That national-anthem contest Nonito Donaire is staging this month in advance of his Oct. 22 fight in New York has consumed my past week in the Bay Area. I was hard at work on it even before the U.S. anthem entered the equation at mid-week.
Yes, here I am on YouTube doing my best, in Tagalog, on Lupang Hinirang.
I'm pretty sure Donaire will be tickled, and I’m hoping it won’t seem sacreligious to my friends in the Philippines.
It’s a fabulous anthem about a lovely country whose people will endure there forever, and musically its three sections build tension to a thunderously triumphant final verse.
Family and I render the finale in four-part harmony.
I’m not vying to sing this anthem at Donaire’s bantamweight title fight with Omar Narvaez on HBO, of course. A Filipino-American should do that, and Team Donaire reports there’s an impressive aggregation building on YouTube that’s sure to yield a thrilling rendition on fight night.
I credibly sang The Star-Spangled Banner before 28,000 people at a New York Yankees-Texas Rangers game several years ago, and I might as well toss off an audition like that for Donaire, but that won’t take nearly as long or require as much help as Lupang Hinirang did.
A lot of people have trouble with the 19-step range of Banner and occasionally the lyrics, but I can tell you the Philippines anthem is tougher. Tagalog can be a real tongue-twister, and the Seymour video is proof.
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