Pinoy Historian’s Reaction & Breakdown of ALAMAT’s 'Dagundong' (Official M/V)
00:25.5
Fullscreen, I mean 4K.
00:27.5
Fullscreen, Tomas.
00:33.5
Oh shoot, that's 4K.
00:43.5
Hey, they put the two cutest right there.
00:50.5
That is Tomas and Tadeo right there.
00:55.5
I know you guys are cute too but those are my favorites.
00:57.5
Let's just say that my two bias together.
01:19.5
Let Tomas give you the power to do whatever it is you want to do.
01:32.5
What? It makes me wanna dance.
01:52.5
His teeth is so much better than my teeth.
01:59.5
Oh, let's learn it.
02:05.5
See, they did this.
02:06.5
It's not a workout.
02:10.5
It's not a workout move.
02:16.5
They make it look so easy.
02:28.5
Can I just borrow your jaw for like a day?
02:30.5
I need my jawline back.
02:36.5
Oh, how I wish I was 20s again.
02:40.5
That was decades ago.
02:43.5
Just one decade ago.
02:47.5
Just one decade ago.
02:48.5
Yeah, one decade ago.
02:49.5
Hey, when you met me, I still had my jawline.
02:52.5
I've been feeling you too good.
02:55.5
Fun line, everybody.
03:13.5
He's like speaking to me.
03:21.5
How do you wanna start this, Chris?
03:23.5
I'm gonna start this, Chris.
03:30.5
Hey, it's Mong New Year.
03:31.5
Happy Mong New Year.
03:33.5
How do you say it again?
03:57.5
That's how I remember it.
03:59.5
Because I have two sisters named, one is named chong and one is named chia.
04:04.5
So, that's how you'll remember it.
04:05.5
I guess it works.
04:10.5
Anyways, happy Mong New Year to all our Mong families and friends out there.
04:14.5
It's New Year season.
04:22.5
So, have a nice weekend for a lot of Mong folks in, well everywhere.
04:26.5
In the whole world.
04:28.5
Or the universe rather.
04:32.5
Okay, enough messing around.
04:35.5
Welcome back to my channel.
04:36.5
I'm your friendly historian, Kirby Arroyo and of course, today's video is a reaction
04:43.5
and a breakdown of Alamat's music video and , it wouldn't be a reaction to Alamat without
04:55.6
Hey, they love you reacting with me, so.
04:57.8
Thanks, everyone. I'm super excited to come back for a reaction to Alamah.
05:02.8
Of course, I can't pass up this opportunity to say hello to Tomas.
05:10.5
And my second bias would be Taneo.
05:18.9
Anyways, confession.
05:21.6
We've already seen the video.
05:23.0
We did, we actually, we just got back from New York for my birthday.
05:26.5
So, salamat to everybody that came out to the event, my book signing event at the restaurant,
05:31.5
Calia in New York.
05:32.6
Thank you for hosting us, Calia.
05:33.8
Yes, shout out to Barry and Rob as well.
05:38.9
So, our Calia family in NYC.
05:41.6
I want to go back.
05:42.4
I want to go back soon.
05:43.2
Maraming, maraming salamat.
05:44.8
Yes, we had a lot of fun.
05:46.2
And great people that we met.
05:47.7
And my friends and family.
05:49.9
Mostly friends, actually.
05:51.2
Because the only...
05:51.5
The only family is your sister that showed up.
05:55.9
Friends and fans and followers and family, thank you for showing up at the event.
05:59.5
I really appreciate it.
06:00.2
Thank you for making my birthday in the Big Apple unforgettable.
06:04.9
Anyways, we just got back from New York.
06:07.7
And right before we left, we recorded our reaction to this video.
06:10.9
And I intended to edit it when I get back.
06:13.3
But something's off with the audio.
06:15.5
So, something's wrong with the audio.
06:17.2
So, we had to redo the reaction.
06:18.7
So, whatever reaction you saw, that's not our first reaction.
06:21.5
It's more of us just having fun now.
06:24.8
And like, of course, as you all requested, this reaction video would be more of an educational video.
06:30.4
A breakdown of the themes, the lines they said, the visuals and everything.
06:37.1
Did you want to start with your overall impression?
06:40.4
Shout out to the five Tomas that I saw.
06:44.9
Hey, did you know the first time we watched it, we watched the music video twice.
06:49.7
She's saying it's because the first time.
06:51.3
She read the subtitle so she understand the lyrics and the second time, she focused on the visuals.
06:56.0
But I honestly think she just wanted to see Tomas five times twice.
07:04.0
I mean, there was nothing wrong with that.
07:06.9
Anyways, welcome back.
07:09.2
And we should start talking about the video now.
07:12.5
So, what are your overall impression of the video?
07:15.1
Just overall first impression.
07:16.6
When you first watched it, if you remember what we talked about.
07:19.4
Because the audio was not recorded.
07:21.3
So, I guess watching it again this time around, what really stood out was like just being able to understand the message even more.
07:30.6
But also like that feeling of hope and like empowerment of like when you hear this and when you hear an important message, a powerful message is to basically like rally you up and be able to take action.
07:44.7
So, I mean like even what they were saying in the subtitles that I was reading.
07:48.9
You know, like hopefully the beat of their...
07:51.3
The drums will be able to like wake you up.
07:54.7
Like hope that you're able to do something good in the world.
07:58.3
So, that's my main takeaway of like the entire music video.
08:01.9
The video itself was not like fancy special effects of like, you know, delivering their message.
08:08.8
And that's totally okay.
08:09.8
I think for me, that's totally okay because the message overall is for us to like do something.
08:15.3
It's not for them to like just look pretty even though they look pretty in the hands.
08:18.3
So, they're nice.
08:21.3
They need all the extra special effects and things like that to deliver their message.
08:27.3
That was like my overall sort of...
08:29.9
That was also my overall first impression when I first watched it is that, oh, it wasn't as like, you know, in your face type of stunning video.
08:37.7
It wasn't as like, you know, what do you call it?
08:39.3
What was the word you used the other day?
08:42.7
I think I used wow.
08:46.3
It wasn't like as shocking as I thought it would be but like what you said, I agree.
08:51.3
Like, you know, overall, it actually delivers the message better in my opinion.
08:55.1
Because you're not distracted by all the special effects.
08:58.0
That's kind of what I was like thinking about.
09:00.2
And that's something that, you know, the music video is not as visually like wow or something.
09:05.7
I mean, it is wow.
09:06.5
It's still wow but it's not like, you know, like...
09:08.5
Because nowadays...
09:09.1
They didn't overdo it.
09:10.1
That's another thing.
09:11.2
That's what we're trying to say.
09:12.7
They didn't overdo it to the point where it's like, okay, like, is it just for show now or is it really to deliver a message?
09:18.6
And I think they were able to deliver the message but by keeping...
09:21.2
Keeping their video pretty simplistic into like, you know...
09:25.0
And that's what I want to share too because, you know, a lot of times now with K-pop, J-pop, K-pop, I-pop...
09:31.3
Is that why you call it the Indonesian one?
09:32.7
Because they're also famous.
09:34.9
Sorry to my Indonesian friends and followers.
09:37.3
But anyways, you know, nowadays, a lot of these music videos especially in the pop genre, they're very like in-your-face special effects graphics.
09:45.0
It's got to be catchy.
09:46.7
It's got to be like...
09:47.7
It's like your eyes has to be like, what am I focusing on?
09:50.7
But for me, like, you know, maybe because we're older.
09:54.5
I guess for me, there's no need for too much visual effects.
09:57.7
Or for me, like, you know, you don't need too much exciting angles because that's one thing I kind of getting tired of with new videos that I've seen, music videos.
10:06.3
Like, there's so many angles.
10:07.4
I mean, I did that when I was in film school.
10:09.3
Like, I did a lot of like weird angles but it wasn't like...
10:12.8
Well, actually, I did one time.
10:14.0
I made a music video like this and my friends were like, you're making my head dizzy.
10:18.1
So I guess I learned my lesson.
10:20.4
Just for beginners.
10:21.6
So a reminder for the younger generation that there's no need to be too much exciting or too much visual effects for you to...
10:28.7
Or too much twists and turns for you to deliver the message and entertain people and educate them at the same time.
10:34.6
And you know, sometimes simple but profound is better.
10:37.5
To get your message across, you don't need to always overwhelm them with visuals.
10:41.4
Like, even though they're pretty, sometimes too much visual effects can be distracting on the message of the song or whatever message you're trying to convey.
10:49.6
And that's my advice to the young aspiring video creators, cinematographers, filmmakers out there.
10:55.4
You know, cinematography does not always need to be in your face.
11:00.2
You know, subtlety is an art that, to be honest, not many can actually execute with success.
11:06.1
And if you master subtlety, that's better than mastering all these visual effects.
11:11.4
So, you know, more often than not, you know, subtlety is actually a very powerful tool to convey a message.
11:18.1
Your message and your story should be...
11:19.3
Your story should be basically good enough without you to, like, having to add all the extra fluff to make it what it is, you know?
11:27.0
Your story, if it's good, it'll stand by itself without all the special...
11:32.8
You know, the message of the song is there.
11:34.3
The story they're trying to say is there.
11:35.8
You know, there's no need for all the visual effects that we've seen in other videos.
11:40.3
You can break it down now if you want.
11:41.6
Yeah, I guess we'll break it down.
11:45.8
That's how you break down the song?
11:49.3
That's how you do it.
11:50.3
Dadagun, dadagun, dadagundong.
11:54.3
Dadagun, dadagun, dadagundong.
11:55.3
Dadagun, dadagundong.
11:58.3
Dadagudong, dadagundong.
11:59.3
Dadagun, dadagun, dadagundong.
12:03.3
Badabung, badabumbong.
12:09.3
It's like a tongue...
12:09.8
Papa u, papa u, papa u gong.
12:10.8
That's a tongue twister.
12:12.8
Dadagun, dadagun, dadagundong.
12:14.3
Dadagudong, dadagundong.
12:17.8
Papa u, papa u, papa u gong.
12:19.8
Papa u, papa u, papa u gong.
12:24.8
Can I just do it?
12:26.8
It's a tongue twister.
12:30.8
I'm trying my best but there's so many syllables in one word.
12:35.8
Okay, apart from the...
12:39.8
Badabum, badabum, badabumbong.
12:41.8
Okay, okay, okay.
12:42.8
Apart from when you saw Tomas five times, what is your favorite?
12:47.8
You can choose one part as your favorite.
12:49.8
I remember what you said last time but if you have a different one.
12:51.8
Oh, the best part that really stood out to me was the one that I really liked with the video.
12:58.8
Hold on, I can't see anything.
13:00.8
So, the part that I really liked the most was like when they're standing on top of like what seems to be corpse or something.
13:09.8
Like, looks like a skeleton, like a beetle skeleton.
13:13.8
I think it's more like hands on top of each other.
13:17.8
Okay, so basically they're all standing on top of all those like...
13:21.8
It's like you know when you're saying like you're standing on the top of the shoulders of those who came before you.
13:27.8
They're all standing in that part right there and then...
13:29.8
So anyway, they're all standing there on top of those who've come before them.
13:35.8
And they think they're unified as like a people, as a community but little do they know their enemies are like shaking hands and making deals behind their back.
13:45.8
So that was the part that really like...
13:50.8
They're just basically putting history in a visual...
13:54.8
Context in the, you know, with whatever they're saying.
13:58.8
They're describing history basically.
14:01.8
And so that was my favorite part of like the whole music video.
14:04.8
I thought they did that pretty well.
14:06.8
And then that part, well, to give historical context, that's also one of the lines that stood out to me when I first listened to the song is that line about, you know, our enemies are shaking hands.
14:15.8
They're shaking hands to the Treaty of Paris in 1899...
14:23.8
The Treaty of Paris was an agreement between Spain and the United States...
14:26.8
This is like your one-minute summary.
14:29.8
The Treaty of Paris was an agreement between Spain and the United States to sell the Philippines from Spain to the U.S. for $20 million in December of 1899.
14:38.8
That's when it was signed.
14:42.8
But six months before, in June of 1898, the Filipinos have already declared it.
14:44.8
The Filipinos have already declared independence.
14:49.8
So basically from this, they're talking about, yeah, standing on the top of the shoulders of the heroes unburied, you know, all the people who laid their life...
14:57.8
Sacrificed their life for the freedom of the Filipino people from tyranny, from colonialism, from imperialism.
15:01.8
They're standing on their shoulders.
15:03.8
I feel like this is a reference to the Katipunan Revolution in 1896 to 1898 that finally liberated the Philippines from the Spaniards.
15:10.8
But for me, just to add context for people who do not know, the Katipunan was...
15:12.8
The Katipunan was not the first uprising against Spain.
15:17.8
There was 200, over 200 plus recorded, recorded, not even the...
15:23.8
You don't even count the unrecorded ones.
15:25.8
200 plus revolts and uprisings throughout the Philippines that happened within 300 years of war, I mean, of colonialism in the Philippines.
15:32.8
There's 200 plus revolts, uprisings throughout the Philippines, in different parts of the Philippines.
15:36.8
And it was only in the 1890s when most of them united into this bigger movement called the Katipunan.
15:41.8
And finally, they were able to wave the Philippine flag, which was one of the lines here.
15:45.8
It's like, you know, we were able to wave the three stars in the sun.
15:48.8
So that's what I saw there.
15:50.8
And again, that was happening.
15:52.8
So it's kind of like a metaphor, like a visualization of what happened.
15:57.8
Because again, in June 1898, the Filipinos declared independence and they thought that the Americans were on our side to help us fight Spain.
16:04.8
But little did we know, they were already talking about how to transfer the Philippines formally to the U.S.
16:10.8
And what happened was that they even had to fake a battle between the Americans and the Spaniards to show Filipinos that...
16:17.8
Walk Battle of Manila.
16:21.8
So yeah, to show Filipinos that, you know, we are here to save you from the Spaniards.
16:26.8
To save you from the Spaniards, they had to fake this battle.
16:28.8
And the only casualty there was because Filipinos thought it was a real battle, so they started attacking the Spaniards too.
16:34.8
But little did we know, it was a scripted battle between the Americans and the Spaniards.
16:39.8
So that's the whole like deal, you know, behind the scenes deal.
16:42.8
So while we're celebrating our independence, our hard-earned, you know, rightful independence from Spaniards to from the Spaniards.
16:47.8
Everybody who fought.
16:50.8
Behind the scenes, we didn't know that the colonizers...
16:53.8
Spain and the United States.
16:55.8
Yes, we're already talking about how to transfer.
16:57.8
Right, right, right.
16:59.8
And the thing is, for those who may not know, the Americans did not save the Filipinos from the Spaniards.
17:04.8
In fact, the Filipino revolutionaries were able to liberate most of...
17:07.8
The majority of the Filipinos.
17:08.8
The majority of the Filipinos before the Americans even showed up.
17:12.8
The only city that the Spaniards held control over at this point was Manila because it was the most fortified one.
17:20.8
But it wasn't really controlled anymore because they were basically just trapped inside the world city because they were surrounded by Filipino armies.
17:28.8
And then on the other side was the ocean and the Americans came and they're like, hey, we're here to save you guys.
17:33.8
We're here to take over now.
17:35.8
Or like, they didn't say that.
17:36.8
They were like, we're here to save you.
17:38.8
Like, ten, ten and ten.
17:40.8
That's Indiana Jones song.
17:43.8
But you know, they came there to save Filipinos.
17:46.8
Save Filipinos and pretend there was a battle.
17:49.8
But they just wanted to take over.
17:50.8
That we defeated Spain, right?
17:54.8
We defeated Spain and we're here to protect you guys.
17:56.8
And on paper, the Spaniards recognized defeat from the Americans.
17:59.8
And not the Filipinos.
18:01.8
That's why they had to fake a battle so that the Americans can show that they're saving Filipinos.
18:07.8
Because the Spaniards can show that they were defeated by white people, by fellow white people and not brown people.
18:12.8
They'd rather surrender to their fellow Westerners like the Americans than surrender to Asians like Filipinos.
18:18.8
Because what an embarrassment, right?
18:21.8
To be, you know, totally defeated and trapped by brown folks.
18:29.8
We're different shades of brown.
18:31.8
If you haven't noticed.
18:34.8
But I guess maybe even the mindset.
18:36.8
We're in an inferior race.
18:38.8
An inferior race.
18:39.8
And instead of losing to them, we should, we would rather lose to the Americans versus to.
18:45.8
And if you think about it, the Spaniards are very hardcore Catholic.
18:48.8
They would, back then, they would, they would fight wars against Protestants.
18:51.8
The Americans are Protestants.
18:52.8
So they would rather surrender to Protestants just because they're white than surrender to their fellow Catholics just because they're brown.
19:02.8
There's a lot of layers into this.
19:07.8
I mean, I mean, see, even that part.
19:08.8
So even just this whole aspect of the religion piece, like, yeah, there are, there are definitely
19:14.8
And for the longest time, what do you call this?
19:16.8
The Catholic Church in the Philippines was controlled by Spaniards for 300 years.
19:21.8
You know, everything was controlled by the Spaniards.
19:23.8
It was only in the 18, the 1800s, the late 1800s, like 1890s, 1880s, something like that,
19:28.8
that Filipino, or 1860s, I forgot the exact year.
19:31.8
The Gombursa, for those who may not know, the Majoja.
19:34.8
Anyways, that's funny for Filipinos.
19:36.8
Anyways, the Gombursa, the priests who fought for it.
19:38.8
There's a movement amongst Filipino priests to give more rights to Filipino priests within
19:42.8
the church because all the decisions were made by white priests.
19:45.8
And Filipino priests were just really at the bottom of the totem pole.
19:49.8
Even though, even though they're more competent than some of the white priests, you know,
19:52.8
they were basically at the bottom and they fought hard so that the Catholic Church would
19:57.8
recognize Filipino priests equal to the white priests, the Spanish priests.
20:01.8
And there was a long struggle.
20:02.8
And yeah, there was a lot of like, you know,
20:04.8
revolutionary priests too.
20:06.8
Religious people who fought for rights and freedom of the Filipinos.
20:09.8
And one of them is, I give a shout out to my ancestor, Salustiano Araullo.
20:14.8
He was among those people.
20:15.8
He actually was the one.
20:16.8
Not to brag, but just being proud of my ancestor, one of my ancestors, one of my great-grandfather's
20:20.8
brother, Salustiano Araullo was a priest who fought for the rights of the Filipino priests
20:25.8
in the Philippines.
20:26.8
And he was actually, there's two of them.
20:27.8
The other one is Jose Chanco and Salustiano Araullo.
20:30.8
They're two Filipino priests who were sent to Rome to meet with the Pope.
20:34.8
To plead the case of the Filipinos.
20:36.8
Like, hey, we're the majority of the priests in the Philippines, but we don't have rights.
20:39.8
You know, we don't have control about our own parishes.
20:41.8
We don't have, you know, give us the same rights you give to other priests.
20:45.8
We went to the same missionary school.
20:47.8
And by this time, Filipinos have gone to the best missionary schools, convents.
20:50.8
They were some of the best monks in the world, in the Christian, Catholic world.
20:54.8
Yet, they don't get the same respect as a white priest.
20:57.8
So that's all they're asking.
20:58.8
Trust and respect.
21:01.8
That we have the experience.
21:02.8
They said R-E-S-P-E-C.
21:05.8
But that's what, that's what one of my ancestors did.
21:08.8
But sadly, the Pope said no.
21:10.8
Pope, why'd you do that?
21:13.8
Okay, maybe I shouldn't.
21:14.8
Not the current Pope.
21:15.8
The Pope back in the 1800s.
21:18.8
And then they went back to the Philippines.
21:19.8
And then that's how we have, we now have the Philippine Independent Church.
21:22.8
The Iglesia Filipina Independiente, IFI.
21:25.8
That, that's how it started.
21:26.8
Because that's, those are the priests that were like, okay, we're not gonna, if they
21:29.8
don't wanna listen to us, we'll start our own church.
21:31.8
But anyways, that's a sidetrack.
21:33.8
That was not mentioned in this video, but, but it reminded me of, you know, this whole
21:38.8
like, yeah, we talk about religion, revolution, and stuff.
21:40.8
Right, right, right.
21:43.8
So anyway, I mean, even, even just that, it's like showing that it's, it's a game of
21:48.8
divide and conquer.
21:49.8
I mean, even till this day, there are definitely lots of ways where it feels like, yeah, well
21:54.8
actually, there are so many issues that divides the community.
21:57.8
But actually, there's a lot of like stuff that unites the community too.
22:02.8
And I think about ways where people can come together more often.
22:07.8
Because we're all fight, we all want the same thing.
22:09.8
You know, we want basically to be able to live our life in a way where it's like, we
22:14.8
don't have to bust our ass off in order to survive.
22:19.8
We want access to water, clean water, food, everything.
22:23.8
But really just a message of coming together.
22:25.8
I mean, that's kind of what my takeaway or the takeaway message that I got of like coming
22:31.8
together and, you know, working together to get the same thing that, the things that
22:38.8
Well, since you're talking about that, the title of the song is The Gundong, which is
22:40.8
the sound of the beat of the drums.
22:43.8
I'm not sure how they translate it in the lyrics.
22:48.8
But yeah, they translate it as rumble.
22:49.8
You know, the beat of the drums.
22:50.8
That's the meaning.
22:51.8
Because there's no direct translation of what the gundong is.
22:54.8
But it's literally the beat, the sound of the drum.
22:55.8
The beat of the drum.
22:58.8
And, and for me, I think it's like the message that you were talking about, the message
23:00.8
It's like, you know, rallying up.
23:03.8
The younger generation basically because that's their audience.
23:04.8
Rallying up the younger generation to stand up in unity and take action to fight for the
23:09.4
freedom of the people.
23:11.4
And just visually or like, you know, when they're talking about what I, when I first
23:15.9
heard the song before the music video and, and I listened to it, the, you know, the whole
23:20.5
beat of the drum, you know, all that.
23:22.4
Did it rally you up?
23:26.2
So, so for me, it reminded me of like this oral traditions from our ancestors.
23:30.8
From our elders talking about how back then, and I'm talking about the Kapapangan warriors,
23:35.1
the pre-colonial Luzones warriors back then who fought wars across Southeast Asia, by
23:39.4
the way, won battles here and there.
23:42.8
For those who may not know, many of our ancestors, like the Kapapangans, the Luzones people,
23:46.8
they fought wars across Southeast Asia.
23:49.0
They helped kingdoms in Cambodia fight Thai invaders.
23:52.8
In another year, they helped Thai cities, Ayutthaya, which is the capital of Thailand back then,
24:00.4
They helped India from invading Burmese.
24:02.9
People from Myanmar.
24:03.9
So they're, they're involved in a lot of wars.
24:05.9
But anyways, from our elders, because you know, a lot of this have been lost.
24:10.0
And they talked about that in the song, like things, our, our traditions have been lost,
24:13.5
our stories, our histories have been lost.
24:15.2
And for me, the whole drum thing, it reminded me of how, according to our elders, according
24:19.5
to our culture bearers, our elders, scholars, our ancestors, that back then, pre-colonially
24:25.0
when they fought a war, they don't just attack.
24:27.7
At least for the, speaking of the Kapapangans.
24:29.7
I'm speaking on the Kapapangans side, because there's a hundred plus ethnicities in the
24:34.2
So, you know, the ancestors of the Kapapangans back then, or who we now call sometimes Luzones
24:38.8
because of the records.
24:39.9
How do I describe this?
24:40.9
Basically, how the elders describe it is that they would beat the drum as they approach
24:44.8
from the horizon of the ocean.
24:47.0
So whatever time of day it is, probably usually like in the dawn, you know, early morning
24:52.3
where they start.
24:53.3
Imagine if you're a small village by the coast, and then you started hearing this drum beat.
24:59.7
You know, from the ocean, from hundreds of boats, hundreds of dozens and dozens of
25:03.7
warships coming to you, it's to terrify the enemies.
25:07.9
They don't just show up and fight.
25:08.9
Because the thing is, with Southeast Asian warfare, it's not the same as European warfare
25:12.7
where you're all lined up and you wait for this go signal to fight.
25:16.6
It's so structured.
25:19.6
They're like, okay, three, two, one, go.
25:23.6
So yeah, that's what the ancestors told or passed down to us is that they would, you
25:28.0
know, use the beat of the drums.
25:32.2
The gongs, you know, on the ships.
25:34.2
That's why, that's why on the battleship, the warships, the front, there's always like
25:39.2
Or sometimes there's even like a, like, what do you call this?
25:41.5
Like a song or this game, like an enchantress, a lady or somebody who chants.
25:50.2
And they actually did this in one of the shows, the drama, the telenovela, the soap
25:53.2
opera, Amaya, they had that scene where someone was chanting while they're approaching the
25:59.2
They're invading.
26:01.2
And they would beat the drum.
26:02.2
But mostly they beat the drum so that they would scare the village that was still sleeping.
26:06.2
I mean, yeah, I would wake up if I heard that.
26:10.2
So if you think about it, it's not even about, you know, they're so confident that they're
26:13.8
going to win that battle that they don't need to surprise them.
26:16.7
Unlike some colonizers who surprise people.
26:20.2
Or put on mock battles.
26:24.2
They're so confident.
26:25.2
Our ancestors were so confident that they would just show up, beat the drum.
26:28.2
Scare the shit out of them and attack.
26:32.2
They're also announcing themselves.
26:35.2
It's like, look, we're here and we're about to mess some things up.
26:40.2
Well, I guess this brings me to another part of the song that that really caught me when
26:43.2
I was listening to it was a part where they talk about, like, we may not be able to equal
26:48.2
them, match them in terms of the numbers of our soldiers.
26:52.2
But we can if we surround them, you know, then we can overwhelm them.
26:57.2
You know, basically win.
26:59.2
And which is actually a tactic.
27:02.2
Back in the 1600s, when the Dutch tried to take the Philippines from the Spaniards.
27:06.2
Here's another one.
27:08.2
In the 1600s, there was an 80 year war between the Spaniards and the Dutch.
27:11.2
The Dutch were formerly colonies of Spain that broke away and they wanted to piss off
27:16.2
Spain by invading the other colonies of Spain.
27:18.2
And one of them was the Philippines because it was next to Indonesia, which was a Dutch
27:23.2
Anyways, in the 1600s, the Dutch tried many times to conquer the Philippines.
27:26.2
Take it away from Spain.
27:28.2
But every time they tried, they get defeated by the Spaniards.
27:31.2
On paper, it's the Spaniards.
27:32.2
But if you ask the Dutch, look at Dutch records, they actually mentioned it wasn't the Spaniards
27:36.2
for real that defeated them.
27:38.2
It was the Kapampangas.
27:40.2
Well, the Spaniards do recognize the Kapampangas were part of the battle.
27:45.2
But when it comes to the victory, they just credit.
27:47.2
They credit Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, the Lady of the Rosary.
27:51.2
So they credit Jesus' mom.
27:55.2
And singing to her saved the Philippines from the Dutch.
27:58.2
That's why it's the festival in my hometown in Angeles, La Naval.
28:00.2
And it's a festival in Manila too.
28:02.2
That's why it's called La Naval.
28:03.2
Even though people are confused like, oh, this particular version of the Virgin Mary
28:07.2
is called the Holy Rosary.
28:09.2
The lady, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.
28:11.2
But somehow in Spanish, we call her Nuestra Senora de la...
28:17.2
Somehow in Spanish, we call her Nuestra Senora de la Naval, which means Our Lady of the Navy.
28:24.2
We call her Nuestra Senora de la Rosary.
28:25.2
So that the Dutch will be defeated.
28:27.2
And they defeat the Dutch.
28:28.2
But anyways, long story short, the victory was credited to the Spaniards and the Virgin
28:32.2
Well, technically, the Kapampangans were fighting under the Spanish flag.
28:36.2
But it wasn't the Spanish galleons that defeated the Dutch galleons.
28:41.2
According to both oral traditions and records outside Spain, it was actually the Kapampangan
28:49.2
So unknown to many, after the Philippines was colonized in the 1500s, late 1500s, throughout
28:52.2
the 1600s, the Kapampangans were still allowed to keep their warships, their trading ships.
28:58.2
So they still had, in effect, a navy, you know, compared to other places.
29:02.2
Even though they were already formally colonized by Spain.
29:05.2
So whenever the Spain...
29:07.2
The Spaniards needed their help, then the Kapampangans would bring out their ships.
29:11.2
Well, without war, they used it to trade with Japan, with other places like Champa.
29:17.2
But during the war, they would actually use the same ship.
29:20.2
Plus, the warships are hiding somewhere, being kept safe.
29:23.2
You know, they would bring it out to fight the Spaniards, I mean, the Dutch, for the
29:28.2
Well, to be fair, people are gonna be like, why are Kapampangans fighting for the Spaniards
29:31.2
against another white people?
29:33.2
You know, they're the same colonizers.
29:34.2
That's in hindsight.
29:36.2
Back then, they preferred the devil they know, the Spaniards, against the Dutch.
29:40.2
You know, plus, there's the whole religion thing, the Dutch are Protestants, the Spaniards
29:43.2
are Catholics, like Kapampangans during this time were Catholics.
29:46.2
So for them, there's also this fear-mongering among the Spaniards.
29:50.2
Like, Protestants are not really Christians.
29:53.2
So you should fight them.
29:55.2
So anyways, that's a long, complicated thing that I have a video back in the, back, like,
29:58.2
maybe five years ago now, that I made, that I need to update.
30:02.2
But anyways, they had that.
30:03.2
So going back to the song, you know, the surrounding thing, that was the Kapampangan
30:07.2
tactic that defeated the Dutch.
30:09.2
Kapampangans have traditionally been, what do you call this?
30:14.2
We like to tease people.
30:18.2
People often think that, when I, like, I had a group of friends in college in South
30:19.2
Cal, where, you know, we're diverse in different parts of the Philippines, but whenever
30:23.2
the Kapampangans talk, they thought we're fighting.
30:28.2
And sometimes, we would actually, like, tease each other.
30:30.2
Like, say mean things to each other.
30:32.2
But we don't mean it.
30:36.2
It's just how our culture is.
30:37.2
But for some, it might be serious offensive.
30:38.2
But anyways, Kapampangan people love to tease other people.
30:39.2
So what they did during this war, the tactic, was that they would bother and annoy the fuck
30:44.2
out of a Dutch ship.
30:46.2
So one small boat, like, one small boat.
30:48.2
Like, one small, like, what do you call this?
30:51.2
It's actually the traditional boat.
30:52.2
It's not really small, but smaller than the other warships.
30:53.2
The smaller warship called Viray, they would sail, piss off the Dutch ship, and then make
31:02.2
So the Dutch would now be chasing the small Viray to a place where other Virays would
31:06.2
come out surrounding it.
31:10.2
So even though the Dutch had superior firepower than the Kapampangan smaller warships, they
31:13.2
were able to piss them off and lose their, you know, logic.
31:18.2
So they would piss them off, lure them to somewhere where the ships would come out,
31:21.2
the other ships, the smaller ship, and surround the bigger ship and just bombard the shit
31:27.2
And we had cannons too.
31:28.2
These are traditional pre-colonial cannons too, not the Western cannons.
31:33.2
The lantakas, the smaller cannons.
31:35.2
So they would basically, like, rain fire on the Dutch ship until they could no longer
31:40.2
see anything because everything is on fire and smoky.
31:43.2
And then, they're not done, one of the Kapampangan Virays, or several of them, would come close
31:47.2
to the Dutch ship, put a bridge, and climb the ship and finish it off.
31:52.2
So that's what the tactic was.
31:53.2
And if your Kapampangan and your last name is Sampang, that's the word that refers to
31:58.2
that tactic of, like, putting a bridge on the other ship.
32:04.2
Because in Kapampangan, Sampangan may.
32:05.2
So for me, this song reminded me of that tactic that our ancestors had before, you know,
32:10.2
back in pre-colonial and then during the early colonial period that we had this tactic that
32:14.2
I don't think these people know about anymore.
32:16.2
But the message is that, from the video, what did they say again?
32:19.2
They say that we can't match them.
32:21.2
In terms of the numbers of their soldiers.
32:25.2
But we can surround them.
32:27.2
And scare the shit out of them and win.
32:31.2
Overwhelm them, basically.
32:34.2
Which was what the Kapampangan did back then.
32:38.2
Another history in, you know, this awesome video.
32:40.2
And again, since we're talking about that part of the song, this might be a long video,
32:43.2
but I guess it's fine.
32:44.2
Because people requested this video.
32:46.2
Precisely because of my tidbits of history.
32:49.2
Another part of this song where, you know, we cannot match them.
32:52.2
You're the one who actually pointed it out.
32:54.2
How they're all clad in metal.
33:00.2
I remember, so from the first time we had watched it.
33:03.2
They had said something about, like, them using, I mean, the other soldiers.
33:11.2
Having metal shields.
33:13.2
And us taking out our, like, arrows and swords.
33:15.2
To, like, fight them.
33:19.2
So when I was like, oh, okay, man, I'm sure they had arrows and swords and stuff like
33:23.2
But I'm like, well, I guess demystifying and debunking that myth, too, of like, we, I mean,
33:28.2
not we, because I'm not Filipino.
33:31.2
That, like, your folk, your people basically had more advanced weaponry.
33:39.2
Then, then we think.
33:43.2
And that's, I'm not sure if you're familiar with David and Goliath.
33:45.2
So there's this tendency for us to always paint Philippine history as a David and Goliath.
33:50.2
Not in, not in a bad way, you know.
33:51.9
Not intentionally in a bad way.
33:53.2
But there's this tendency to paint Filipino culture or Philippine history against the
33:57.2
colonizers as a David and Goliath story.
34:01.2
We are a smaller country compared to the Spanish Empire and the American Empire.
34:03.2
We fought for our freedom.
34:05.2
In a bigger picture, it makes sense.
34:06.3
But sometimes we get folk too focused on that David and Goliath story that we depict our
34:11.2
ancestors as barely related.
34:13.2
As barely wearing anything.
34:23.2
Arrows against the.
34:24.2
For the Spaniards, they're clad in their.
34:28.2
And their, their guns.
34:33.2
Visually, it's like poetic.
34:38.2
But if you want to be accurate in terms of Philippine history, our ancestors were not
34:39.2
naked when they were fighting.
34:41.2
They weren't, they weren't just wearing.
34:43.2
It doesn't mean that they didn't have their own armor.
34:46.2
It doesn't mean that they, you know, that they didn't have advanced weapons.
34:48.8
In fact, they did.
34:49.8
They had, we had firearms.
34:51.8
We had firepower.
34:53.8
Before the Spaniards came to the Philippines.
34:55.8
In fact, according to the Portuguese, we were selling gunpowder and other firearms in different
35:03.8
There's even a record of a giant-ass cannon in China that was, that has an engraving or
35:07.5
something that said that it came from the Kingdom of Luzon.
35:11.2
So, we were even selling cannons to the country, the people that invented cannons.
35:16.2
So, I guess, yeah, you can't say that we never had.
35:22.7
You guys never had.
35:24.7
I'm like, we never had it.
35:25.7
It's because we're so one.
35:28.7
We're Southeast Asians.
35:29.7
We're Southeast Asian.
35:32.7
But yeah, there's this misconception that our ancestors did not have their own advanced
35:37.2
It may not be the same exact level as the Spaniards or the Americans later on.
35:41.2
We had our own cannons called Lantagas.
35:43.2
Smaller handled cannons, but they're all, but they're actually more, what do you call
35:52.2
Because sometimes, actually, this is the thing.
35:53.2
The bigger Spanish ships or European ships are, their cannons are static.
35:54.2
The ship had to move.
35:56.2
The whole ship had to move around so that the cannon would face a different direction.
36:00.2
No wonder I see those like old like movies and stuff, especially of European.
36:06.2
They take forever to shoot.
36:11.2
Well, the smaller can-
36:15.2
Because I've seen it.
36:16.2
I've seen it in so many movies.
36:18.2
It's like, they're like, okay, turn the ship around.
36:20.2
And so like, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
36:21.2
It's like they take forever to use it.
36:27.2
Although those cannons have far ranges.
36:30.2
The, the Southeast Asian ones.
36:32.2
The Lantagas, for example, are shorter, smaller.
36:34.2
They can even be held by hand.
36:36.2
But they're quick to-
36:41.2
Because you're facing this way.
36:42.2
Some of the enemies on that side, you don't need to move the ship.
36:46.2
Move it to face the other way.
36:48.2
It has, it has a shorter range-
36:50.2
In terms of firepower.
36:52.2
But it can still overwhelm.
36:53.2
And it's easier to-
36:58.2
As opposed to the bigger cannons where you have to put the ball, light the match, and
36:59.2
do something like this.
37:07.2
The dynamite, the powder.
37:11.2
So we had our own smaller-
37:13.2
But they were still effective in terms, especially in terms of Southeast Asian warfare.
37:16.7
So we did have our own firearms centuries before the Spaniards showed up at our doorstep
37:21.8
to introduce firearms.
37:23.8
Because I'm looking at your notes.
37:24.8
Look at his notes.
37:25.8
There's nothing on my notes.
37:27.8
I was like, what do you have on your notes?
37:28.8
There's literally nothing.
37:29.8
Why do you have, why are you holding onto this if there's no notes on there?
37:31.8
I just want to hold something.
37:32.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:33.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:34.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:35.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:36.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:37.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:38.8
You can't even hold anything.
37:39.8
I was like, what?
37:40.8
Like, let me see.
37:41.8
What notes do you have?
37:42.8
And there's like freaking, there's nothing here.
37:43.8
That's hilarious.
37:46.8
If that makes you feel more comfortable, then yeah.
37:51.8
Back to the armors and the firearms.
37:53.8
So we talked about the firearms.
37:54.8
Even the armors, we had armors.
37:57.8
Our ancestors before colonialism had their own armors.
37:59.8
There's different types of armors.
38:00.8
I'm not going to go too much into detail.
38:01.8
Some of them are made with Carabao shelves.
38:18.8
Carabao, Carabao, Carabao And I don't know why I said shelves, but I
38:19.8
meant like Carabao horns, the water buffalo horns.
38:21.8
I guess I was like where do they get the shelves from?
38:22.8
Where do they get the shelves from?
38:25.8
So Carabao horns.
38:29.8
They would use it as part of the armor.
38:30.8
Their armors are made of metal like brass.
38:31.8
There's different types of armors in precolonial Philippines and early colonial Philippines that
38:35.8
Filipinos have forgotten because whatever they depict ancient Filipinos, it's just in the
38:38.8
wearing the loincloth yeah yeah which is not bad because some you know we do wear those things yeah
38:44.0
it doesn't mean that it's the only thing we wear right you know and actually back then it was much
38:48.3
colder in the climate so imagine that's all you're wearing global warming is real and you can see it
38:55.5
on record yeah yeah yeah but anyways we did have our own armors in fact one thing i want to share
39:01.3
here is that when lapu lapu in the battle of mactan in 521 when he defeated when his army
39:06.9
defeated magellan and his army and one thing that the spaniards actually noted was how impressed
39:12.4
they were how mind-blown they were that the indigenous visayan warriors of mactan had shields
39:20.2
made of wood hardwood but somehow that shield made of hardwood yeah can deflect firepower bullets
39:28.6
from their guns arrows right well the kids you can deflect bullets you can deflect arrows so somehow
39:36.9
it passed the bullet test and it passed the arrow test but yeah that's what they were so impressed
39:42.6
with like you know they had shields that could deflect all the might of the spanish weapons yeah
39:49.8
yeah you know which which we know was mind-blowing to them because again you would think that the more
39:55.4
advanced culture is they would use metal you know and not wood not wood right because wood can easily
40:00.0
burn but somehow our ancestors you know like the ones in the visayas in this battle of mactan had
40:07.0
that makes wood fireproof and strong enough to deflect firepower from the invaders
40:14.6
which tells us a lot of things that one they have an advanced technology even though it's wood because
40:19.3
sometimes people judge a civilization by looking at like oh do they have stone structures yes wood
40:25.0
that's not advanced enough right do they have metal weapons just wood that's not advanced enough
40:29.1
right but the truth is yeah you should measure it by what the technology they could create given
40:33.5
the resources they had right right right and in this case they were able to
40:36.9
do tropical woods yeah you know these trees in the tropics into something that could deflect
40:42.5
european firepower I don't know that's like a technology that has been lost yeah so even if our
40:47.6
ancestors also had wooden forts which they also had stone forts literally a city in mindanao is
40:52.8
called stone fort called tabato you know we had advanced technology our ancestors had advanced
40:58.3
technology to deflect invaders right yeah I mean so I guess it really kind of just again debunks the myth of filipinos brown people but basically 80s and 90s
40:59.1
technology to deflect invaders right yeah I mean so I guess it really kind of just again debunks the myth of filipinos brown people but basically 80s and 90s
41:06.9
sort of third world countries being like really like weaker weaker barbaric savages whatever you know undeveloped yes you're right yes oh yeah anyways that's colonialism for you and the colonial
41:19.9
miseducation of our people but that's right so let the drums let the beat of the drums wake you up yes and yeah
41:33.6
that's all I can say yeah yeah but that's also what a
41:36.9
appreciate most about Alamat is that they use their art they use their their creativity to to really
41:42.6
raise awareness to the younger filipinos younger audiences out there not just filipinos but they
41:46.8
have fans all over the world right um they to raise awareness in the younger generation that
41:50.6
we were not savages right that we had our own culture we had a history that that could be dark
41:55.3
at some point at some point but it could also be enlightening it can also be empowering and then
42:00.5
they really use their their creativity to to empower the younger generation to dig deeper
42:05.6
and I'm not expecting them to be actually
42:06.9
perfect when it comes to messaging delivering this message because you know nobody's perfect
42:10.5
not even all historians are perfect I I don't know everything I may know a lot of things I may not
42:14.6
need notes but it doesn't mean that I know everything you know yeah yeah so if you're
42:20.1
from a different culture in the Philippines if you're from the Ifugao community indigenous Ifugao
42:24.5
if you're indigenous Lumad if you're from from Sulu from Maguindanao and you want to
42:28.6
share something that you saw in this video yeah let us know in the comments below because again
42:32.5
I can only speak for my own research as a historian and my own background as a
42:36.9
sa kapampangan Tagalog culture bearer.
43:06.9
Or if they were referring to specific people, invaders, or if it's referring to a specific time and era.
43:17.9
But then also, I'm really happy that they had mentioned, you know, it's like, oh, you see these ships out there?
43:25.4
You would think they were bringing good stuff and all these trade and things like that.
43:30.0
But they're actually carrying pestilence.
43:32.3
So that was something that stood out to me.
43:36.9
So I guess for this video, for this song, they were referring probably to the Spaniards when they invaded the Philippines, you know.
43:43.1
Because they were ships out in the ocean coming by carrying pestilence.
43:46.7
And pestilence is basically a plague, you know, and that's exactly what they did.
43:51.4
That's part of why the Spaniards were able to conquer different empires in Central America, South America.
43:57.7
It's because they carried diseases that they were immune, or they're not immune to.
44:01.2
So the disease helped them.
44:02.3
And the thing is, it also somewhat on a smaller scale happened in the Philippines too.
44:06.4
They carried pestilence.
44:06.9
So they carried pestilence in the Philippines.
44:08.0
But anyways, yeah, I think it was referring to that because back then, if you know Southeast Asian history,
44:13.6
Southeast Asia was the center of the global trade before colonialism.
44:19.0
Everybody came to Southeast Asia, passed through Southeast Asia to trade.
44:22.4
That's why there's a lot of kingdoms in Southeast Asia that were thriving.
44:24.9
Even though they were small, they were wealthy and thriving because they were the center of trade.
44:29.0
Especially the most coveted of all in the European world, the spice trade, you know.
44:33.0
And of course, gold and other things.
44:35.8
But basically, I guess.
44:36.9
I guess what they're trying to say is that, like what you said, we see the ships coming.
44:40.8
Usually, when ships approach Manila Bay, for example, it's traders.
44:45.1
Our ancestors would welcome traders.
44:47.1
They were not racist.
44:49.1
You know, they actually welcomed traders.
44:51.5
There's actually communities of different, like Chinese communities, Japanese communities in Manila before colonialism because they were there as traders.
44:58.6
There's actually, like for example, my ancestor, the last king of Luzon, Raja Matanda.
45:02.9
He had part of his crew, his ship crew, back when he was younger, when he was just a prince.
45:06.9
In 1521, he had a crew who can speak Spanish.
45:10.2
One of his slaves spoke Spanish.
45:12.4
That points to the fact that places like Manila, Malacca, Brunei were cosmopolitan.
45:18.0
That there were already foreign Westerners in Manila or like at least people who could speak Western languages in Manila 50 years before the Spaniards conquered Manila.
45:26.0
I guess I'll just talk about that.
45:27.3
I'll also talk about that.
45:28.4
But in 1521, the Spaniards encountered the Prince of Luzon and abducted him and stuff, whatever.
45:33.8
And then you can watch a whole video about it.
45:36.9
And then 50 years later, when they came back to Manila, that was the old king they met.
45:41.8
So there's this misconception that the old king of Manila welcomed the Spaniards because he was freed 50 years ago after being kidnapped.
45:50.7
As a gesture of friendship.
45:52.2
Like, oh, the Spaniards are my friends.
45:53.5
They freed me from themselves.
45:56.2
Because the Spaniards held him for ransom.
45:57.9
The Spaniards wanted to hold him for ransom because they know he was a prince.
46:02.4
They just didn't realize that he's not just a prince.
46:04.8
He's the grandson of the Sultan of Brunei.
46:06.9
Who during this time was the most powerful king in Southeast Asia.
46:10.3
And nobody wanted to mess with Brunei during this time.
46:12.9
And it's actually a trio.
46:14.2
Brunei, Sulu, and Luzon.
46:15.6
There was like a trio happening there, you know.
46:17.9
Luzon monopolized the trade with China.
46:20.0
Brunei monopolized the trade on the other side.
46:23.7
And then Sulu had control on the access towards...
46:27.0
Wait, can you draw it for us?
46:28.8
Let's put something on the notes.
46:32.0
Let's use a marker.
46:33.7
I'm a visual learner.
46:35.2
So I need like...
46:36.0
Well, I can draw the map if you want.
46:37.8
I'll just do like, you know, a star.
46:39.4
Yeah, yeah, do a star.
46:39.9
So this is Luzon.
46:45.3
So from here is trade with China.
46:47.1
So Luzon controlled that.
46:48.5
And from here is the trade with Malacca.
46:50.4
Which was the center of Southeast Asian trade.
46:52.7
The Straits of Malacca.
46:53.9
So anything coming from the Middle East, Europe, going to Southeast Asia was controlled by Malacca.
46:58.7
And from Malacca, it was controlled by Brunei.
47:01.1
You know what I'm saying?
47:02.4
And over here is Sulu.
47:03.9
And towards here...
47:06.0
Is the access to the Spice Islands where you can actually get the spices.
47:09.5
So these three intermarried each other.
47:11.8
So the royal families of Brunei, Sulu, and Luzon...
47:15.2
Keep the power tight right there.
47:17.1
Well, actually related.
47:19.0
So they monopolized this trade.
47:20.4
You know, this trade here, trade there, trade there.
47:22.3
And their own, you know, naval power, you know, basically controlled this part of Southeast Asia.
47:26.7
That nobody want to mess with them.
47:28.9
So when the Europeans, when Magellan's crew, after Magellan died, found my ancestor, abducted him,
47:34.2
they thought he was a normal prince.
47:36.0
They wanted to hold him for ransom.
47:37.0
A regular prince.
47:38.7
They want to hold him for ransom for a few pounds of gold.
47:41.4
Or whatever resources they needed.
47:42.9
Because they were starving.
47:45.0
They were starving.
47:46.5
Why did you whisper it like that?
47:48.4
Because they were really starving.
47:50.0
No, first, they were starving when the Visayans fouled them.
47:52.3
And they fucked over the Visayans.
47:54.1
And they left the Visayans because the Visayans were like, we're going to kill you now.
47:57.0
So they left in a hurry.
47:58.9
And they were again lost.
48:00.2
You know, this is so easy for Southeast Asia to sail.
48:02.4
But the Spaniards back then, the Magellan's crew were lost.
48:06.9
They don't know where they're going.
48:08.2
And at one point, they reached Brunei.
48:09.6
Or like one of the Brunei territories.
48:11.5
And the Sultan allowed his people to feed them.
48:14.7
And then when they found the prince, they thought he was a normal prince.
48:16.6
That they were going to hold for ransom, make money, and then leave.
48:20.2
But then they realized that that prince is the grandson of the Sultan of Brunei.
48:24.8
And also the Admiral of the Navy that controlled these three kingdoms.
48:31.6
So when they found out, they released him.
48:33.6
I mean, imagine capturing Queen Elizabeth.
48:36.0
When she was like, what, 16?
48:41.5
That's how important she was.
48:43.9
That's how important he was.
48:45.9
But they didn't know that.
48:47.0
Yeah, so when they found out, they released him.
48:49.3
But the official story from a Western perspective was that he bribed them.
48:52.6
Here's a few pieces of gold.
48:54.4
But my thing is that, on record, if he actually bribed them,
48:58.4
even if he gave them a bribe, they still returned everything else.
49:02.0
So why would you return everything you already stole
49:03.9
if you weren't scared of his grasp?
49:06.0
Right, right, right.
49:07.2
So that was the whole thing.
49:08.2
So it was that when they had found out, then they returned everything because they're like...
49:12.9
They're scared of the Sultan of Brunei.
49:14.4
And at the same time, but before this, the Sultan of Brunei fed them in one of their ports.
49:19.2
You know, because they were starving.
49:21.2
So in gratitude to the kindness of the Sultan of Brunei beforehand and in fear of his retaliation
49:27.4
for kidnapping his favorite grandson, you know, they release him for, you know, but
49:33.0
the official story is that he bribed them to be free.
49:35.4
But then again, if you bribed them, then why would they return everything else?
49:39.3
The ship, the gold, the jewelries, the cannons.
49:43.8
Yeah, they know they missed them.
49:45.8
But here's the thing.
49:47.8
The Southeast Asians were still actually friendly.
49:49.8
My ancestor, what he did was actually give them his Spanish-speaking navigator to help them.
49:55.8
So they didn't get lost on the way home.
49:58.8
Yes, because they were lost in Southeast Asia.
50:00.8
So he's like, okay, well, to make your way home, or first to make your way to the
50:04.8
Molucas, or the Spice Islands, and then eventually back to Spain, here's one of my navigators.
50:10.8
I just freed him from slavery.
50:12.8
He's no longer a slave.
50:14.8
He's now a free navigator who can speak to you in Spanish and guide your way back to
50:18.8
the Molucas and back to Spain.
50:22.8
Fun fact, this navigator too is not from the Philippines.
50:24.8
He's actually from Indonesia, from Makassar.
50:26.8
So you see how interconnected Southeast Asia was back then before colonialism and suddenly
50:32.8
we're the savages?
50:34.8
But anyways, that happened.
50:35.8
And then 50 years later, they came back to Manila to invade Manila or something like
50:40.8
They met the king.
50:41.8
And then now the common misconception was that, oh, I bribed him for my freedom.
50:45.8
They gave me my freedom 50 years ago.
50:47.8
So I let them have my city.
50:48.8
I'm not going to fight.
50:50.8
That's the misconception about this king.
50:52.8
But if you look at the records, it was more of a negotiation.
50:54.8
What are you here for?
50:55.8
Are you here to trade?
50:56.8
And since I befriended the Spaniards 50 years earlier, he gave them a courtesy like, oh,
51:02.8
friends, come trade.
51:03.8
And the thing is, in fact, the Spaniards claim, we are not here to invade Luzon.
51:07.8
We are here to trade in Manila, to be part of the trade where the Chinese are there,
51:11.8
the Japanese are there, other Southeast Asians are there.
51:14.8
We want to be in the center of trade.
51:17.8
And they ask if they can settle in some parts of Manila.
51:20.8
And of course, this is a common thing in Manila.
51:22.8
It's nothing new.
51:23.8
The Portuguese were there before the Spaniards.
51:25.8
And then hundreds of years before, the Arabs were there.
51:27.8
The Indians were there.
51:28.8
So they're like, okay, well, they're probably like, find a spot.
51:31.8
It's a growing city.
51:32.8
It's a growing city, but find a spot.
51:34.8
And then there's just a whole misunderstanding.
51:37.8
And of course, escalating shit that turned into a whole battle that burned down the city.
51:43.8
But the common misconception was that the old king was treated nicely by the Spaniards.
51:47.8
So 50 years later, he's like, have my city, have my capital.
51:50.8
But which wasn't true.
51:51.8
But anyways, that's a tangent.
51:57.8
Ships carrying pestilence.
51:59.8
So they were welcoming the ships because, you know, they were open for trade.
52:02.8
Right, right, right.
52:03.8
The same thing happened when it's first the Spaniards and then the Dutch in the 1600s.
52:07.8
Spaniards in the 1500s, the Dutch in the 1600s, and then the British in the 1700s.
52:12.8
So everybody was trying to take away the Philippines from Spain.
52:15.8
And then in the 1800s, every century, there's a new player trying to take the Philippines.
52:20.8
So again, 1500s, the Spaniards.
52:22.8
I mean, that's another question for another time.
52:24.8
But why also, right, for Filipinos to ask themselves, like, why is it that so many people were trying,
52:31.8
so many countries trying to invade the Philippines?
52:35.8
Because the thing is, growing up because of the colonial mentality, because of miseducation,
52:38.8
we were always taught or taught that we're not as important as other countries.
52:42.8
But then again, if we're not as important, then why were the Spaniards in the 1500s?
52:47.8
Why did the Dutch come in the 1600s?
52:49.8
Why did the British try to take over the Philippines in the 1700s?
52:52.8
Why did the Americans did the same thing in the 1800s?
52:54.8
Why did the Japanese came in the 1940s?
52:58.8
And why is China now taking over parts of our island?
53:02.8
So every century, there's a new, there's a new ships on the horizon with pestilence coming.
53:09.8
Hey, Alamant might be on something.
53:11.8
Yeah, so yeah, that happened.
53:15.8
Which actually, the China one is actually one of the things I visualized when I first heard the song before I saw the video.
53:20.8
That there's, apart from the pre-colonial one, I was thinking like, oh, there's ships on the horizon.
53:25.8
And right now, there's a whole the South China Sea, West Philippine Sea debate of who owns it.
53:29.8
I don't want to get too much into this.
53:30.8
Because they're still fighting over it in international courts and international law and international relations.
53:36.8
We've been talking for over an hour now, so.
53:38.8
Yeah, but we didn't talk a lot.
53:40.8
So I guess one more thing that I want to mention is I guess visually, I like the part where the head came off.
53:47.8
But in terms of like visual with a deeper meaning, I would say my favorite part would be the tattoos.
53:53.8
Towards the end where you see these bodies and suddenly you see tattoos crawling and appearing on their skin.
53:59.8
And one thing I want to mention to a lot of Filipinos is that nowadays, we're familiar that Filipino culture or our ancestors had tattoos.
54:06.8
Like maybe when I was a kid, not much people knew about it.
54:09.8
But now, it's everywhere.
54:10.8
In fact, Miss Universe Philippines, her gown is inspired by these tattoos.
54:13.8
Right, it was inspired.
54:14.8
Nowadays, we're familiar with it.
54:15.8
Nowadays, Filipino Americans, even foreigners would fly to the Philippines.
54:19.8
And get the tattoos.
54:20.8
And get the traditional tattoo.
54:22.8
Artists or culture bearers.
54:23.8
But my thing is, in this video, what they showed was that towards the end of the video, after fighting for freedom.
54:29.8
For our people, the tattoos started appearing on their bodies.
54:32.8
Because back then, traditionally, tattoos were earned.
54:36.8
You do not pay for your tattoo.
54:37.8
You do not choose your own design.
54:39.8
Your tattoo is earned by fighting in battle.
54:43.8
By being a warrior.
54:45.8
In different cultures, there's some different ways to do to also get it without killing somebody.
54:49.8
But usually, tattoos also shows how much people you've killed, how many people you've killed.
54:53.8
How many battles you've fought.
54:55.8
You know, so it's all about fighting for the people and valor, you know.
54:58.8
Bravery. Heroism.
55:00.8
You know, these are all the symbols of the tattoos.
55:03.8
Because nowadays, like, I want to get a tattoo.
55:04.8
I'll just go to a tattoo shop.
55:07.8
So back then, it had a deeper meaning.
55:09.8
And every pattern had a specific meaning that's specific to the person that's getting it.
55:15.8
It's like something that's like really earned and not just because you want it.
55:19.8
Just because, you know.
55:20.8
That's why it's weird when sometimes all these tourists would come to the indigenous tattoo artists and they would demand,
55:26.8
I want this pattern.
55:31.8
Because they have...
55:32.8
The culture is that you get the pattern we give you based on your merits.
55:36.8
So that part of the video, I really love because, you know, they showed that they fought for the freedom of our people.
55:41.8
And towards the end, these bodies started having tattoos.
55:45.8
Because they earned the tattoos.
55:47.8
After fighting for our people.
55:49.8
We didn't see them in the beginning, right?
55:53.8
And the thing is that I want to also mention for our viewers, if I'm on focus, is that,
55:56.8
even though we had tattoos in the pre-colonial traditions, in the indigenous traditions of the Philippines,
56:00.8
I want to point to the fact that not everybody had it.
56:02.8
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
56:04.8
So on record, we have the Visayans.
56:05.8
They were called the Pintados by the Spanish.
56:07.8
The painted ones because they had tattoos.
56:09.8
And not even all Visayans.
56:10.8
There's a specific group of the Visayans that had tattoos.
56:13.8
The Ifugao people, they had tattoos.
56:15.8
So there's different cultures in the Philippines that had tattoos, but not everybody had it.
56:19.8
Right. Right. Right.
56:20.8
So just to want to clarify that the Philippines is not just one monolithic ethnic group.
56:25.8
There's over a hundred.
56:26.8
There's 187 languages.
56:28.8
And over a hundred, you know, ethnic groups.
56:30.8
And each ethnic group had their own specific culture.
56:33.8
Some of them do have tattoos.
56:34.8
Some of them don't.
56:35.8
Some of them had it but lost it like the Kapampangan, the Tagalog.
56:38.8
We have words for it like Batik.
56:41.8
And in fact, for someone who is considered an expert in both Tagalog or Kapampangan,
56:45.8
you know, someone who is an expert, someone who has proven himself or themselves in whatever field they're in,
56:49.8
not just warfare, they're called Batikan.
56:52.8
So they're called like a great, you know, multi-awarded director.
56:55.8
Internationally acclaimed director, for example, Batikang director.
56:59.8
Or like a multi-awarded actor, Batikang actor, Batikang actress, you know.
57:03.8
Because Batikan means you're excelled in your field.
57:06.8
You know, and you're awarded.
57:07.8
You're a multi-awarded person recognized everywhere for your expertise in your field.
57:13.8
Someday, I would like to be a Batikang historian or something, you know.
57:17.8
But Batikan in Tagalog and Kapampangan comes from the same word, batik.
57:23.8
Which is the same root word for tattoo.
57:25.8
I mean, besides, it's Batikan.
57:27.8
I'm not sure if I said it right, but batik, you know.
57:30.8
And it has the same root as batik.
57:33.8
The art of the dyeing of the garment.
57:36.8
Because it comes from the same tradition.
57:39.8
So basically, Kapampangan sa Tagalog had it in the past.
57:43.8
But somewhere down the road, hundreds of years ago, hundreds of years before the Spaniards
57:47.8
came, we've lost it.
57:49.8
Or we stopped practicing it.
57:51.8
Some say it could be because many of the Luzones, which is the ancestors of the Kapampangan,
57:56.8
So some say that because of that, it was looked down upon to have tattoos, so they
58:00.8
stopped practicing it.
58:02.8
But, you know, the Visayans never converted to Islam, so they still had tattoos.
58:05.8
They Fugaos never converted to Islam, so they still had tattoos.
58:09.8
So, but then when they converted to Christianity, the Visayans lost their tattoos because it's
58:12.8
the same with Christianity.
58:14.8
It's forbidden to have tattoos.
58:16.8
So that's a little short history of tattoos in the Republic of the Philippines.
58:19.8
The islands we now call the Philippines.
58:22.8
I mean, with Southeast Asia, there's so much shared.
58:24.8
There's so much like history and culture and like traditions as well because, I mean,
58:30.3
like in Laos and Thailand, we do that too in terms of-
58:33.8
Tattoos or batik?
58:34.8
Not tattoos, but batik.
58:36.8
Like the dyed fabric.
58:38.8
That's something that you'll commonly see and especially like Hmong people, we have
58:42.2
our batik clothing and that's something that is commonly practiced and it's still practiced,
58:51.1
but also because, I mean, again, who knows, right?
58:53.8
Like maybe either through trade, through something that we learned about, we learned
58:57.9
about batik and we're still practicing that, but again, I guess there hasn't been a reason
59:03.8
where we've lost it.
59:05.8
I think the only reason why we are losing it and are losing it a lot more is because
59:10.1
of course everything's-
59:13.1
Modern fashion, modern technology, everything's machine-made, printed.
59:17.1
But yeah, when you go back to like, I mean, I've seen a lot of my friends who have gone
59:19.8
back to like Laos or like even in parts of Vietnam where you see-
59:24.8
Hmong community who are still practicing batik.
59:25.8
It's traditional.
59:30.8
And that's really cool.
59:33.8
I think it is true trade because the word batik itself is actually indigenous word in
59:34.8
the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
59:36.8
So it's probably true trade that it ended up in Laos.
59:44.8
So that's a lot of things that we talked about.
59:45.8
And again, overall, any last words I guess before, because it's over an hour now, it's almost
59:48.8
two hours that we're talking.
59:50.8
I mean, overall, just like-
59:53.8
I would say really good job.
59:54.8
I mean, it doesn't hurt that they're good-looking either, you know, to really deliver their
60:02.9
But yeah, overall, really good job.
60:03.9
I mean, I couldn't have asked for either a better music video or a better way to deliver
60:09.1
the actual message of the video.
60:16.8
And you talked about early-
60:17.8
Oh, the first recording of this video last week, you talked about how the message of
60:21.8
the song to inspire and empower the younger generation.
60:27.9
I mean, again, it's really, I think I mentioned it in the beginning too, is the overall takeaway
60:32.6
message to really, hopefully, this message and this song is going to rally and make people
60:38.2
up, especially the younger generation, because there's lots of things that you can still
60:42.3
learn and there's still a lot of stuff happening today that you can still learn about.
60:47.5
But also, you can really learn from our past too, right?
60:50.9
Using this song as a sort of a wake-up call to get you interested in history, to get
60:57.9
you interested in culture, and then figure out why things have happened the way that
61:03.8
it has, and also learn how you can be a change and be a part of that change, right?
61:08.8
Because again, everybody wants the same things, but we're all really working really hard towards
61:13.5
that vision of just being free, right?
61:16.6
Not having to be under control of anybody else.
61:20.0
Not being forced to do things that we don't want to do, right?
61:24.7
So again, it's a message of empowerment, and hopefully, the beat of their drums will really
61:31.3
wake you up to take on the action and to take on the issues in our communities right now
61:39.1
to make a better future for our kids, our, you know, whatever you want to say, like legacy,
61:45.3
your children, whatever, in the future.
61:51.9
But I do want to add that, you know, on top of that, I want to add that apart from freedom,
61:55.5
justice is the more important thing.
61:56.8
And freedom for me is not nothing if there's no justice that comes with it.
62:02.2
But anyways, what I'm trying to say too is that, like what you said, hopefully this beat
62:04.8
of the drum would empower and inspire the younger generation.
62:07.6
For me, since they're primary target are Filipino younglings, you know, I hope that these type
62:14.5
of songs, especially this song and other songs from Alamat, from SB19, right?
62:18.9
I don't know how to say that or Mahalima, you know, from our younger artists today.
62:24.3
I hope their songs could actually, I see it actually online, but I hope that they would
62:28.3
take the beat of these drums, the beat of this music to be inspired, to be empowered,
62:32.8
to dig deeper about our culture and be proud of our roots.
62:36.4
But for me, pride is also not just a one-sided thing, you know, be proud of our roots, not
62:40.9
just because like, oh, we had gold, we had all these weapons, we are such an amazing
62:45.2
people better than other people.
62:47.9
I think that being proud about our roots should also include learning from what happened
62:53.3
Learning about the injustices that our people went through.
62:55.3
Because without those struggles, we would not be where we are today.
62:57.3
Learning how our ancestors, like Bonifacio, Rizal, Lapu-Lapu, all these warriors back
63:02.5
then who fought for our people's freedom, learning from what they fought for, why they
63:06.1
fought for our freedom, you know, and apply that to the modern day because we're not totally
63:11.9
And we have our own set of issues and realities that we face today.
63:15.3
And I hope the younger generation, because they do have the immense power, the immense power.
63:17.3
The immense energy as younger than us, you know, to carry forward the struggle for freedom,
63:23.5
for justice and peace in our communities.
63:25.7
So and not just in the Philippines, because our ancestors were not limited by our hometown.
63:30.6
There's power in numbers.
63:31.6
And I think that, I mean, that's something that I guess we really, I mean, we, it wasn't
63:35.6
too long ago that we were youth.
63:38.6
It wasn't that long ago.
63:39.6
It wasn't that long ago, but I think there's such a, there's such a powerful, like, movement
63:46.6
when young people really come together and, like, use their voices to make change.
63:52.9
Because sometimes it's, again, it's like, you think of yourself as one person, you can't
63:57.1
But when you all come together, like, that's even more powerful.
64:00.9
And especially students today, gosh, like, students have so much power, like, especially
64:05.6
when they're together and when they're united, like, they really can bring a lot of good
64:10.9
change when they come together.
64:11.9
And so, I guess that's my message to all the students watching too.
64:15.9
Is that, like, you know, yeah, maybe, maybe it's time to also, like, build your
64:21.2
network of friends, build your connection of friends, um, within your school, but also
64:26.9
outside of your schools, right?
64:28.7
Like, there's, you guys, you all probably have, like, so many, so much more similarities
64:33.9
that can really bring you all together.
64:35.7
You all face probably very similar issues, you know, so when you all come together to
64:39.8
voice that and make that change, I mean, like, that's how powerful you all can be.
64:45.2
And the other thing that I want to add too is that the, the word solidarity.
64:48.3
That's a word that was embodied by our ancestors.
64:52.2
You know, the Katipuneros embodied solidarity.
64:55.1
There was solidarity between African Americans and Philippine revolutionaries in the 1800s
65:00.0
against US imperialism.
65:01.8
So our people have always understood what solidarity means.
65:05.6
And today, there are other people in the world who are struggling and experiencing far worse
65:10.5
conditions than our people.
65:13.7
There's what's happening in Gaza.
65:14.7
There's the genocide that's happening there.
65:16.4
We have privileges that we could use to help amplify their voices and help push for peace
65:23.1
and justice in those communities.
65:25.1
For me, it's like, I hope these type of song would inspire us to be proud of what our people
65:29.6
have accomplished.
65:31.6
But also, part of that is be proud of what our people have gone through, the struggles
65:35.6
they had to go through to survive and to, you know, basically give birth to us today.
65:41.8
Because if they didn't go through those struggles, then we wouldn't be here where we are today.
65:43.8
You wouldn't have Alamat, you wouldn't have me here, you would not have met me, but you
65:51.1
And again, it's like, again, I kind of think about like students in the Philippines, but
65:53.7
also there's, when we talk about solidarity, yeah, you can build solidarity across the
65:59.8
countries right now.
66:01.4
Like there's so much we can do in terms of organizing folks, of like bringing people
66:06.5
together under a common cause.
66:08.2
Because again, when you think about it, the issues that we face, again, we face really
66:13.8
And again, sometimes we, again, even for students, not students, I'm not a student
66:20.1
For people like us who are living in the United States, we have so much privilege.
66:26.1
And power in the sense of like using our voices to make change, right?
66:30.9
So especially for those who can't, like we have to use our voices to amplify other issues
66:36.7
that we're seeing around the globe.
66:39.0
Like that's the best thing that we can do for each other.
66:43.1
And it's also about a lot of injustices in our communities or in our history that our
66:47.3
people fought for, you know, and they were empowered by the beat of the drums.
66:51.5
So I do hope that this song would empower our younger folks to also dig deeper into the
66:56.5
realities of today.
66:57.5
Like there are issues happening in the Philippines, the indigenous communities don't have the
67:01.2
same rights as a normal Filipino basically, you know?
67:03.8
So there's a lot of different issues in the Philippines and outside the Philippines that
67:06.4
are interconnected and that we could, again, learn to come together in solidarity with
67:12.5
So I think it's okay to be proud of your race or ethnicity.
67:13.9
The thing is, it's okay and wonderful to be proud of your roots, but it's even better
67:19.4
if you can be proud of your roots but at the same time build solidarity with other people.
67:24.0
But anyways, this is probably the end of the video because it's been a long conversation.
67:27.3
I'm not sure if I'm gonna put the whole thing because it's over almost around two hours
67:32.7
Well, I do hope you enjoyed this reaction slash breakdown slash podcast discussion about
67:38.4
Alamats the Gundong.
67:39.5
I mean, it could go on and on and on.
67:42.4
I think there's a lot of things that came up in this music video that it's like we could
67:47.2
have a whole quarter or semester just talking about these issues.
67:51.7
Really, really like that's how much we can break these issues down but for the sake of
67:57.8
For the sake of time and for the sake of my time editing this later.
68:02.2
But before we go, as always, I just want to give a shout out to all my patrons, my subscribers,
68:07.4
viewers like you, especially my patrons and my YouTube members.
68:09.8
Actually, I don't think I set that up yet.
68:11.8
But if you want to be a member, I'll set it up soon.
68:14.9
Dagdahan salamat.
68:15.9
Maraming salamat for all your love and support and again, I want to thank and give a shout
68:19.2
out to Kalye in New York City for hosting my book signing event slash birthday happy
68:26.1
hour party for me and it's amazing to see our kababayans, our fellow Filipinos and our
68:31.6
friends in different parts of the world because we're everywhere in the world or the universe
68:38.2
I was gonna promote my books at this point.
68:41.8
I just want to say that if you want to dig deeper about everything I talked about today,
68:45.4
a lot of them are covered in my many books and coloring books.
68:48.8
I was gonna show them but then I realized I don't have copies anymore because I sold
68:53.4
them out in New York.
68:58.8
Dagdahan salamat.
68:59.8
Maraming salamat.
69:01.8
To everybody in New York who bought my books as I literally came home with no more books.
69:03.0
I no longer have any books on hand to show off on this video so I'll probably just, you
69:11.6
Do a graphic of the book covers of my books.
69:14.3
So if you're interested to dig deeper about these topics, you can order them online at
69:18.1
kirbyaralio.com slash books.
69:21.1
www.kirbyaralio.com slash books.
69:26.0
So order them today.
69:27.0
I've always wanted to do that.
69:28.0
You can buy them online right here.
69:30.0
Our link will show up online right here.
69:34.0
This is how it's like to be on the other end, on this side.
69:39.1
Anyways, maraming maraming salamat.
69:40.6
That is it for us today.
69:43.2
See you next time.
69:50.2
We've had team Yak.
69:51.2
For those, for our OG, for my OG subscribers from 10 years ago, Team Yak is still here.
69:54.2
This is Team Yak.
69:55.2
Team Yak is still here.
69:57.2
See you next time.
69:58.2
Or in Tagalog, kita-kits and ikabangbangan.
