Not so much as a title as a form of Philippine
music, the kundiman is a traditional
love song, particularly one that expresses devotion and longing for its
romantic object. Scholars propose that it was derived from the phrase, “kung
hindi man,” (“if it should not be so”), which was the theme of most of the
songs in this form during that time. This is indicative of the people’s faith
in a Higher Power who is in control of everything and who decides whether or
not things “ought to be so,” which is nested in his overall beliefs and notions
of love and romance.
Jose Rizal wrote “Kundiman” in Tagalog in September
12,1891. This particular kundiman,
however, is not dedicated to a particular maiden but to that one Maiden whom
the hero fully dedicated his life – the Philippines.
Truly hushed
today
Are my tongue
and heart
Harm is
discerned by love
And joy flies
away,
'Cause the
Country was
Vanquished and
did yield
Through the negligence
Of the one who
led.
The
country at this time is in great peril. Rizal had just finished writing the El
Fili in March of that year, and he is in Europe, watching this scene from afar,
noting that “the one who led,” had failed in his duties to protect the nation’s
freedom.
But the sun will
return to dawn;
In spite of
everything
Subdued people
Will be
liberated;
The Filipino
name
Will return
perhaps
And again become
In vogue in the
world.
Here
he expresses optimism, that all hope is not lost, and that he remains in
anticipation of the day when the darkness shall lift and the country will take
its place of honor in the world.
We shall shed
Blood and it
shall flood
Only to
emancipate
The native land;
While the
designated time
Does not come,
Love will rest
And anxiety will
sleep.
Rizal
expresses his belief in necessary sacrifice, even that of one’s own life, for
the freedom of the Filipino.
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