MASDAN
ANG BUKAS KO
(The Making of an Environment Advocacy Song)
By Antonio C. Antonio
INTRODUCTION:
Overview
A cause or advocacy, be it
political, social or environmental, could only succeed when critical mass is
achieved. Critical mass, in this case,
is the minimum level or number of people pro-actively believing in a cause or
advocacy to start and sustain a significant effect or to achieve a result. Achieving critical mass remains to be the
primary challenge in this undertaking.
A cause is a reason for
action, something that brings about an effect, a sufficient reason for
appropriate action, a ground for legal action, a matter and question to be
decided, or a principle or movement militantly defended and supported. An advocacy, on the other hand, is a
political process by an individual or group which aims to influence public-policy
and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social
systems and institutions. Advocacy can
include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including
media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research or
polls or the filing of an amicus brief.
Lobbying is also a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to
legislators on an issue which plays a significant role in modern politics.
There really are several
forms of advocacy, each represents a different approach to effect an ideal and
desired change in the system or learned and adopted condition. There is also no prescribed method to achieve
a cause or advocacy. Having stated this,
the right tool, methodology, means or procedure will have to be studied to
arrive at the most ideal one to achieve set goals and objectives.
Environmental advocacy is
not too popular on account of the little concern for environmental issues. A healthy ecology is all about the wellness
of all living things around us… so this should be a prime concern of
everyone. But environmental concerns and
issues, like other causes and advocacies, have the same problem… how to create
the necessary awareness and popularize them.
Again, with the aim view of creating critical mass.
Problem
Identifying the right tool
to convey political, social or environmental advocacies remains to be the
primary challenge. Cost, often exorbitant,
is the primordial consideration in this case.
Popularizing an advocacy does not come for free and is downright
expensive. Although mass media remains
to be the most effective way to spread the importance and value of an advocacy,
it should be recognized that media outfits (radio and television stations) are
also business enterprises. And because
of this, often, the only consideration in choosing items that will get “air
time” are those which are considered “newsworthy” or “entertaining.” Sadly, environmental and ecological advocacies,
which include all living things in our environment and necessarily represent
life and survival of mankind, oftentimes do not make the grade in terms of their
news and entertainment value. Presenting
environmental issues and concerns should, therefore, be presented in a way
acceptable to media audiences.
Importance of the Problem
The importance and critical
nature of environmental issues and concerns cannot be disregarded. Unpopular and seemingly less controversial
than political issues such as graft and corruption in government, the
environment should also be given preferential attention.
Media advocacy is the
strategic use of the mass media as a resource to advance a social, economic,
environmental and public policy initiative.
In this day and age of advances in media and information technology,
mass media seems to be the best, cost effective and plausible way to reach a
larger segment of society. Radio and
television remains to be the favorite source of information and entertainment
of the populace.
Aside of providing news and
information, media outfits also provide entertainment as a means to get as much
listeners and viewers. It is the
“entertainment” aspect in the business dynamics of media organizations that can
be used in popularizing environmental advocacies. This brings us to choosing Music as a medium
to create mass awareness. It is also a
good conduit in increasing the level of awareness to an advocacy… environmental
advocacies.
Literature
Music appreciation has different levels
depending on the age and era of musical awareness an individual belongs. “Appreciation,” in this context, means the
understanding of the value and merit of the different styles of music. Culture and background also play a role in
defining and identifying the preference of individuals and groups to a certain
type of music.
There
are several levels of music appreciation.
Although temporal (meaning: pertaining to time, temporary and
transitory) in nature, these levels show the progression of individuals in
their awareness and knowledge of music.
The following are the basic levels of music appreciation:
·
First Level would be LULLABYS and NURSERY RHYMES… which gave us
the basic rudiments of music;
·
Second Level is POPULAR or POP music… which songs we often hear on
television or radio. The common genre for this level are ballads, folk and
country, march and love songs;
·
Third Level is GENERATION and INFLUENCE music such as rock and
roll, heavy metal, rap, disco, etc. Although still part of mainstream music
(like the Second and Fourth levels) and appreciated well, they come and go and
don’t seem to last. Parang fad at uso-uso lang;
·
Fourth Level is INTERPRETATIVE music like jazz, rhythm and blues
(RnB), blues, reggae, soul, Gospel and Latin music. People who appreciate this
type of music have progressed to a level where melodies and lyrics are not the
only consideration but also other critical elements like musicality and
instrumentation; and,
·
Fifth Level would be CLASSICAL music… which is normally played by
an orchestra with tenors and baritones doing the vocals. Unfortunately, even if
this is the highest level of musical appreciation and what we all aspire for,
only a few progress to this level.
Objectives
A basic knowledge of the levels of music
appreciation will give us a good idea on what type of music will appeal to a
larger portion of society. This is
critical in getting people to listen to a song.
Having chosen music as the means to popularize environmental concerns,
the genre will also play an equally important role in capturing the interest of
listeners. This becomes critical since
the Filipino is a race who loves music, knows music and is quite choosy and
discriminating in his choice of songs.
The influence of western music in the
Filipino consciousness is quite evident.
Most hit songs in the United States and Europe never fail to make it to
the “most played” song list in the Philippines.
Choosing Western-influenced genre, therefore, for the purpose of getting
the attention of Filipino listener, is not a bad idea.
Time and Place of Study
I have experienced conducting surveys on
environmental issues and concerns. Last
semester (2nd Semester, School Year 2012-2013), I was a member of a
group of ENRM 221 (Socio-Cultural Perspectives on the Environment) students
that conducted a survey and study to establish the level of awareness on the
environment. Other members of the group
were: (1) Jerome Adriano; (2) Glaiza Baliwag; (3) Criselle
Darantinao; (4) Timothy John Dizon; (5) Analyn Morales; (6) Joy Saquing; (7)
Minerva Hermosa; (8) Theresa Rapacon; (9) John Marlo Serquena; (10) Charmaine
Jimeno; (11) Shane Powell; and, (12) Richelda Galapia.
The
respondents in the survey were a curious mix of people engaged in the following
employment and livelihood activities: (a) Design Specialist; (b) Accountant;
(c) Dentist; (d) Bank Teller; (e) Internal Auditor; (f) Orthodontist; (g)
Salesman; (h) Information Technology Specialist; (I) Dentist-Implantologist;
(j) Teacher; (k) Sidewalk Vendor; (l) Security Guard; (m) College Student; (n)
Retiree.
The
total number of respondents was 120 people with the following age brackets:
|
AGE BRACKET
|
NO. OF RESPONDENTS
|
PERCENTAGES
|
|
10 to 19 years old
|
2
|
2
|
|
20 to 29 years old
|
26
|
21
|
|
30 to 39 years old
|
69
|
57
|
|
40 to 49 years old
|
14
|
12
|
|
50 to 59 years old
|
8
|
7
|
|
60 to 69 years old
|
1
|
1
|
|
TOTAL
|
120
|
100
|
The
more relevant questions in the survey were:
1. What
is your understanding of the term “Sustainable Environmental Management”?; and,
2. Where
did you hear/read about it (Sustainable Environmental Management)?
For
Question No. 1 (What is your understanding of the term “Sustainable
Environmental Management”?), the survey results were as follows:
|
ANSWERS
|
NO. OF RESPONDENTS
|
PERCENTAGES
|
|
Good
Management of the Environment
|
16
|
13
|
|
Maintaining/Cleaning
the Environment
|
19
|
16
|
|
Protecting
the Environment
|
26
|
22
|
|
Study
of the Environment
|
3
|
2
|
|
I
Don’t Know
|
54
|
45
|
|
Others
(More of “I don’t know.”)
|
2
|
2
|
|
TOTALS
|
120
|
100
|
The
aggregate total of 47% of the respondents not knowing what Sustainable
Environmental Management is all about is a very disturbing figure. It simply means that a large number of people
have little knowledge of issues and concerns about our environment. And, therefore, it is really imperative to
find ways and means to popularize environmental concerns and issues.
For
Question No. 2 (“Where did you hear/read about it [Sustainable Environmental
Management]?), the survey results were as follows:
|
SOURCE OF INFORMATION
|
NO. OF RESPONDENTS
|
PERCENTAGES
|
|
Television
|
24
|
20
|
|
Radio
|
22
|
18
|
|
Newspapers
/ Magazines (Printed)
|
19
|
16
|
|
Internet
|
18
|
15
|
|
Others
(Word of Mouth, Seminars, etc.)
|
37
|
31
|
|
TOTAL
|
120
|
100
|
Broadcast
media (radio and television with 20% and 18% respectively and a total of 38%)
is still the best and ideal medium in increasing the level of environmental
awareness.
The
survey results indicated that Sustainable Environmental
Management is a largely unknown concept. The little that people know
about Sustainable Environmental Management is often vague and
meaningless. The survey results indicated that the best way to popularize
Sustainable Environmental Management is through mass media (broadcast and
print). In order of effectiveness: (1) Television; (2) Radio; and (3)
Newspaper. Eventually, the group decided to come up with a video presentation
documenting the interviews, survey results, conclusion and recommendation.
To
validate the results of last semester’s survey, a parallel survey was again
conducted this semester (1st Semester, School Year 2013-2014). Under ENRM 230 (Principles and Application of
Landscape Ecology), the group that I worked with were Analyn Morales and Jerome
Adriano. This time, however, the
question asked of the respondents was:
“How do you popularize Landscape Ecology to the illiterate and
ignorant?”
The total number of respondents was 30 and following
were the results of the survey:
|
SUGGESTIONS
|
NO. OF
RESPONDENTS
|
PERCENTAGES
|
|
Documentary on Landscape Ecology
|
1
|
3
|
|
Music Video on Landscape Ecology
|
4
|
14
|
|
Film/Comedy Skit on Landscape Ecology
|
3
|
10
|
|
Cartoon/Animation on Landscape Ecology
|
2
|
7
|
|
Social Media (Facebook)
|
1
|
3
|
|
No Suggestion
|
19
|
63
|
|
TOTAL
|
30
|
100
|
It was not surprising that 63% of the
respondents had “no suggestions” as previous survey results indicate low
awareness levels of environmental issues and concerns. Visual materials (music videos, documentary
films and other visual art forms) are the preferred materials in popularizing
environmental matters to a chosen segment of society… in this case, the
ignorant and illiterate. This segment of
society is presumed to be the harder segment to reach for obvious reasons.
The encouraging result or information that
was gathered from this survey is that 14% of the respondents suggested that
music or a music video will be the most effective way to popularize Landscape
Ecology to the illiterates and ignorant.
This figure/percentage, no matter how small and practically
insignificant, can be built on. It (14%)
is still noteworthy since it represents a better percentage compared to other
suggestions.
MATERIALS AND METHOD:
The data gathered from the
surveys and studies eventually came to good use. In the early part of April (2013), Professor
Janet Martires, my faculty in-charge for ENRM 221 last semester, called to
invite me to be one of the judges in a song-writing contest. The competition was a project of Yakap
Kalikasan Tungo sa Kaunlaran ng Pilipinas, Inc., an environment advocacy group.
The theme of the contest is “Kids to Forest” which is Yakap Kalikasan’s
strategy of building awareness and appreciation among children and the youth
about the importance forests and how they, as youth Earth Ambassadors, can
contribute to ensuring that these forests will still be there for them and the
coming generations. It uses
teaching-learning techniques that divert capability and values development from
traditional classroom sessions to experiential interactive learning.
After two weeks though,
Professor Janet again called to ask me to join the song-writing completion not
as a judge but as a contestant… a songwriter.
The invitation honestly gave me some level of discomfort since I have
never written an advocacy song before… but I just could not say no to her. I also am aware of the responsibility that
goes with writing songs. While
songwriters can exercise artistic freedom, they also have to structure their
songs to be largely acceptable and within ethical standards. Songs are harder to compose than poetry
because they require more than word count and rhyme but rhythm, melody and
timing. Songwriting is more daunting
because songwriters can exercise his own set of values but have to consider the
sensitivities and background of their listeners. Songwriting carries with it a deeper
responsibility simply because people love and believe in songs and are easily
influenced by them. Knowing all these
and the fact that I am charting unknown waters, I wanted to sign out but the
normal Filipino “bahala na” mentality plus our “pakikisama” tradition got the
better of me. However, armed with all
the data gathered in the surveys and studies of the previous semester, I drew
comfort from the thought that here and now is the opportunity to put all these
studies and information to something more concrete… a song… an advocacy
song. I just requested Professor Janet
to give me some time to go fishing so I could write the song.
Songwriters have their own
unique, peculiar and (sometimes) strange ways in crafting musical pieces. It’s a truly odd situation but that’s just
how it is with most musical artists.
Some would lock themselves in rooms, sit in the park, pick a seat in a
crowded shopping mall, go to mountain tops, and other unexplainably mysterious
ways to compose songs. Me?... I go
fishing. The relative isolation of
fishing helps clear my mind of my day-to-day pressures; the silence provides the
blank sheet for me to write the melody and lyrics; and, the rhythmic waves
provide the cadence and tempo to complete the basic elements of a song. So on April 27, 2013, I went fishing.
The concept and storyline of
the song, as I imagined it along the theme of “Kids to Forest”, was a young
sounding voice singing a song of appeal to his/her parents or the older
generation. I made a short list of
singers I know who could project this younger sounding voice. Rather than stick to the traditional genre of
advocacy songs which are normally folk, ballad, march or pop, I decided to experiment
on a Latin beat to make some degree of distinction… bossanova and rumba. String (electric and bass guitars) and
percussion instruments (drums, maracas, bells and chimes) would be the
preferred musical instruments for this genre.
This is also consistent with the fact that the Filipino’s love for music
is influenced by Western songs.
Getting back home after that
fishing trip, I checked on my notes, picked up a guitar, turned on a digital
recorder and did a rough recording of the song.
After a few days, I reviewed the recording and transcribed it on the
computer. It was also then when I called
Ms. Ella Cruz (the fiancée of my nephew) who used to sing in a band (The
Hyperbeats) if she was willing to interpret the song. Ella readily accepted and we agreed to
rehearse and work on a rough video/recording on election day... May 13, 2013.
During the rehearsal with
Ella, I needed to make an on-the-spot arrangement of the song since the
original arrangement was tailor-made for me.
Ella has a dramatically higher voice range so the song had to be
re-arranged for her to comfortably sing it.
That day (May 13th), using just an electric guitar as the
basic instrumentation, we were able to come up with an entry version of the
song using a video recorder. This was
submitted to Professor Janet on May 17, 2013.
Please go to the following link to view and listen to the rough video/recording
and entry version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfnul8N-gmI
On June 12, 2013, I received
a text message from Mr. Nelson G. Martires, Executive Director of Yakap
Kalikasan, with the information that the song made it to the finals of the
competition. He also informed me that we
are scheduled to do a studio recording of the song on June 21, 2013. The single biggest set-back happened before
the scheduled recording day. Ella, who
works as a flight attendant with Philippine Airlines, was in San Francisco, USA
and was not available. As a back-up
option, I gently requested (meaning: no allowance for one month if she refused)
my daughter, Anneka Marie “Neki” A. Antonio, to do the vocals. Another arrangement had to be rushed since
Neki’s voice set was different from the available arrangements… Ella’s and
mine.
The first studio recording
was done at the Blackhole Recording Studio in Los Banos, Laguna. Neki, who really does not have any recording
or on-stage performance experience was a nervous wreck. Luckily, Mr. Armand L. Mauricio (President of
Tulisanes and Musical Consultant for Yakap Kalikasan) and Mr. Gari M.
Apolinario (Manager of Blackhole and a great sound technician) were there to
calm her down, get her to be relaxed and bring out the best in her. Gari and Armand made my job a lot
easier. The basic instrumentation was
still the electric guitar overlaid with a bass guitar, djembe and chimes which
surprisingly were enough to project a full-band sound. Neki and I had to return to Blackhole
Recording Studio last July 18, 2013 to do minor but critical revisions of the
first recording.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
“Masdan Ang Bukas Ko” is a
song of appeal from the future generations to the present-day generation. The extensive use of “Ama” and “Ina” refers
particularly to this. It also
pre-supposes, as a note of hope, that the future generations will be much more
enlightened on environmental causes than the present generation… and that they
have seriously taken the environment to heart and are begging to be heard with
the use of the refrain: “Ama, masdan ang bukas ko. Ang pakiusap ko para sa iyo. Ina, ang awit kong ito, laman ng puso ko
nawa’y dinggin nyo.”
Global
warming is the single-most dominant indicator that our environment is changing
for the worst. The youth are aware of
this and are beginning to ask: “Ano ba’ng
nangyayari? Umiinit ang mundo. Di mo ba nawawari? Nagkakamali tayo.” They (the youth) are also beginning to be
aware that the present generation might be doing something wrong to the
environment and are offering simple but doable solutions: “Ba’t
hindi natin pagisipan pa’no uunlad ang kagubatan. Magtanim tayo ng puno.” “Magkaisa tayo.” highlights the need for
cooperation and a united stance in protecting and preserving our natural
resources.
“Magtanim tayo ng puno” is not only said
for what it means but is also a symbolism for waste management, clean air,
clean water, loss of biodiversity and other environmental concerns. Again, “Magkaisa
tayo” highlights the need for oneness in purpose and action as the key to
our success.
Not
wanting to sound like a prophet of doom or overly fatalistic but making the
same fair warning, these lines were included:
“Ano ba ang hangarin? Kaunlaran ba’y bitin pa rin? Kailangan pa bang pumutol? Baka Diyos na ang tumutol.” These lines underscores the need to take care
of the forest and not over-utilize this resource. Again, “Kailangan
pa bang pumutol”, although specifically refers to deforestation, may well
symbolize the abuse and over-extraction of other resources such as minerals,
water resources, etc. “Baka Diyos na ang tumutol” refers to the
dire consequences of environmental abuse such as the droughts, increasing water
level, floods, etc.
The
lines: “Ba’t hindi natin pagyamanin, ang kalikasan
ay lingapin.” is a shift in focus from the forest (kagubatan) to the environment in general (kalikasan). Towards the end
of the song, it shifts and now refers to a broader concern… taking care of the
environment and not just the forest in particular.
The
choice of the bossanova-rumba genre was because of the mass and generally
accepted appeal of the Latin beat. The
“target” of this song is the consciousness of the present generation. Rather than use rap or Negro blues, I would
rather use a genre which has a soothing effect, is softer on the senses and is
not a strange genre people have never heard before. Besides, we need to get people to listen to
the song before they could start appreciating its contents.
Below are the lyrics of the
song:
MASDAN
ANG BUKAS KO
Ama, masdan ang bukas ko
Ang pakiusap ko para sa iyo
Ina, ang awit kong ito
Laman ng puso ko nawa’y dinggin nyo
Ano ba’ng nangyayari?
Umiinit ang mundo
Di mo ba nawawari?
Nagkakamali tayo
Ba’t hindi natin pagisipan
pa’no uunlad ang kagubatan
Magtanim tayo ng puno
Magkaisa tayo
Ama, masdan ang bukas ko
Ang pakiusap ko para sa iyo
Ina, ang awit kong ito
Laman ng puso ko nawa’y dinggin nyo
Ano ba ang hangarin?
Kaunlaran ba’y bitin pa rin?
Kailangan pa bang pumutol?
baka Diyos na ang tumutol
Ba’t hindi natin pagyamanin
Ang kalikasan ay lingapin
Magtanim tayo ng puno
Magkaisa tayo
Ama, masdan ang bukas ko
Ang himig kong ito, pakinggan nyo… Oh…
Ina, ang awit kong ito
Laman ng puso…
CONCLUSION:
Last semester, I enrolled in the MENRM
program of UPOU and going through my next semester at present, I took notice of
the many brilliant ideas from my classmates (under the superb on-line
management, guidance and moderation from our FICs) on ways and means to protect
and restore our environment. But, sadly,
all these brilliant exchange of ideas are relegated to mere ideas that only
manage to circulate among us (the on-line students). Good as these ideas are, there has to be a
better way to communicate them to a larger and critical segment of our
society. As I have already mentioned in
the beginning of this article, “A cause, be it
political, social or environmental, could only succeed when critical mass is
achieved.” I believe that this is an
important element that we need to address.
The invitation by Professor
Janet to join the songwriting competition was a spark of bright sunlight for
me. There seems to be a great
opportunity in this undertaking I should not miss-out on. Music, as we Filipinos love so much, is a
good tool to communicate our environmental concerns to a greater number of
people. I also believe that the talent
for songwriting is a God-given gift that should be generously shared to foster
better friendships and goodwill and for higher causes in life. Not that Ma’am Janet scared, intimidated,
coerced and terrorized me enough to join… I wanted to join because I firmly believe
that this will be an effective measure to increase the level of environmental
awareness and concern to a greater number of people. In our page of the “Kids to Forest” album, I wrote: “There might be a few of us singing songs of
concern for the environment today but it is a fair and decent start. Believe that there will be more singing with
us tomorrow…”
My sincere congratulations to Yakap
Kalikasan, UPOU-FMDS headed by Dean Inocencio E. Buot, Jr., the Tulisanes,
UN-FAO, Blackhole Recording and the DENR-FMB for an awesome project and I wish
them more success!
REFERENCES:
