Music plagiarism?

I know a lot has been said and written about this issue in various websites and blogs for the past several weeks, but I'd like to add my two cents worth before this issue finally goes the way of the dodo.

This is with regard to alleged plagiarism committed by the local band Orange and Lemons (OaL) in making their hit song Pinoy Ako, the popular theme song of the reality TV show Pinoy Big Brother.

The song Pinoy Ako bears an uncanny resemblance to the 80s new wave song Chandeliers by The Care. This is without a doubt beyond coincidence, and this was even confirmed to by Clem Castro, vocalist and guitarist of OaL, who admitted in a Yahoo! egroup thread that the song was inspired by The Care’s Diamonds and Emeralds and Chandeliers.

While there's nothing inherently wrong about that, since being inspired by other songs is a common occurrence in songwriting. However, if you listen to both songs, the resemblance somewhat straddles the line from being classified as a "derivative work" (read: inspired) or a flat-out ripoff.

Clem says "As a musician who can transcribe music note for note and having an idea about technicalities, I can confidently say they are two different songs." While that may be true, no one who has an ear for music can deny the similarities in melody (which we refer to in the vernacular as tono), chord progression (tipa), instrumentation (areglo), and drum arrangement (bagsakan). Definitely the words are obviously different, and there are indeed distinctions involving individual notes and keys among others, but the similarities arguably outweigh the dissimilarities.

So are they two different songs? Oh yes they are. Despite the similarities they can still be differentiated from each other. In fact, I have to commend OaL for coming up with such a catchy theme for one of local TV's most popular shows. But is the music original? Obviously it isn't, despite their claims to the contrary. Anyone who has an ear for music can tell you that. Should we take that against OaL? Probably not.

OaL was commissioned to do a theme song...a jingle...that would complement the TV show, in a limited amount of time. And in that regard they were immensely successful, to the point that Pinoy Ako is being touted by some as the Philippine's pambansang awit (national anthem) to the disdain of dyed-in-the-wool nationalists. Is the practice of basing themes and jingles from other songs in itself frowned upon? Not here in the Philippines. In fact, it's a pretty common practice in the local TV industry.

But I do wish they would come clean and just admit that The Care's Chandeliers was more than just an inspiration for Pinoy Ako. Any ill-will from the public in this regard is probably based on the fact that they repackaged a foreign song, gave it a Filipino identity, and passed it off as their own. Seriously, even if they did admit to copying another song, I doubt it if the song would suffer a decrease in popularity, and more people would probably respect them for that.

And it probably wouldn't have hurt if they showed a little discretion in their choice of an "inspiration" for the Pinoy Big Brother theme. I find it a bit disturbing that a song that's meant to enthuse us with national pride and extol the virtues of Filipinos is patterned after a foreign song.

Those in the know are acutely aware of this, and this is most likely one of the main reasons why the song, despite it's catchy tune, massive popularity, nationalistic message and new wave underpinnings, was seemingly ignored in the 2005 NU Rock Awards. Of course, the OaL were nominated for other songs, which speaks well of their talent.

That's all there is I have to say about the subject I suppose, and just take Pinoy Ako for what it is...an enjoyable, catchy tune, part of a fad, and nothing else. Original it may not be...but then again, does it really matter?

Links:

ABS-CBN Forums > Orange and Lemons
"Pinoy Ako” Copied from another song ?
‘Pinoy Ako’ copied from a foreign song?
Putfile - TheCare Chandeliers