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
May lupang sagana’t puspos ng kariktan
Anong gawin ko dusa sa libis kong parang
Tanging yamang bayan ko, lupang minamahal

Mawalay sa kaniya’y ang laking sakit
Salat sa ligaya’t, maging sa pag-ibig
Araw ay malamlam, at malumbay ang langit
Aba kung mamatay, na ’di ka masilip

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
Lies a land abundant and full of beauty
Whatever suffering I must endure
My only treasure is my country, the land I love

To be parted from her is such pain
Wanting in joy and in love as well
The sun is dim, the sky is in sorrow
What a pity to die without seeing you

 

Source:

Kundiman ni Rizal (1997). Tawid Publications.

Photo:

Jose Rizal with friends (Retrato Photo Archive)

1 Comment
  • Marie Pruden
    Posted at 03:41h, 28 May

    Thank 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.

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