We always thought "Kasadya ning Taknaa" is the real OG Christmas song. Was it stolen to give way to "Ang Pasko ay Sumapit"?
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| Vicente Rubi singing the song with children (AI generated) |
Christmas is fast coming up these days and we feel the holiday spirit as we hear familiar tunes from classic Christmas classics to the catchy songs of Mariah Carey and Jose Mari Chan. Yet, there's one thing that never goes out of style - the Christmas caroling staples sung by young and old alike.
I'm talking about the ever popular "Ang Pasko ay Sumapit," by National Artist Levi Celerio. However, Cebuanos would surely disagree as most people have grown up listening to the real, original version "Kasadya ning Taknaa" (How Blissful is this Season) composed by Vicente Daclan Rubi and penned by Mariano Vestil. What was a joyous song of celebration from the yesteryears is shrouded by injustice and heartache. The true origin story was swept out on the corner to give way to songs that soon surpassed it in popularity.
Let's travel back into time and deep dive into the story that led into that...
The Origin Story
The creation of this Christmas classic happened way before the more popular ones were even played. It is said that the song was inspired from the light musical plays of the time, which was the most popular forms of entertainment, especially in the provinces. The story of "Kasadya ning Taknaa" was born where the Rubi family lived in what is now P. Gullas Street. There was Pili-Kanipaan (now, Manalili Street) where once the grandest fiesta in Cebu would take place every December. That's where the song starting to come into life in Rubi's head.
Affectionately known as "Noy Inting," Rubi was born on January 22, 1903 in the Kamagayan district where he was the youngest of four children. Their family name is already known for their musical heritage, especially in Mactan. Despite only completing his elementary education and never stepping into high school, he wielded the power of music with innate talent. In his early years, he worked as a contract labor foreman in the sugar farms of Cebu, earning the respect of his community.
It was in the late 1933 when Cebuano playwright Rafael Policarpio was looking for someone to compose a song for a drama we was working on. He specifically looked for a group of people to play that song using improvised castanets (made from flattened softdrink caps or "tansans") at the gate of a big house in exchange for "pinaskuhan" (Christmas gift).
At that Christmas fiesta, some of the officials asked Rubi to sign up for their daygon ("caroling") competition. He teamed up with Vestil to create the winning piece. It became so popular that song became a hit in neighboring towns and islands as well as other predominantly Cebuano-speaking regions of northern Mindanao. The song resonated with the festive spirit of the season, painting vivid images of Aguinaldo masses, sikwate ("traditional cocoa drink") and puto ("rice cake") for breakfast, and the warmth of family reunions amidst carolers serenading homes. There was an infectious beat and optimism from the music that even a translation in other Filipino languages won't be able to replicate the same exultant atmosphere and vibe.
He was not a one-hit wonder composer, he created a lot of daygon and balitaw compositions with his guitar. He had composed more than a hundred songs and among his works were "Pasko Na, Among Daygon," "Nag-ambahan," "Pasko nga Halandumon," and "Maglipay Kita." One of his compositions, "Carmela" remained a popular Cebuano kundiman interpreted by present-day balladeers.
'Ispired' by Kasadya?
Years later in 1937, another aspiring composer Jose "Pepe" Cenizal has emerged when he became a musical director position at Parlatone Hispano-Filipino.
He was just a 17-year-old UP Conservatory of Music student and Army Navy Club bandleader at that time when he impressed the producer and got the job on the spot. Just as Parlatone was producing the movie "Pugad ng Agila" (1938), Cenizal was required to create marching song. The movie was about folk hero Teodoro Asedillo, a Robin Hood figure from Quezon, Laguna, and Batangas.
He would eventually ask the help from Celerio to pen the lyrics of the music. He came up with the melody that would eventually became the one used for "Ang Pasko ay Sumapit." However, there lies the inconsistency of this version. If the song already existed four years earlier, he could have heard it somewhere and inspired by it. They could have created a variation of the lyrics in Tagalog to hide the fact that it came from somewhere.
Years later, another smoking gun made it even more conflicting as Ivar Tulfo Gica, founder-trustee of the Kultura Bisaya Foundation, Inc., stated in a letter that Villar Records "bought it rights, recorded, and credited the entire work" to Rubi and Vestil in 1950. It also inferred that the song was used as background music in the aforementioned film.
A damning passage mentioned that "Cenizal claimed he composed it, inspired by the strains from carolers on the Bantayan shorelines while he was passing through in a banca in Cebu where he evacuated during the war (1942), about a decade after it was copyrighted by Rubi and Vestil." That question creates a whole new mystery, if Cenizal heard the song in 1942 then that won't prove that he copied the song that he "created" in 1937-38 even if Kasadya already existed since 1933.
The only plausible explanation if Cenizal did "copied" the song is if the song made its way to Manila before he "composed" the marching song four years later. If you compare the lyrics of both songs, the Cebuano version have a much deeper literary meaning than the Tagalog version so even if Gica may have mixed up with the dates, it's pretty clear where the provenance of the latter song came from:
Cebuano
Kasadya ni'ng Táknaa
Dapit sa kahimayaan.
Mao ray among nakita,
Ang panagway nga masanagon.
Buláhan ug buláhan
Ang tagbaláy nga giawitan.
Awit nga halandumon,
Ug sa tanang pasko magmalÃpayon.
Bag-ong tuÃg, bág-ong kinabúhì.
Dinuyogan sa átong mga pagbati.
Atong awiton ug atong laylayon
Aron magmalÃpayon.
Kasadya ni'ng Táknaa
Dapit sa kahimayaan.
Mao ray among nakita,
Ang panagway nga masanagon.
Buláhan ug buláhan
Ang tagbaláy nga giawitan.
Awit nga halandumon,
Ug sa tanang pasko magmalÃpayon
Tagalog
Ang Pasko ay sumapit
Tayo ay mangagsiawit
Ng magagandáng himig
Dahil sa ang Diyos ay pag-ibig
Nang si Kristo'y isilang
May tatlóng haring nagsidalaw
At ang bawat isá ay nagsipaghandóg
Ng tanging alay.
Bagong Taón ay magbagong-buhay
Nang lumigayà ang ating Bayan
Tayo'y magsikap upang makamtán
Natin ang kasaganaan!
Tayo'y mangagsiawit
Habang ang mundó'y tahimik.
Ang araw ay sumapit
Ng Sanggól na dulot ng langit.
Tayo ay magmahalan,
Ating sundÃn ang Gintóng Aral
At magbuhát ngayon,
Kahit hindî Paskô ay magbigayan!
Cenizal's descendants have remained adamant that "Ang Pasko ay Sumapit" is an original composition. In a "Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho" Christmas special in 2014, Cenizal's daughter said that she wasn’t aware of "Kasadya Ning Taknaa" was a Christmas song at all!
As for Celerio, he is celebrated as the man who created the greatest Filipino Christmas carol ever. He gained international fame for his ability to literally make music with a leaf. At the height of his fame, US TV shows "The Merv Griffin Show" and "That's Incredible!" invited him to perform his leaf routine. At some point, the Guinness Book of World Records listed him as "the only leaf player in the world."
Apart from Gica, there are other personalities who claimed that other people's works from Rosas Pandan to Tinikling were either wrongly-credited to Celerio or simply plagiarized.
Contrasting Fortunes
Despite the song's success, Rubi faced a painful experience when his masterpiece was unfairly credited to other composers in the form of the translation "Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit." Cenizal went on to become a successful composer while Celerio was elevated to National Artist in 1997.
Rubi entered into an agreement with the Manila-based Mareco Recording Company in 1950, selling his song to them. As part of the deal, he received an advance payment of fifty pesos and was promised three centavos for each record sold. Mareco's records indicated that Rubi's composition sold 62,812 copies from 1966 to 1975. However, in 1967, Rubi only received P110.25 in royalties, a stark contrast to the P1,994.63 he was rightfully owed.
Ludivina Rubi Najarro, Rubi's daughter, remembered that their family never received further royalties. In 1976, Rubi took legal action against Mareco in a Quezon City court. Unfortunately, the case was dismissed because Rubi lacked the financial means to travel to Manila. Subsequently, Rubi's lawyer, Ramon Ceniza, revealed that while Mareco had checks prepared for Rubi, the company made no effort to locate him despite his family's relocation.
In the same year, Rubi sought copyright protection from the National Library, only to be informed that the song had already entered the public domain as it had been accessible before his petition, as outlined in Article II, Section 10 of Presidential Decree 49, the law on the protection of intellectual property.
Undeterred, Ceniza persisted. In 1979, he filed another case before a Cebu court, securing an exemption for Rubi from litigation fees due to financial constraints. The case reached its resolution nearly two decades later, in 1998, when the court ruled that Mareco owed Rubi P1,884.34, the outstanding balance for the period from 1966 to 1975. Ludivina revealed that her father, undeterred by his health, continued composing until his final days, even urging her to pursue the legal battle on his deathbed.
Incredibly, Rubi made his last song "Mahanaw ang Tanan" just before he died from prostate cancer in November 12, 1980.
Final Thoughts
Rubi's contributions to Cebuano music were posthumously recognized by various entities, including Cebu City Mayor Florentino Solon and the Cebu Arts Foundation. The Jose R. Gullas Awards honored him alongside "Matud Nila" composer Ben Zubiri. Although he died with little material wealth, Vicente Rubi left a priceless and timeless gift to his family and the Filipino people – the joyous and enduring melody of "Kasadya Ning Taknaa," which continues to make Christmas merrier and brighter to this day.
Even to this day, he remains a largely forgotten man for all the cultural contributions he did. Most people know Jose Mari Chan as the face of Filipino Christmas but if we come to think of it, he should be the one.
References:
"Was "Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit" Stolen From Two Cebuano Musicians?," by Nicai de Guzman. Esquire. January 3, 2018.
"Vicente Rubi and the story of "Kasadya"," by Garry Lao. The Freeman. February 20, 2007.
"Where credit is due," by Ricardo Lo. The Philippine Star. May 15, 2002.
"The true story behind Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, other Filipino songs," by Ricardo Lo. The Philippine Star. December 1, 2014.
"A clarification on Kasadya ning Taknaa," by Bobit Avila. The Freeman. December 2, 2014.
"Bogus carol," by Juan Mercado. The Philippine Daily Inquirer. November 25, 2014.
Meet the man behind the song ‘Ang Pasko ay Sumapit’. GMA News Online. December 18, 2014.
"The Man Who Wrote The Greatest Filipino Christmas Carol Ever," by F. Valencia. Esquire. December 22, 2017.
"Unknown man behind PH immortal yuletide music ‘Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit’ is 98," by Tina Arceo-Dumlao. The Philippine Daily Inquirer. November 23, 2014.
Kasadya Ning Taknaa. Wikipedia.
List of Filipino Christmas carols and songs. Wikipedia.
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