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Where the
joyful sun rises Where the
joyful sun rises To be
parted from her is such pain Dr. Jose P.
Rizal
SA MAGANDANG SILANGAN
The song speaks of a beautiful land in the East, so beloved by the lyricist that "the sun would grow dim and heavens would grieve" if he were to die without glimpsing her once more.
In 1882, del Pilar founded the nationalist newspaper "Dyaryong Tagalog" in which he wrote extensively of patriotism and the sad state of the country. Having finished a law degree, he also campaigned against the abuses of the friars. But since there was no freedom of speech and of the press at that time, he was imprisoned for a month. In 1878, he married his first cousin, Marciana - lovingly known as "Senyora Chanay" - by whom he has several children, with only Sofia and Anita, the youngest, surviving. On August 30, 1901, "Nyora Chanay, by then Marcelo's widow, sang Sa Magandang Silangan in her husband's memory on his birthday.
Music materials and informations researched and provided by Ian-James R. Andres KSA, 2004 |
Sa Magandang Silangan
- also known as Sa Dakong Sikatan- is another of Dr. Jose Rizal's
poems, En El Bello Oriente, which was set to music. Dr.
Rizal himself translated the poem into Filipino and these lyrics were
later set to music in 1898 by Pedro Gatmaitan Santos.
This Kundiman was said
to be one of the favorites of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, the "Boy General"
of the Filipino revolutionary forces. It was part of the celebration
following his freeing of the town of Bulacan, Bulacan on June 24, 1898. It
was sung by young children, one of whom - Anita - was the youngest child
of patriot journalist Gat. Marcelo H. del Pilar.
Marcelo H. del Pilar was
one of the great reformist. He wrote articles in "La Solidaridad,"
the mouthpiece of the propagandists, as well as pamphlets which spoke out
against the forces that stifled freedom and progress in the Philippines.
He was master of the Tagalog language and, with it, he sounded the
call for the Filipinos to act as a unified people.
