Pop Song Translations by Rolando Tinio as Script and Subversion of the Marcos Regime

Abstract

Philippine National Artist for Theater and Literature Rolando Tinio was well-known for his translations. Though attention is rightfully given to the theatrical works he translated into Filipino, he is also known to have translated songs. One of the enduring sets of song translations that he made are recorded in the album "Celeste," rendered by the singer and actress Celeste Legaspi. This album was released in 1976, not long after the establishment of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Then First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos had an interest in the arts, looking at it as something to uphold because it served a function in the vision of the Marcos regime. What I seek to problematize is how the song translations followed a script-in line with the ideas of music theorist Nicholas Cook-based on the said vision. Such a script, according to Michel Foucault, might be the locus of both obedience and subversion. The identification of this script will be done by a reading of a representative pop song translation by Tinio, in the context of other materials that elucidate the script of the time-from the former first couple and one who held a key position in their regime. The reading will be supported by a reading of Tinio's last translation work, that of Nick Joaquin's A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, which was turned into a musical entitled Ang Larawan.