22/11/2024
Anong gagawin mo kung bibigyan ka ng P40,000?
“Wala namang bayad mangarap,
Wala ring bayad maging mahirap.”
Listen to "Shala" by Not November, Joshua Parra, Rostum Alanas, Andrei, Mia Ortiz, and Bien Casambre.
Stream now on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/496mACzQTZYXAlISNcRAfz?si=c2d5eeffd812496e
I did not expect that this was one of the songs that would make people cry during the play.
How this was originally written in the script — to me it was absolutely absurd (no offense, Trist’n). The characters were saying what they planned to do if they had the P40,000 that a corporation was offering in exchange for the land where their homes stood. It then occurred to me that perhaps people who do not have that kind of money oftentimes don’t understand how much, or rather, how little it can afford, especially today. So I kept the daydreams in the verses (even threw in some even more absurd lines at the end) but I wanted to make it clear that that’s just what they were.
“Wala namang bayad mangarap,
Wala ring bayad maging mahirap”
A couple of people (even before the play dates) said they did not quite understand what these lines meant. So I myself had to ponder upon them again. Why did I write them? I am, truth be told, a very sarcastic person. It doesn’t pay to be poor. And the chorus itself is a big “as if”. Bold of you to assume you will achieve those things when 6 month agendas and promises of a golden age are, well, just that.
But cynicism won’t heal the ills of society. So maybe we should be bold enough to think that we can achieve those things and more - after all, in the play they were able to defeat the fictional Bakunawa, so I hope Manang Ruset’s mom gets to come home to a mansion of their own, and they can both retire with ample pensions, I hope jeepneys don’t get phased out, and drivers and their families always have enough to eat, I hope Leo builds a library for Bulan, and Bulan, without compromising his own happiness, raises Tala to be a strong woman in a world that is more optimistic, less selfish, more peaceful, and just.
So keep dreaming those Shala dreams ~ and don’t stop working towards reaching them, perhaps one day you’d be surprised that you already have.
