Maling Akala

The last few days at the office I found myself listening to a couple of old OPM (Original Pilipino Music). What prompted this? Well , the past Monday I chanced upon a video of a new group of musicians reinterpreting an old favourite. The group was Brownman Revival and they were singing the old Eraserhead song "Maling Akala", not a bad rendition. I liked the new version. Their MTV was a little bit different, but I do not really recall the Eraserhead's mtv of "Maling Akala". What I do remember is listening to the music while waiting for my Dad when I fetched him. I was taking up my graduate studies at that time and my Dad was on his last leg as a professor at UP. My old car, 1965 VW beetle, did not have tape player and its radio was kaput. So I had to rely on my trusty Aiwa walkman and a the tape "Ultramagnetic Pop" and other songs. Today, the walkman is gone and its replacement a panasonic VCD/CD player was sold. I do not even have the Beetle anymore, it was sold to partly finance my petshop business. I now work for a data company in Makati. And my work involves me using the computer for nearly the whole day. I once thought of buying a new DVD/VCD/CD/MP3 player, but it is far from my thought. I have my music dumped into my computer. Nearly whole gamut from Mozart's "ine Kleine Nacht Musik", Bizet's "Habanera", Duran Duran's "Dont Say A Prayer for Me Now", "Imperial March" by John Williams, Kenny Roger's "The Gambler", Dean Martin's "Volare", Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes", and the "Curly Shuffle". I use the different songs to keep me awake. And I did buy a set of earphones so that mys colleagues are not punished by music. It is quite plain that taste in music is not the same. I even have a OPM section. I have a few of Francis Magallona's song. I had his CD of greatest hits but a friend of mine borrowed and never returned it. So I am left with his latest compilation, which does not include "Mga Kababyan Ko". I also have Apo Hiking Society's best hits and a group of Filipino songs. What I do like and cherish is the Eraserheads' "Ultramagnetic Pop" songs. Its quite interesting how different and the same the new and the old version of "Maling Akala" are. Although somewhat same in style from the old version, the new one has a more definite reggae twist, the a refreshing twist in the old song. Although upon listening to the old song you see one main difference , the new one is more reggae like but the old seems to be imparting more practical advise. Especially in the last lines of the song. May mga kumakalat na balita Na ang kaligtasa'y madaling makuha Bago maniwala mag-isip-isip ka muna Marami ang namatay sa maling akala I remember a gag in Mad magazine once that started "You know your old when..." and in one caption it read " Your favorite music becomes elevator music". Now I think one of the heralds of advancing age is when your favourite song is reinterpreted. Well, at least its not on Stars on 45 and the reinterpretation is good. Then again there were times when Stars on 45 looks...let me rephrase that sounds good.