EDITORIAL - Desecrating the national anthem

There we go again. An obscure singer named Dessa sang the Philippine National Anthem in a way that would make the hair of purists stand on end, and leave most Filipinos wondering if we still have a national anthem at all or just an ordinary song open to mangling by anyone.

Dessa (who she?) sang the anthem at the start of the fight between Nonito Donaire and Panamanian Rafael Concepcion in Las Vegas in a manner that was clearly inspired, in a wrong way, by the way Martin Nievera sang it prior to the Pacquiao-Hatton fight.

It has to be conceded that Nievera, as an artist, has the implied license to interpret songs. But the national anthem is not just any song. It is the national anthem and therefore not subject to as many interpretations as there are singers to interpret it.

Nobody is trying to curtail the artistic license of Nievera, or the obscure Dessa who clearly wanted a little of the same attention to herself. There are tens of thousands of songs out there for all singing artists to interpret. But please leave the national anthem alone.

The government has to put its foot down on this matter. And if we have to throw into prison all artists who desecrate the national anthem, then let us do it. Anyway, we would hardly miss their absence as most so-called artists are but self-styled or self-anointed.

The national anthem must be sung the way it is meant to be sung. All of us, the first moment we stepped into school, were taught how to sing it properly and in only one way. We were never brought up to sing it any which way we liked.

How confusing it would be for our children to be taught to sing the national anthem one way, only to grow up and discover that their teachers lied to them because the national anthem, after all, can be sung in any way depending on how anyone chooses to sing it.

If we allow Nievera, Dessa, and every other misguided self-styled artist to sing the national anthem in any way, then maybe we should just start early and tell all children who are in school today to sing as they wished. If they sing it to the tune of “ocho-ocho” so be it.