The Ratiles Fruit: A Reminiscence of the Proud Flip's Childhood

It's nice to be back after a few-day hiatus, and I'm also glad to destroy any suspicions that I already took suicide after studying "Gloomy Sunday".

I remember our family reunion in a nearby province of Tarlac, and the venue is so rural I could really breathe out my stress due to taxing school work then. But what struck me most are the trees planted around the house of my uncle, the "ratiles" trees!

Oh, how adorable they are, especially their sweet fruits! It reminds me of my childhood days, when I spent tireless hours with my playmates gathering bunches of ratiles of different colors, ranging from reddish yellow green to full red, and eating with my friends. Then we would play a wide range of street games from patintero in the morning, moro-moro in the afternoon, and taguan pung in the evening, and we would eat some of the fruit in between, even to the point of having stomach aches due to overeating.

But these days, I couldn't find some of my friends I used to play with. Some have their own families, others went abroad, still others settled in places far from our hometown. Oh, nobody loves me except the ratiles tree (Hey, I sounded horrific!). Just kidding, guys. How I wish I could still feel the presence of the tree and the fruit anywhere, like the ratiles flavored delights such as ice cream, candy, and others. Although, every time I come home to Bulacan (our hometown), I would glance at the talling trees that are reminiscent of my childhood. Sometimes, I couldn't help but have my tears rolled down secretly. I also observed how the children in our place nowadays spend their hours playing network games, which make them more idle and have less personal contact with others their age.

Well, that's an inevitable fact I should face. Times are changing, but nothing is sweeter than to re-live the memorable past that moulds you to whoever you are at present.

Not Too "Gloomy Sunday" for the Proud Flip

The song Gloomy Sunday gained the consciousness of the Filipinos (including me) when this was featured in a TV show "Knowledge Power" hosted by Ernie Baron. That episode aroused my interest to listen to that controversial "suicide" song, which, according to some, has depressing melody coupled by melancholic lyrics (sorry, can't publish the lyrics here; check the net if you want to read them, at your own risk). Don't get me wrong; I'm not that desperate to end my life because it's still a bed of roses for me, it's just that I wanted to study the song and challenge myself to know its effect on my behavior. In the first place, I'm not a psychology grad for nothing; secondly, I'm a music lover and a choral afficionado.

Luckily (or unluckily), I was able to surf this composition by Hungarians Reszo Seress, for the music, and Laszlo Javor, for the lyrics (Seress made the song after his girlfriend left him). The song is originally Hungarian; the English lyrics were penned by Sam M. Lewis and Desmond Carter, the version of the former is well-known. So far, I have listened to different versions of some singers like Billie Holiday (what's trivial to me is that hers is the most popular English version), Sinead O'Connor, Marianne Faithfull, and Sarah Brightman, only a few of many versions.

I discovered the reasons why the version of Holiday is more popular (or, should I say "effective" to those with such tendencies) compared to the other three, taking into consideration the interpretation and musical arrangement. Holiday's voice is so powerful you can feel the longing for someone's love and her hopelessness, it must be on her expressive singing style; she didn't believe in straight singing (or singing according to the piece's rhythm). Another thing is that the orchestral background is like a musical score for a suicide scene, particularly the intro, between the first and second verse, and the ending. Although the song has modulation to G-major, it is still not that uplifting (By the way, the original version doesn't have the third verse and it was only added to uplift the defeatist theme).

The versions of O'Connor and Brightman are more optimistic. Their voice qualities are both light and airy (O'Connor's version for me is more refreshing), not as depressing as Holiday's, and the arrangement is not as horrifying as the 1941 version. In fact, in Brightman's version, the percussion is more lively to give a moving yet intense impression and the song transposed to A minor in the middle of the third verse, to make it less pessimistic. Faithfull's interpretation, the one I like the least among the four, is in C minor. Although it is equally melancholic as Holiday's, the version somewhat reminded me of one of the sad songs of the puppets on Sesame Street, perhaps because of her diction.

I should say that, like many Filipinos, this song did not leave a lethal impression on me. This is due to the fact that Filipinos have close family ties, that's why the Flips have somebody to breathe out their depression to. Not to mention some sorrowful kundimans (Filipino classic love songs) that are part of the culture of the Flips and making them immune to agonizing tendencies. And for this, we have one of the lowest suicidal rate in the world (Hurrah!), in contrast with the country where the song originated, which has the highest suicidal rate, not because of the "deadly" song, but because of their "gloomy" culture that probably shaped the said music. Although, I would suggest that you should not listen to this music ALONE.

So, for the Pinoys, sundays are not always gloomy. After all, with the frivolous culture, the Flips have the power to make gloomy sundays groovy, don't you think?

Ciao!