15 Sep Featured Song: Sa Magandang Silangan
En El Bello Oriente, one of Jose Rizal’s poems, was set to music to produce the song Magandang Silangan (In the Beautiful East), also known as Sa Dakong Silangan.
The poem, which was set to music in 1898 by Pedro Gatmaitan Santos, a composer from Bulacan, Bulacan, tells of how the lyricist treasured and loved a beautiful land in the East and longed for its freedom from oppression.
Below are the lyrics of the song in Filipino and English translations:
| Sa dakong sikatan ng masayang araw May lupang sagana’t puspos ng kariktan Na sinisiphayo ng palalong asal Nang makapagliligtas kapalad-palaran Sa dakong sikatan ng masayang araw Mawalay sa kaniya’y ang laking sakit |
Where the joyful sun rises Lies a land abundant and full of beauty That is oppressed by a proud character From which we long to be free Where the joyful sun rises To be parted from her is such pain |
Source:
Kundiman ni Rizal (1997). Tawid Publications.
Photo:
Jose Rizal with friends (Retrato Photo Archive)
Marie Pruden
Posted at 03:41h, 28 MayThank you. I am from Laguna and I used to sing this song when I was a kid.
May isa pang stanza ito pero hindi ko matandaan how it goes.
Something like:
“Sa baybaying Pasig (….) mangga ay malalaki’t sagana sa lilim…”
Must have been a lovely scenery.. I cannot now imagine huge mango trees growing along the banks of the Pasig river. I hope someone finds that missing stanza someday.
Salamat.