halfcactus

My main gripe about Alamat's MVs is that they only have English translations, no captions for the Filipino lyrics (which are sometimes multi-lingual). But at least they are more rec-able internationally haha.

Alamat, "Aswang (Monster)" (ENGSUB)

This is a very catchy sensual pop song (with an equally eyecatching and sensual MV) about offering up your body and wanting to be, uhh, sucked dry and devoured by a supernatural being (translated as "monster" as a catch-all word for all shapeshifting creatures of the night). It is a definitive bop, as I can't stop listening to it. And unlike Kasmala (which had conceptually one of the best and more artistic MVs), I can hear all the lyrics.


Alamat, "Say U Love Me" (ENGSUB)

Standard but smooth, sensual R&B with even smoother transitions from Bisaya to Tagalog and flecks of English. My one note about the translation is that when they sing about the love interest "being with another man" and "holding another guy" is that in Filipino it's phrased more as "someone else" where there's no info about the other person's gender/identity/etc.

Lyrically, it’s nothing interesting (and honestly I feel that the song is a bit too long hahaha), but the seamless (but sadly untranslated) code-switching is a pretty solid representation of how people, especially migrants, from other provinces speak (at least in my personal experience! Though my hometown tendency seems to be to to pick up more English than Tagalog, sometimes as a point of pride).


Alamat feat. Lyca Gairanod, "ILY ILY" (ENGSUB)

I loved this SO much the first time I heard it, it's such a satisfying fusion between traditional folk and modern rap. It's based on the Hiligaynon/Ilonggo (a Visayan language) lullaby Ili-ili Tulog Anay (Sleep a While, Little One—typically sung by an older sister or an aunt when the mother is not there), but spun into a call to wake up and smell the economy as it explains and grieves the parents’ absence. If I had to rec any single song from this list, DEFINITELY THIS ONE.

Structured around the folk tune, ILY ILY moves through several POVs over time, and is sung and rapped in several Filipino languages (the Eng subs indicate when they switch languages). And I feel that it speaks to a specifically Filipino phenomenon of parent-child separation—parents working in foreign countries where opportunities are better and currency is stronger to send money home to their children, a common theme in our stories and movies.

PS. The Filipino word for “bereaved” (from the English subs) is ulila which is also the word for “orphaned”. (Tbh I find the syntax of the English subs for this song a little stiff and awkward, but it’s also really hard to translate/sub rap.)

And as a personal note: Cebuano and Waray are from the same Visayan language group so I actually can understand a considerable amount of the Waray lyrics if I listen hard haha.