First Filipino song created through crowd sourcing to hit the airwaves

Four months after a call was made on social media asking Filipino netizens to share through lyrics how their lives have improved in the few years, Filipino music icons Regine Velasquez, rapper Gloc 9, the Itchyworms, and master composer Ryan Cayabyab are set to unveil the answers they have gathered to that question—in the form of a song. On Saturday, the major television stations in the country will start airing the music video for "Kayanihan," the composition touted as the first Filipino song created through crowd-sourcing. The upbeat and catchy song is the anthem of The Kayanihan Project, an advocacy campaign of the Advertising Foundation of the Philippines (Ad Foundation) that aims to promote positivism and unity among Filipinos.

According to the advertising group Campaigns and Grey, which executed the project, the term "Kayanihan" is a combination of the Filipino word bayanihan or community spirit and the "Kaya Natin" attitude that exemplifies the Filipinos' resilience in weathering tough situations. From May to August, Caybayab and the Kayanihan team composed of top Filipino music artists and communication professionals sifted through the lyrics submitted by more than a thousand Filipino netizens on Facebook to come up with the song arranged to the tune of the master composer's classic hit, "Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika." But although it is loosely based on Cayabyab's 1978 composition, the "Kayanihan" song features a fresh, more lively arrangement and rap portion sung by Gloc-9. Part of the song's chorus goes: "Ang pagbabago'y nasa sa atin / Natutupad na, pangarap natin / Kay ganda na parang musika / Ang bansa na nagkakaisa." Several showbiz personalities—crossing the rivalry between broadcast network giants ABS-CBN and GMA—agreed to appear for free in the "Kayanihan" music video, which also features an animated collage of ordinary Filipino citizens singing the song. President Benigno Aquino III makes a cameo appearance towards the end of the video. A national undertaking At the press launch for The Kayanihan project Friday, Ad Foundation president Jun Nicdao explained that the song and the advocacy initiative were conceptualized early this year in cooperation with Procter and Gamble Philippines as a response to the positive developments in the Philippine economy and public sentiment. "We thought of starting the Kayanihan project to engage business corporations and individuals to contribute to nation building. Our country has been experiencing an economic boom that it hasn't seen in a long time. Our idea was, 'If we unite to work together, we should be able to sustain this growth even further,'" he said. In an interview with GMA News Online, Cayabyab shared that he and the Kayanihan team barely changed the lyrics submitted by netizens online because they were already able to capture the drastic changes experienced by Filipinos in recent years. "About 80 to 90 percent of the submissions were included verbatim. Kung may binago man kami, yun ay para ma-fit yung lyrics sa melody. Creating the song was like a national undertaking because the submissions came from all over the Philippines and from Filipinos from all walks of life," he said. The press launch held at Club Filipino was attended by various advertising professionals, corporate executives from several companies, and government officials. Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Sonny Coloma, and Senators Grace Poe and Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara were among the government officials who came to the event. Coloma said the "Kayanihan" anthem's launch is timely given that the country has been experiencing a lot of problems lately, from corruption scandals to armed conflict in Mindanao. "Napakalaki ng maiaambag ng pagpapalaganap ng Kayanihan na ito sa ngayon dahil magsisilbi itong inspirasyon sa mga kababayan natin na makipagtulungan at iambag ang kanilang panahon, talino at galing para isulong ang pag-asenso ng bansa," he said. Simultaneous with the pilot airing of the "Kayanihan song" Saturday is the launch of the Kayanihan website and social media accounts, which will serve as a "good deeds trading site" that will match the needs expressed by non-profit groups with the proposed solutions offered by businesses. These will be managed by the Ad Foundation. — VC, GMA News