Understanding Lupang Hinirang

Every Filipino knows Lupang Hinirang (though some know it better as "Bayang Magiliw"). How can you not know it when it is the national anthem of the Philippines? But do we really mean the lyrics that we sing? Do we understand it in the first place? 

Photo Credit: http://diazi.ism-online.org

This video has gone viral weeks ago. This afternoon, I shared it to my teammates, and one commented, "Yun pala yun. Ngayon ko lang naintindihan." He immediately downloaded it and converted to MP3.  

So for those who have not seen it, once again, here is Joey Ayala's version of Lupang Hinirang. And I agree, you would never want to sing it in another way. (But that's just me. :D) This rendition is simply beautiful. Truly Filipino. :) Of course that doesn't mean we need to revise our national anthem but maybe we can consider about correcting the way we sing it (read: proper pronunciation).

Read more about the Philippine National Anthem here.

P.S. I read a lot of negative comments on the original video uploaded on YouTube. Napailing na lang ako. :) Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But let me just clarify that this is Joey Ayala's personal interpretation of the song. He clearly stated that "possibly, it's the correct way of singing it" but he never claimed authority. It's the same thing with Dan Brown's controversial novel (Da Vinci Code) which is nothing but a fiction. :)