in the 19th
(19:24):
century. The Philippines wereinitially administered from Mexico.
And in 1821 the MexicanRevolution happened kick the Spanish
out of there. So the seat ofgovernment shifted to far off Madrid.
The Enlightenment ideas thatwere learned through literature and
this distance helped create aneducated upper class called the Principalia
(19:46):
that were able to keep thingshumming along for the Spanish. Then
the Spanish revolutionhappened in 1868. I'm referencing
many revolutions. This time itbriefly resulted in a liberal Governor
General in the Philippines. Asin about a year's time brief, but
it was enough time to give thepeople a taste, especially the rich
(20:08):
people. And when a not soliberal guy came in, there was a
high profile mutiny thatresulted in the execution of three
Filipino priests. And thatplanted a fully grown tree of resentment
for the Spanish. An exileinitiated revolutionary effort was
begun that culminated in thebeginning of an armed revolt against
(20:29):
The Spanish in 1896 called theCry of Pugad Lawan. We're going to
skip a great deal of thedetail going forward because much
is going to happen in the nexttwo paragraphs. The revolt began
when it did, mostly becausethe underground group planning it
was exposed as revenge for apay dispute between two printers.
(20:51):
This was going to happen kindof soon, one way or the other. But
to have the thing kicked offby someone betraying a co worker
is a wild way for a revolutionto begin again. A bunch of people
were executed because of this,including more than a few that had
nothing to do with therevolution at all. They were just
implicated in the paperwork.Like somebody signed their names
(21:15):
in blood in a book to try andget them involved, whether or not
they wanted to be involved.The cry happened on August 24th or
5th in 1896. Then we're goingto skip to February of 1898 in Cuba,
where the US, in a push forsocial reform by the Spanish on the
(21:35):
island, goaded them intodeclaring war. And we get the Spanish
American War. By June, therebels declared Filipino independence
with the wind at their backand the Americans wiping the floor
with the Spanish while theyran support. Then the Treaty of Paris
ended the fighting in Spain'shegemony in Asia in the Americas.
(21:56):
But it also initiated the riseof the United States as a colonial
power. Why? Because to thegreat surprise of the Filipino people
that had been helping theAmericans fight the war, Spain sold
the Philippines to the US inthat treaty. I told you we were going
to mention the PhilippineAmerican War. And this is the entirety
of what I'm going to mentionabout it. It happened and the Americans
(22:18):
won. And there were a couplesnippets that we brought up in the
context of the poet and thecomposer. Too much detail involved
in that. So from there thearchipelago was administered by the
Bureau of Insular affairs andthe Americans began their supposed
tutelage of the Filipinopeople to get them ready for real
(22:39):
independence. To the US'scredit, which is something I don't
say much, in 1953, Congressdid defy Hoover's veto and pass a
Philippine Independence actwith a Constitutional convention,
promulgating a ratifieddocument by the beginning of March
in 1935. Then World War IIhappened. But we are not going to
(23:03):
discuss World War II thistime. Just note that the nation became
fully independent in 1946 inone of the treaties of that war.
And recall that right in themiddle of all of this, the anthem
was happening. A melody wascommissioned by Emilio Aguinaldo,
the much earlier mentioned andshort reign dictator of the Philippines
(23:24):
before the insular governmentcame in. It was to be an instrumental
piece and it was banned whenthe US took over until regaining
its anthem status in 1919.That was also when the first translation
into English occurred, becausea lot of people spoke English in
the Philippines at that point.With Tagalog versions starting to
appear in the 1940s. Tagalogis the official language of the Philippines
(23:48):
and the language the anthem issung in nowadays. The first official
translation was sung inTagalog in public on May 26 in 1956.
In 1958, that version ofLuping in a Ring was made official
with the Republic Act 8491.And with that, we've got the anthem
(24:10):
and I can discuss the songitself. Musically speaking, we are
looking at a proper militarymarch this time. It's written in
2, 4, and it hits many of themarks of that style. I learned a
new music word for this oneand I really like this. This song
makes strong use of somethingcalled anapestic rhythmic figures.
(24:32):
The term comes from poetry andit's a short, short, long phrasing
that you can take thestructure of and reapply elsewhere
in a piece of writing. Kind oflike moving a chord shape up the
neck of a string instrument.Now that the anthem has words, it
is usually 4, 4 for singingpurposes, and for the same reason
(24:53):
it is generally played or sungin C major rather than the G major
that Julian used when he wroteit. Other than that, it's not a super
complicated piece of music.It's a traditional 1451 and includes
a lot of so called perfectcadences. I went to the subreddit
for music theory to try andfigure out what that meant and it
(25:16):
just confused. But I'll learnit eventually and maybe I'll have
a reason to bring it up again.And that's pretty much it. We've
got something in the Europeanmartial style that's probably inspired
by the Spanish anthem MarcheReal, which I may have said incorrectly.
It oddly has no refrain for anational anthem. But I like the music
(25:40):
and I think I've mentionedthat I do like march. Lyrically speaking,
we are deep into it here witha very emotional patriotic poem.
Recall that it was writtenduring a war for independence that
immediately followed a war forindependence, and that it was written
by an active participant inboth of those wars of independence
(26:02):
on the side of therevolutionaries. We get a Spanish
language poem with five versesof four lines apiece. They are consistently
octosyllabic, which is a funword to say. It means eight syllables,
apparently common in periodSpanish poetry. I was going to go
with the translation that wasofficial when the anthem was in English,
(26:23):
but I don't like thetranslation choices that were made.
I think the meaning is lost inthem. Look it up on your own, make
your own decision on that. Butthis is my show, so I'm going with
what's in my hardcover copy ofthe 11th edition of National Anthems
of the World. It is a way moreexplicit translation of the words.
And this is all relative stuffanyway, because the version I played
(26:46):
is a translation into Tagalogfrom the original Spanish, and the
meaning gets through though.Beloved land, daughter of the eastern
sun, your heart is beatingwith ardent fire. Land of love, cradle
of heroism, invaders shallnever trample on you in the blue
(27:07):
sky and gentle breezes, inyour mountains and seas the epic
of your beloved freedom shinesand beats your banner, which has
illuminated victory in battle,will never see its stars or its sun
blotted out. Land of goodfortune, sun and love, it is sweet
(27:29):
to live in your embrace it isglory for your sons to die for you
when you are wronged. The poempresents the Philippines as a cherished
and noble land, using vivid,romanticized imagery to articulate
national identity and pride.As one of many patriotic poems of
the moment, it was notspecifically intended to be used
(27:49):
as an anthem, but because ofthe writing conditions, it checks
off many of the anthem boxesfor me. The first stanza establishes
the emotional bond betweencountry and people, calling the Philippines
a tierra adorada, land of loveand hija del sol de orienta, the
daughter of the eastern sun,framing it as a product of light,
(28:10):
vitality, and easternheritage. It is a poetic assertion
of belonging and significanceand a reclaiming of dignity in the
face of colonialmarginalization. The metaphor of
fuego argenta and nt latiendoesta so something like heart is beating
(28:31):
with ardent fire suggests aninner vitality and religious spirit
inherent to the land and itspeople. This guy was in it with his
entire being, so I bet Josewas going for patriotic heartbeat
that will not be silencedhere. The second stanza intensifies
the emotional and politicalstance by naming the land Cuna del
(28:51):
arismo, a cradle of heroism,asserting that this country's identity
is shaped by its capacity toresist domination. Closing with los
investores note oloron, Hamas,the invaders will never trample you
is both a defiant pledge andan aspirational prophecy of sovereignty
(29:13):
that adds a strength ofdefiance to this writing. This guy
is unintentionally nailing theassignment, and I love when that
happens. We continue with ablend of lyrical reverence and militant
resolve as the third stanzamoves from terrestrial to celestial
imagery, noting that entu azalcielo entus oris entus montes I entumar
(29:37):
in your blue sky, your gentlebreezes, your mountains and your
seas. The idea of freedom isexplicitly vibrant in this poem.
Esplende e late e poema de tuamata libertat, the poem of your
beloved liberty shines andbeats. This line strays into conflating
aesthetics and politics,suggesting that liberty is not just
(30:00):
a condition, but a nationalart form and a defining beauty. I'm
not super sure I agree withthat. Despite wishing that we all
had more liberty. But I didn'twrite the poem. The over the top
sentiment continues where thenational flag is described in triumphalist
terms. A thing I'm shockedthat spellcheck let me write with
(30:22):
no notes to Pabellon que enlas litas la victoria illumino. Your
banner has illuminated victoryin battle. The sun and stars symbolize
enduring visibility and thepromise of victory. The last quatrain
is to be a moving conclusionframing the homeland as a place of
(30:43):
true joy and warmth. Tierra dedichas de sol y amores interragazo
dolce es vivere. Soessentially it is sweet to be in
the embrace of the nation'sson in love, but I will die for it.
The last two lines involve asacred nationalism where the defense
of the nation becomes not justa duty, but a glorious consummation
(31:05):
of identity. Because whetherthey were written as an anthem or
not, these are nationalisticthings. Gotta remember that in this
case we have a poem thatacross both its lyrical and rhetorical
registers, marries theidealized love of country with a
commitment to sacrifice,creating a national anthem rooted
(31:26):
in both beauty and blood. Allsaid and done, we've got a song that
first off had a really toughto parse out story this time because
of the way history works andI'm sure I'm going to run into hard
to write stuff again and againand again and again. History is like
a clumpy, inconsistenttimeline that fails to make sense
(31:46):
to me unless I zoom out so farthat it would not be helpful for
me to tell you about all ofthe stuff I see from up there. But
I need to look from far awayin order to tell a story that makes
sense here. I continue tolearn and I think I'm making progress.
Secondly, this is a story thatyou should dive into on your own
because it's about a beautifulplace, it's deeply interesting stuff
(32:09):
and hopefully the toe dipworth of stuff that I've told you
about was interesting. On tothe credits, which I am rethinking
a bit. So these are slightlydifferent this time. The writing,
recording and production forthe show are done by me and I wrote
and played the theme music.The music was used with my permission.
Unless otherwise noted. Theanthems I play are free to play this
(32:33):
time. I played the audio ofthe anthem performance on December
2nd in 2024. It's clipped outof a publicly available television
clip. My sources are in theshow notes and the most direct way
to those notesis@anthemspodcast.com I can be found
on Facebook and WhatsApp asthe anthems podcast. I was thinking
about social media and maybesomeone could reach out to me and
(32:55):
let me know which network itwould be best to get the show on.
Until then, I'm asking you tohelp me get the episodes onto whatever
platform you can with thehashtag anthemspod. That's an easy
way to get the show in frontof people. It would be cool if you
shared this content withothers and perhaps it will spread
the Filipino idea of KAPWA andmore people will think of others.
(33:18):
You can email me corrections,comments, concerns, suggestions,
ideas, instructions and ask mequestions via anthemspodmail.com
call or text at 1203-759-8375. Or better still, leave
me a review wherever you canso more people hear me. And please
(33:41):
give me a rating on yourpodcast app because it matters. It
also matters that this show iscan credentialed so you can report
harassment, abuse or otherharm on their hotline at 617-249-4255
or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org you can
even go there and volunteeryour time or join up as a creator.
(34:03):
Maybe you are walking aroundShea Stadium right now and you've
noticed that there's anannouncers booth open and are taking
a once in a lifetimeopportunity to recommend this show
for some reason by blasting itout to thousands of Mets fans. But
even if all that happens isyou download another one, then you're
(34:24):
doing me a great service and Iam off to the next country.
Foreign hello and welcome tothe Anthems Podcast. I'm Patrick
and I'm here to tell you thestory of a song that helps to tell
(00:23):
the story of a nation Today wewe are traveling 4,887 miles or 7,221
kilometers as the crow flies.And since that is actually a term
for the straight line distanceon the surface of the planet, we
are going to try and use it asa time. A North American crow does
(00:44):
a three day migrationdescending from 95 to 43 to 28 miles
and that averages to 55ishmiles per day. And crows only travel
during the day so they canfollow local birds to prime roosting
spots to sleep in. And they'llneed 89 sleeping spots to reach the
(01:06):
home of Corvus philippinus,which means that if you're very familiar
with Southeast Asian aviantaxonomy, then you knew I was about
to say we'll be talking aboutthe Philippines. Officially the Republic
of the Philippines. We are ina country that consists of 7641 islands
(01:28):
because one of my favoritepeople was born there and recently
went back after many yearsaway. An amazing trip to an amazing
place that is full ofdiversity in culture and in nature.
The Philippines are one of themega diverse countries on the planet,
meaning that about 5,000 ofthe species there are endemic, which
is a new use of the word tome, and it means they are found nowhere
(01:51):
else. The country also musthave a robust marine ecosystem that
is supported within theborders, one of the many things that
make this archipelago one ofthe prettier strings of islands that
the Ring of Fire wears.Sharing in that diversity of nature
and culture and food and thedanger of living on seismically active
islands with volcanoes leadsto amazing ideas like Capua. It's
(02:17):
an understanding that I'vesort of come to in my own life. That
means that we're all part of abigger project and it's something
that we are definitely notgoing to see the end of ourselves.
That sense of community andthinking about the next people informs
a great deal of Filipinoculture, and it turns out to be an
excellent reason for me totell you about a Lupang Hinarang,
(02:40):
or chosen Land. Again, myknowledge is limited pre episode
here. I've seen a couple ofold war movies in the endless series
that I watched with my pop,and they had shallow and problematic
depictions of non UScountries, including the Philippines.
I also knew that this was infact an important part of what happened
(03:01):
in World War II, but notexactly how and here too, though,
I love the food and Filipinoadobo gets made in my kitchen eight
or nine times a year and youshould make it too. It gets me thinking
that we ought to just sharecuisine and shut up about all the
disputes, but definitely keeptalking about the songs we hear.
(03:21):
Just like this one, my actualfirst thought was @ least I know
(04:30):
what I'm playing and I didn'tchange my mind after hearing 24 other
versions of the song. Here weget to hear the Philippine Philharmonic
accompany Jake Zyrus, formerlyknown professionally as Charisse,
during a presidentialinauguration, so everyone involved
is at the top of their game.It's also another song that immediately
feels like a national anthem,even if you know nothing else about
(04:52):
it. Continuing with themes ofself explanatory significance and
places I Want to Go to, thiscountry contains a place called the
Puerto Princesa Subterraneanriver, one of the coolest things
that you can see on theplanet. This national park sits on
a gigantic limestone karstthat got Swiss cheesed by water and
time, and the last 5.1 milesof the Cabayungan river flow through
(05:17):
a cave before dischargingcompletely into the sea. You can
get nearly three milesupstream from the river on a tour
boat, and this place is anecological treasure trove that leads
me to believe there is areally, really long list of species
that we don't know about yet.Just this cave has species in it
that have been found nowhereelse on the planet. So where do we
(05:39):
have to go if we're going tosee this one of the country's many
UNESCO heritage sites inperson? In locating this country,
I get to have a small mathnerd moment with trigonometry because
the Philippines is very nearlyin the center of a triangle formed
by Papua New Guinea, Taiwanand Laos. Three countries I've covered.
There is no numbersignificance I'm aware of in it being
(06:01):
episodes 12, 21 and 25, but itdoes mean that for some reason you're
keeping close track of what Ido. You already know where we are.
For the rest of us, I I thinkit's easier to get there from China
than Australia. The IndochinaPeninsula is a group of countries
that includes Laos that sortof is hanging off the middle of China
(06:23):
and Vietnam is almost all ofthe coast with the South China Sea.
If you head east from Vietnama bit less than 180 miles or 1250
kilometers, it'll get usproperly into the archipelago. It
is north of Indonesia, southof Taiwan, and sandwiched inside
a handful of seas,specifically Celibus Sulu, the West
(06:45):
Philippines, South China andthe Philippine Sea. They are all
well within the area that aredefined by today's geology. Fact,
the Ring of Fire. I know Ialready mentioned it, but it's a
cool one. It seemed like lowhanging fruit, but that is in fact
the best tasting fruitsometimes. Plus, as we have discussed
(07:06):
previously when discussingislands with areas of underwater
volcanic activity, we don'tget islands like the Philippines
without lots of time andvolcanoes in the ocean. The Ring
of Fire not only lets meconfess my reverence for the music
of the late, great Mr. JohnnyCash, even if his claim to being
the first American to hear ofStalin's death is most generously
a misinterpretation ofsomething that he said. Anyway, depending
(07:29):
on how we count, there arebetween 750 and 950 volcanoes around
the ring. That is basically2/3 of all the volcanoes on Earth,
but that also means 90% of allthe earthquakes on the planet. All
this happens because ofdifferent subducting ocean plates,
continental plate boundariesand complicated intersections. In
(07:51):
other places, it leads tobeautiful tropical islands with rich
soils coupled withoccasionally existential, scary tsunamis
that most recently happened in2023. And we are starting the story
significantly earlier. Thereare two colonial periods in this
story. Because I can't escapethe ridiculous deep and wide historical
(08:12):
influence of that stuff, itseems, at least I can't for the material
that I have chosen, becauseit's a crucial part of the history
of a given place. And you getanthems when you become independent.
Yes, actually it's maybeusually mostly sometimes like not
like that at all. But becomingindependent almost always involves
a colonial power doing someoppressing that you want to be free
(08:35):
of. So let's start the storywith the Spanish and specifically
with the death of FerdinandMagellan. His ships arrived on the
Islands on March 16, 1521,with Ferdinand claiming every island
that they saw and travelingaround trying to convert the locals
to Catholicism. By April 27thof the same year, things were so
(08:56):
out of hand that Magellan wasleading Spanish forces and local
allies in a military actionagainst a chief and he was fatally
wounded. I definitely suggestreading about the events that surround
the battle of Mactan and ChiefLapu. Lapu. Interesting stuff that
helped lead to heavy Spanishinterest over the next few decades.
And the islands being namedafter the future King Philip II in
(09:18):
1543. From there, 350 years orso of Spanish empire occupation,
alliances, wars, winds, lossesand expenditures of life and money.
The colonization efforts fromEurope really begin to get going
in about 1565 and by 1578, theSpanish had enough of a presence
(09:40):
there that they started a warwith Brunei. Predictably, it was
a religious war. They're notalways religious wars, but this one
was definitely going to be. Itwas because they were trying to Christianize
a Muslim area and being toldno by the government that was already
there. Despite thereasonableness of this suggestion,
Spain declared war and tookcontrol of the Philippines. If not
(10:00):
for cholera entering the fray,they might have taken Brunei as well.
Within the island, they werewell on their way to full control
because the place was verysparsely populated with small fragmented
kingdoms that easily fell tothe empire's war machine. The Spanish
were involved in thePhilippines pretty deeply from the
beginning and were workingvery hard with the church to help
spread Catholicism. There wassome notable reason from Islamic
(10:23):
regions in the south, but theindigenous religions never stood
a chance against the twinengines of Western education and
economic advancement. Theempire co opted local leaders and
created an oligarchical systemof rule that eliminated ideas of
communal control. And despitelargely being allowed to integrate
local practices into Catholicpractices, there was an enormous
(10:46):
cultural shift all over theplace. The Spanish spent most of
the 17th century establishingcommunities, the hardening defenses
with a fort network and tryingto get the economic exploitation
going. Except that thingsnever planned out exploitation wise.
A serious effort was made withinfrastructure and educational improvements
and the building of the famedManila galleons. But none of it made
(11:10):
the Philippines profitable forthe Spanish, even though they were
there from the middle of the1500s until 1872. So again, 300 years
despite not making any money.What did happen was that they made
a distinct culture a new one.Because people eat together, they
live together, work together,and along the way develop their own
(11:31):
language and the collectiveidentity. That stuff is the backbone
of many a revolution story inpost colonial countries. We're going
to talk about this one in afew. First we're going to jump to
the beginning of the 19thcentury and then mostly skip the
story of Spanish decline inthe region that is the 18th century.
Well, that and we're alsogoing to skip what is somehow more
(11:54):
racism than usual in what I'mreading about. And a lot of conflict
with Muslim forces trying todo what the Catholic Church was doing
via Spanish forces. There werealso some pretty brutal Japanese
piracy situations thathappened and a brief British occupation
that all teamed up to leavethe treasuries of the Philippines
pretty exhausted. With theactual jump into the 19th century.
(12:18):
Spain saw a new constitutionin 1812 with the provision that it
didn't have colonies Anymore,just overseas territories. And it
was almost not just a changeof accounting. There was a bunch
of that, but there was moretoo. And they made more investments
in infrastructure, education.And the region was given a semi independent
(12:41):
sort of government. I'm stillnot sure colonialism or imperialism
have ever been a good idea.Despite my birth being contingent
on the both of them. The partof the record that I have read is
not terribly clear if ourcomposer's existence also depends
on either of the two. But thearc of his life would certainly have
been different. So we will beback to that timeline in a bit because
(13:05):
we are close enough to his arcfor me to get on it without actually
having to talk about anythingthat happened in the 19th century
yet. Julian Reyes Felipe wasborn on January 28th in 1861, present
day Cavet City in thePhilippines. His parents were Gusto
(13:27):
Felipe and Victoria Reyes. Itseems he had a brother named Housto
as well. I think he was older.We are still following the pattern
though, with me not knowingmuch about the man's early life,
except that he went to publicschool and then he received private
instruction in music from afriar named Pedro Catalan. Pedro
was a recollect priest that isa reformist offshoot of the Augustinian
(13:52):
hermit friars. A rabbit holethat I did not go down. I'm sure
it's pretty deep though.Father Pedro went ahead and hired
the talented Julian as anorchist at the parish church. Being
a working musician gavePhilippe a chance to get great at
what he did, and he definitelydid that. And he was soon composing
(14:12):
well received music. Duringthis span he also became employed
as a piano instructor at anall girls school. And his musical
work earned him awards and an1895 membership in the Santa Cecilia
Sacred Music Society. Rightbefore he waded into a very complicated
part of history because in1896 the islands revolted against
(14:34):
the Spanish. On the heels ofCuba's revolt the year before, Philippe
joined the revolution and wasarrested by Spanish authorities with
the 13 Martyrs of Kvet. Theywere executed September 12th the
same year. But our composerwas found innocent and released on
June 2, 1897. He promptlyrejoined the revolutionaries and
(14:56):
began composing music forthem. Sometime in the first half
of 1898 he was asked to writesome lyrics by the leader of the
revolution, Emilio Aguinaldo,another super interesting person
that I spent way too much timereading about. And that music was
played while the Declarationof Independence was signed. We'll
(15:18):
discuss when it finally becamethe national anthem in a little bit.
Philippe's involvement in allof this got him appointed as the
director of the national bandof the First Philippine Republic
in 1899. Sometime later thesame year, he was thrown in jail
again, this time by theAmericans during the Philippine American
War. We will talk a littletiny bit more about that in a little
(15:42):
bit. After the war, Julian waselected as a counselor in Cavett
and later became a band masterfor the US Navy. He also taught piano
for like 40 years andcontinued to compose music. Philippe
died on October 2 in 1944,leaving behind a legacy of Filipino
music and patriotism. Ourpoet, Jose Isaac Palma e Velasquez
(16:08):
was born June 3, 1876 in theTondo district of Manila to Hermogenes
Palma and Hilaria Velazquez.His father was an employee of the
independence movement and hisbrother Rafael Palma was a relatively
prominent politicianjournalist. Hermogenes also sports
(16:31):
that name, which I love. It'sinteresting that a Filipino man in
the middle of the 19th centuryends up with the same name as one
of Socrates best friends. Factcheck that it's true. Sadly, our
poet died of tuberculosis whenhe was just 26 years old, so there's
not really much to know oftheir life because not a lot of it
happened. But he's not acomplete ghost, so we get something
(16:53):
of a timeline here for sure. Ican say that he went to public school
in Manila and he was enrolledinto Ateneo de Manila University
and sharpening up his poetryacumen at 16 years old. Jose's first
and only published collection,as far as I can tell, was from 1893
and called melancholics, apoetry collection. The title makes
(17:16):
a lot of sense if you considerthat it was penned by a 17 year old
boy. All the while, therevolution against the Spanish became
more inevitable and Palmajoined the Catapunan, which was the
name of the politicalresistance party. Jose joined the
revolution and had his studiesinterrupted by in 1896, but he didn't
(17:37):
see any battle then.Tuberculosis seems like it was either
a long process for the poorguy or the culmination of a not very
healthy life. That meant whenthe fighting switched from against
the Spanish to against theAmericans and he finally got boots
on the ground out in thefield, it was mostly to entertain
his fellow revolutionarieswith poetry and traditional Filipino
(17:59):
storytelling. He made a veryquick transition into working as
a writer for the Tagalogsection of the newspaper La Independencia.
The writers at the paper,according to enough sources that
I'm going to mention it, spenta lot of time on the run from American
forces. And they used brakesin that fleeing process, I guess,
(18:19):
to write revolutionary poetry.Palma wrote Filipinas during this
time and saw it published withthe music on September 3rd of the
same year. All of this stuffhappened extremely fast though, as
it often does once it startshappening. And we're going to hear
about it in a bit more detailpresently because there is not much
(18:41):
more to say about Jose exceptthat he finally succumbed to his
illness on February 12th in1903. No one is terribly sure where
the man is interred, but it isrumored to be the small church of
Santa Cruz in Manila. So weare again talking about an anthem
where both the poet and thecomposer are directly involved in
(19:02):
different parts of arevolution in the country. That all
happens in the very end of the19th century. But we've got to tee
it up a little bit neaterbefore getting through or it's not
going to make a ton of sense.The ideas that led to revolution
migrated into the Philippineswith international commerce and were
nursed by the growingnationalistic individuality that
seems to have cropped upbasically everywhere in the 19th
(19:24):
century. The Philippines wereinitially administered from Mexico.
And in 1821 the MexicanRevolution happened kick the Spanish
out of there. So the seat ofgovernment shifted to far off Madrid.
The Enlightenment ideas thatwere learned through literature and
this distance helped create aneducated upper class called the Principalia
(19:46):
that were able to keep thingshumming along for the Spanish. Then
the Spanish revolutionhappened in 1868. I'm referencing
many revolutions. This time itbriefly resulted in a liberal Governor
General in the Philippines. Asin about a year's time brief, but
it was enough time to give thepeople a taste, especially the rich
(20:08):
people. And when a not soliberal guy came in, there was a
high profile mutiny thatresulted in the execution of three
Filipino priests. And thatplanted a fully grown tree of resentment
for the Spanish. An exileinitiated revolutionary effort was
begun that culminated in thebeginning of an armed revolt against
(20:29):
The Spanish in 1896 called theCry of Pugad Lawan. We're going to
skip a great deal of thedetail going forward because much
is going to happen in the nexttwo paragraphs. The revolt began
when it did, mostly becausethe underground group planning it
was exposed as revenge for apay dispute between two printers.
(20:51):
This was going to happen kindof soon, one way or the other. But
to have the thing kicked offby someone betraying a co worker
is a wild way for a revolutionto begin again. A bunch of people
were executed because of this,including more than a few that had
nothing to do with therevolution at all. They were just
implicated in the paperwork.Like somebody signed their names
(21:15):
in blood in a book to try andget them involved, whether or not
they wanted to be involved.The cry happened on August 24th or
5th in 1896. Then we're goingto skip to February of 1898 in Cuba,
where the US, in a push forsocial reform by the Spanish on the
(21:35):
island, goaded them intodeclaring war. And we get the Spanish
American War. By June, therebels declared Filipino independence
with the wind at their backand the Americans wiping the floor
with the Spanish while theyran support. Then the Treaty of Paris
ended the fighting in Spain'shegemony in Asia in the Americas.
(21:56):
But it also initiated the riseof the United States as a colonial
power. Why? Because to thegreat surprise of the Filipino people
that had been helping theAmericans fight the war, Spain sold
the Philippines to the US inthat treaty. I told you we were going
to mention the PhilippineAmerican War. And this is the entirety
of what I'm going to mentionabout it. It happened and the Americans
(22:18):
won. And there were a couplesnippets that we brought up in the
context of the poet and thecomposer. Too much detail involved
in that. So from there thearchipelago was administered by the
Bureau of Insular affairs andthe Americans began their supposed
tutelage of the Filipinopeople to get them ready for real
(22:39):
independence. To the US'scredit, which is something I don't
say much, in 1953, Congressdid defy Hoover's veto and pass a
Philippine Independence actwith a Constitutional convention,
promulgating a ratifieddocument by the beginning of March
in 1935. Then World War IIhappened. But we are not going to
(23:03):
discuss World War II thistime. Just note that the nation became
fully independent in 1946 inone of the treaties of that war.
And recall that right in themiddle of all of this, the anthem
was happening. A melody wascommissioned by Emilio Aguinaldo,
the much earlier mentioned andshort reign dictator of the Philippines
(23:24):
before the insular governmentcame in. It was to be an instrumental
piece and it was banned whenthe US took over until regaining
its anthem status in 1919.That was also when the first translation
into English occurred, becausea lot of people spoke English in
the Philippines at that point.With Tagalog versions starting to
appear in the 1940s. Tagalogis the official language of the Philippines
(23:48):
and the language the anthem issung in nowadays. The first official
translation was sung inTagalog in public on May 26 in 1956.
In 1958, that version ofLuping in a Ring was made official
with the Republic Act 8491.And with that, we've got the anthem
(24:10):
and I can discuss the songitself. Musically speaking, we are
looking at a proper militarymarch this time. It's written in
2, 4, and it hits many of themarks of that style. I learned a
new music word for this oneand I really like this. This song
makes strong use of somethingcalled anapestic rhythmic figures.
(24:32):
The term comes from poetry andit's a short, short, long phrasing
that you can take thestructure of and reapply elsewhere
in a piece of writing. Kind oflike moving a chord shape up the
neck of a string instrument.Now that the anthem has words, it
is usually 4, 4 for singingpurposes, and for the same reason
(24:53):
it is generally played or sungin C major rather than the G major
that Julian used when he wroteit. Other than that, it's not a super
complicated piece of music.It's a traditional 1451 and includes
a lot of so called perfectcadences. I went to the subreddit
for music theory to try andfigure out what that meant and it
(25:16):
just confused. But I'll learnit eventually and maybe I'll have
a reason to bring it up again.And that's pretty much it. We've
got something in the Europeanmartial style that's probably inspired
by the Spanish anthem MarcheReal, which I may have said incorrectly.
It oddly has no refrain for anational anthem. But I like the music
(25:40):
and I think I've mentionedthat I do like march. Lyrically speaking,
we are deep into it here witha very emotional patriotic poem.
Recall that it was writtenduring a war for independence that
immediately followed a war forindependence, and that it was written
by an active participant inboth of those wars of independence
(26:02):
on the side of therevolutionaries. We get a Spanish
language poem with five versesof four lines apiece. They are consistently
octosyllabic, which is a funword to say. It means eight syllables,
apparently common in periodSpanish poetry. I was going to go
with the translation that wasofficial when the anthem was in English,
(26:23):
but I don't like thetranslation choices that were made.
I think the meaning is lost inthem. Look it up on your own, make
your own decision on that. Butthis is my show, so I'm going with
what's in my hardcover copy ofthe 11th edition of National Anthems
of the World. It is a way moreexplicit translation of the words.
And this is all relative stuffanyway, because the version I played
(26:46):
is a translation into Tagalogfrom the original Spanish, and the
meaning gets through though.Beloved land, daughter of the eastern
sun, your heart is beatingwith ardent fire. Land of love, cradle
of heroism, invaders shallnever trample on you in the blue
(27:07):
sky and gentle breezes, inyour mountains and seas the epic
of your beloved freedom shinesand beats your banner, which has
illuminated victory in battle,will never see its stars or its sun
blotted out. Land of goodfortune, sun and love, it is sweet
(27:29):
to live in your embrace it isglory for your sons to die for you
when you are wronged. The poempresents the Philippines as a cherished
and noble land, using vivid,romanticized imagery to articulate
national identity and pride.As one of many patriotic poems of
the moment, it was notspecifically intended to be used
(27:49):
as an anthem, but because ofthe writing conditions, it checks
off many of the anthem boxesfor me. The first stanza establishes
the emotional bond betweencountry and people, calling the Philippines
a tierra adorada, land of loveand hija del sol de orienta, the
daughter of the eastern sun,framing it as a product of light,
(28:10):
vitality, and easternheritage. It is a poetic assertion
of belonging and significanceand a reclaiming of dignity in the
face of colonialmarginalization. The metaphor of
fuego argenta and nt latiendoesta so something like heart is beating
(28:31):
with ardent fire suggests aninner vitality and religious spirit
inherent to the land and itspeople. This guy was in it with his
entire being, so I bet Josewas going for patriotic heartbeat
that will not be silencedhere. The second stanza intensifies
the emotional and politicalstance by naming the land Cuna del
(28:51):
arismo, a cradle of heroism,asserting that this country's identity
is shaped by its capacity toresist domination. Closing with los
investores note oloron, Hamas,the invaders will never trample you
is both a defiant pledge andan aspirational prophecy of sovereignty
(29:13):
that adds a strength ofdefiance to this writing. This guy
is unintentionally nailing theassignment, and I love when that
happens. We continue with ablend of lyrical reverence and militant
resolve as the third stanzamoves from terrestrial to celestial
imagery, noting that entu azalcielo entus oris entus montes I entumar
(29:37):
in your blue sky, your gentlebreezes, your mountains and your
seas. The idea of freedom isexplicitly vibrant in this poem.
Esplende e late e poema de tuamata libertat, the poem of your
beloved liberty shines andbeats. This line strays into conflating
aesthetics and politics,suggesting that liberty is not just
(30:00):
a condition, but a nationalart form and a defining beauty. I'm
not super sure I agree withthat. Despite wishing that we all
had more liberty. But I didn'twrite the poem. The over the top
sentiment continues where thenational flag is described in triumphalist
terms. A thing I'm shockedthat spellcheck let me write with
(30:22):
no notes to Pabellon que enlas litas la victoria illumino. Your
banner has illuminated victoryin battle. The sun and stars symbolize
enduring visibility and thepromise of victory. The last quatrain
is to be a moving conclusionframing the homeland as a place of
(30:43):
true joy and warmth. Tierra dedichas de sol y amores interragazo
dolce es vivere. Soessentially it is sweet to be in
the embrace of the nation'sson in love, but I will die for it.
The last two lines involve asacred nationalism where the defense
of the nation becomes not justa duty, but a glorious consummation
(31:05):
of identity. Because whetherthey were written as an anthem or
not, these are nationalisticthings. Gotta remember that in this
case we have a poem thatacross both its lyrical and rhetorical
registers, marries theidealized love of country with a
commitment to sacrifice,creating a national anthem rooted
(31:26):
in both beauty and blood. Allsaid and done, we've got a song that
first off had a really toughto parse out story this time because
of the way history works andI'm sure I'm going to run into hard
to write stuff again and againand again and again. History is like
a clumpy, inconsistenttimeline that fails to make sense
(31:46):
to me unless I zoom out so farthat it would not be helpful for
me to tell you about all ofthe stuff I see from up there. But
I need to look from far awayin order to tell a story that makes
sense here. I continue tolearn and I think I'm making progress.
Secondly, this is a story thatyou should dive into on your own
because it's about a beautifulplace, it's deeply interesting stuff
(32:09):
and hopefully the toe dipworth of stuff that I've told you
about was interesting. On tothe credits, which I am rethinking
a bit. So these are slightlydifferent this time. The writing,
recording and production forthe show are done by me and I wrote
and played the theme music.The music was used with my permission.
Unless otherwise noted. Theanthems I play are free to play this
(32:33):
time. I played the audio ofthe anthem performance on December
2nd in 2024. It's clipped outof a publicly available television
clip. My sources are in theshow notes and the most direct way
to those notesis@anthemspodcast.com I can be found
on Facebook and WhatsApp asthe anthems podcast. I was thinking
about social media and maybesomeone could reach out to me and
(32:55):
let me know which network itwould be best to get the show on.
Until then, I'm asking you tohelp me get the episodes onto whatever
platform you can with thehashtag anthemspod. That's an easy
way to get the show in frontof people. It would be cool if you
shared this content withothers and perhaps it will spread
the Filipino idea of KAPWA andmore people will think of others.
(33:18):
You can email me corrections,comments, concerns, suggestions,
ideas, instructions and ask mequestions via anthemspodmail.com
call or text at 1203-759-8375. Or better still, leave
me a review wherever you canso more people hear me. And please
(33:41):
give me a rating on yourpodcast app because it matters. It
also matters that this show iscan credentialed so you can report
harassment, abuse or otherharm on their hotline at 617-249-4255
or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org you can
even go there and volunteeryour time or join up as a creator.
(34:03):
Maybe you are walking aroundShea Stadium right now and you've
noticed that there's anannouncers booth open and are taking
a once in a lifetimeopportunity to recommend this show
for some reason by blasting itout to thousands of Mets fans. But
even if all that happens isyou download another one, then you're
(34:24):
doing me a great service and Iam off to the next country.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!