The enduring tale of Anak Sounds Familiar

There is a story about Anak that has been going around for over 40 years. It says a rooster crowing is heard in the demo that composer Freddie Aguilar submitted to the first Metropop Music Festival in 1978. It is also said that Anak was recorded in a small bathroom with Aguilar accompanying himself on the guitar because he could not afford a professional arranger and a recording studio.

I do not know how true are those but given the massive success that Anak became, it highlights the fact that a great song needs no fancy recording demo to make it big. Even in the sparest of settings a beautiful song will be what it is. Of course, a bad song can be improved by a good arranger. I have seen that happen so many times. Fortunately, Anak is around to prove otherwise.

Aguilar was starting to gain a following in folk joints during the early ‘70s at the time. He had regular gigs in Ermita, Manila and also in places s like Olongapo and Angeles where he was particularly well-liked by American servicemen. He was known for his sad, plaintive vocals as well as for his long shoulder-length hair and wide-brimmed buntal hat.

The Metropop offered a cash prize of P50,000 plus the chance to have the 12 finalists recorded and for the winner to compete in an international song contest. Songwriters sent in their best works and Aguilar sent in Anak, his admonishment of a son or daughter’s ill-treatment of his parents. It was simple with a repetitive melody line but combined with Aguilar’s expressive vocals, it easily made the finals.

Recording companies were given the chance to choose which ones among the finalists they would record and release. Vic del Rosario Jr., president of Vicor Music Corporation became interested in Anak. But first he had to meet Aguilar, who turned out to be very different from his reigning pop stars. Think Rico J. Puno, Basil Valdez, Rey Valera, Anthony Castelo.

The first thing that Del Rosario did was to ask Aguilar to cut his hair and ditch his hat. Aguilar refused. That could have been a problem but risktaker Del Rosario wanted the unknown folksinger and Anak on his label. Aguilar kept his hair and his hat and he signed up with Vicor.

Come Metropop night, he turned in a heartfelt, effective performance. Bad news. He lost to Ryan Cayabyab’s Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika, which was sung by Hajji Alejandro. But what could have been the end turned out to be the beginning of a legend.

NHK the Japan Broadcasting Network sent a crew to shoot a documentary in the Philippines. I do not know what the film was about but the director fell in love with Anak and used it in the soundtrack. So did Japan which became Anak crazy after the docu aired. NHK returned to shoot another documentary specifically about Aguilar and Anak. They found him singing in a folk house in Tagaytay.

At the same time Del Rosario was being pursued by record companies and music publishers from all over Asia for the rights to Anak. His friend Christian de Walden, a music producer and publisher came in and took care of Europe. It was not long before Freddie’s version and Anak had become a big hit all over Asia and Europe.

Anak was recorded in 26 languages. An instrumental by Blonker, as Alle Kinder brauchen Freunde by the Kelly Family and as Kind by Michael Holm in Germany; by Alan Tam in Cantonese; by Kenny Bee in Chinese; by Jody Chiang in Taiwanese; as Htoo Ein Thin by Tha Chin Myar Nae Lu of Myanmar; by Playboy Than Naing in Vietnamese; by Carefree in Malay in Kebebasan; by Vader Abraham in Dutch; by Lee Yong-Bok and Jung Yoon-Sun in Korean.

Note that long before BTS and even years before Rain came along, Aguilar was already an idol in South Korea. The impact of Anak was such that he was mobbed by fans when he competed at the Seoul Music Festival in 1980. The entry was Bulag, Pipi, Bingi, composed by Snaffu Rigor which won the Grand Prize. And talk about fashion influence, Korean kids became aspiring folksingers and sported versions of Aguilar’s sequined jumpsuit, long hair and hat.

The tale of Anak did not end there. Proof of the song’s enduring appeal is that it was used as the theme of the blockbuster flick Gangnam Blues starring Lee Min Ho only five years ago. Anak did it then. Too bad we were not able to sustain our chart dominance abroad.