Chris Trinidad | Bayan Ko
Video edit for Chris Trinidad’s original song “Bayan Ko”.
Chris Trinidad’s official video for the tune Bayan Ko featuring David Lechuga-Espadas (California) on guitar, Raq Filipina (Filipino World Music) (California) on voice, Reggie Padilla (Hawaii) on tenor saxophone, Bo Razón Music (California) on bombo / cajon, and Raphael Geronimo (British Columbia) on congas, bongó, y maracas, and Chris Trinidad (California/British Columbia) on bass guitar, voice, and arranging.
The text to this anthem of resistance was first written in Spanish by Philippine Revolutionary General Jose Alejandrino and later translated into Tagalog by Jose Corazon de Jesus. In this arrangement, I thought it would be fitting to interpolate the Spanish and Tagalog words to highlight the ways in which the texts were anthems against oppression. Raquel sang effortlessly between Tagalog and Spanish. The Spanish text alludes to the many treasures that tempted the Anglo-Saxon thief to subjugate the people of the Philippines. In this case, the Anglo-Saxon oppressors are indeed the imperialist Americans who, through their “benevolent assimilation” policies, looked down condescendingly upon their "little brown brother."
The aspiration for freedom and liberation is clear in the Tagalog text and it is this version that was sung during the funeral of assassinated Senator Benigno Aquino in 1983 and again at his wife Corazon Aquino’s inauguration celebrating the culmination of the People Power Revolution which toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Indeed, the song was considered so seditious that Marcos banned its public performance while he was in power. Today, Bayan Ko is once again in the hearts and minds of the Filipino people as they wrestle with the human rights violator Rodrigo Duterte. Reggie’s saxophone takes a wild run during the last eight measures ending with a blood curdling cry which at-once serves to remind us of the cries of the innocent, the cries of the marginalized, and the cries of the silenced. May it also serve as a cry to awaken the Filipino people from slumber and complacency toward social justice and action.
