The continuing odyssey of Anak

1977 was the year of the first Metro Manila Popular Music Festival. It would prove to be a golden moment in the history of Philippine music.

The grand prize winner was Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika composed by Ryan Cayabyab and interpreted by Hajji Alejandro. The runners-up were Pagdating Mo, sang by Celeste Legaspi and written by Nonoy Gallardo; Narito Ako Umiibig performed by Maricris Bermont and composed by Nonong Pedero; and Ibig Kong Ibigin Ka sang by Anthony Castelo and written by Vic Villafuerte and the would-be National Artist Rolando Tinio.

Future hits were also found among the finalists like Minsan Pa, a composition by Jose Mari Chan sang by Janet Basco; Swerte Swerte Lang written and performed by Joel Navarro; and Tayo’y Mga Pinoy composed by Heber Bartolome and interpreted by the group Hudas. And then there was Anak by Freddie Aguilar that would turn out to be a success unlike any other.

Freddie was a rocker and folk singer who went around performing in the bars and folk houses of Ermita and Olongapo. Unlike most of the other finalists who were already professional artists, Freddie was a total unknown who looked nothing like the Kilabot ng mga Kolehiyala Hajji or the movie star handsome Anthony. He also did not sing like them.

Legend has it that the demo tape of Anak that he submitted had his voice, his guitar and a rooster crowing in the background because it was recorded in a bathroom. There was also the story of how he was asked not to sing his song in the finals. Better let the extremely popular Rico Puno do it. Freddie held his ground and threatened to withdraw. Anak was his act of contrition to his father and he was not going to give it away.

Anak did not win any prize but it became the most talked about song of the festival and Freddie with his guitar and sequined buntal hat was the most exciting discovery. Vic del Rosario Jr., then the head honcho of Vicor Music Corp. set his massive marketing machine into high gear and turned Anak into a major hit and Freddie into a big star.

Then serendipity happened in the person of music producer and publisher Christian de Walden who heard the song, liked it and proceeded to market it in other countries. It turned out that everybody also liked Anak and it became the first Filipino song to break into the hit charts of the world.

 Anak was translated into 27 languages and was a hit in over 50 countries. Among these were Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and Japan where a hit chart once had four different versions of Anak in the Top 10. One of those was the original recording by Freddie, who had by then become the leading folk singer in Asia. In fact, he was so popular that folk singers and fans in other countries took to wearing their versions of Freddie’s sambalilo.

Hereabouts, Anak remained popular all throughout the ensuing years. It had been used as the title song and in the soundtracks of at least two films. It had been covered by various artists from Asin to Kuh Ledesma to Sarah Geronimo. It has also become the benchmark by which other festival songs were measured. Not one of them or any local song for that matter has been able to shatter the Anak ceiling these past 37 years.

And then, just when you think the sad plaintive tones of Anak is ready to be put to pasture as a golden oldie, that ceiling rose even higher. It is all because of Lee Min-ho. Remember him in Boys Over Flowers. The world-famous Korean pop idol was making his feature film debut in Gangnam Blues 1970, a highly-charged action drama about a young man gone wrong. What a coincidence. Such is the message of Anak and the song was very popular in South Korea in the late ’70s.

 Gangnam Blues 1970 opened to record box-office grosses last Jan. 21 in South Korea earning US$7.6M in just one week and that number is still rising. Today, the movie will be the inaugural presentation of SineAsia Theater at SM Cinemas. In the joint venture between SM and Viva International Pictures, these moviehouses will show never-before-seen commercial Asian films dubbed in all Filipino.

How fitting then that it will be Gangnam Blues 1970 that will first unfold in SineAsia. Not only is it dubbed masterfully in Tagalog. Rejoice, no more sub-titles in Asian films. Moviegoers will also hear there playing in the soundtrack of the picture Freddie’s original recording of Anak.

This song has indeed come a very long way since that Metropop evening.