Fiasco over ‘NPP’ song is a waste of energy
Published on Sunday, September 30th 1998 on The San Juan StarThe lovely concept of adopting and "having" a song is dead. There can no longer be "my favorite song" nor a couple’s "our song". It’s all over.
It may be a very sad commentary on our times, but either we are at a dearth of real issues with which to occupy our time, or we have a pathological need to invent twisted cases just as a monument to our creative imagination. These are the only explanations I can find for having created a public uproar about whether we can sing a given song in public, before a crowd, in the presence of Pedro Rosselló, or at a political rally. Big deal!
It seems as if the song that our world-renowned Ricky Martin sang recently at the world soccer series in Paris has some special attributes for the NPP. On the one hand, the song is about fighting for a star. OK, the NPP has been clamoring for the star of Puerto Rico as a state of the Union to be included in the American flag when we become a state. So, the NPP has been "fighting for a star"all along, and the song plays along these lines. Second, the song is very catchy and its rhythm is great for whooping it up and lifting the spirits of a multitude. So, Pedro Rosselló, the NPP’s Chayanne, abandoned the Macarena and adopted La Copa de la Vida instead.
As an aside, the Macarena was once very embarrassing to me. When I was in Chile with one of the governor’s trade missions, someone at a rather informal social gathering one evening asked me if I knew the Macarena. Of course I did! I put on my best UPR Chorus voice, grabbed the mike and started my aria on "De noche cuando me acuesto le rezo a la Virgen de la Macarena". O boy! Bob Hope could not have done better. Needless to say, I was the oldest in the group and my choice of the wrong Macarena dated me. Youngsters like Jaime Morgan Stubbe could not hold their laughter.
I would have thought Pedro Rosselló would have been congratulated for choosing La Copa de la Vida as his fighting song! He is promoting our native superstar Ricky Martin, for one thing. This caters to our youth. For another, he is plugging native composer Robi "Draco" Rosa, et al. Third, he is adopting a song made known at a momentous sports event, and not a sudsy theme song from a morally dubious soap opera. Well, you know what? All hell has let loose. Pedro, according to his permanent political detractors, cannot use that song in public without the express permission of its author, composer, manager, or owner-stockholder. He is going to be taken to court, they say. He has to apply for "performance rights" to use it in his plebiscite activities. Wow! Are we obtuse or what?
If we cannot use a given song for a given occasion before a crowd without a permit, we are all in very deep trouble. I’m not bragging about my academic accomplishments, but I have graduated more than once. I distinctly remember my graduation from the eighth grade. We all paraded down the church aisle to the tune of the Triumphal March of Aida masterfully played at the old church organ by Sister Georgine. No one ever accused Colegio San Antonio of using Verdi’s tune for our graduation without seeking a performance permit from Verdi’s heirs. I also remember my graduation from high school. Idem. Same march, same organ, same organist, same school, same composer, same lack of performance permission. To my knowledge, no one has ever accused the Puerto Rico Department of Public Education either for condoning the clandestine use of Verdi’s fatigued graduation march without a performance permit from Verdi’s franchise holders during every graduation, of every school, every year, on this island. The same tune was exploited even during my college graduation at UPR. No one ever complained, that I know. Not even Verdi.
When I got married, I nervously watched my bride approach the altar to the tune of one wedding march, Richard Wagner’s Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, and later we, already married, walked down the aisle the other way to the tune of another march: Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. I bashfully confess that we did not have a performance permit from either composer for either march. I can also testify under oath to the effect that I have heard one or the other wedding march at almost every wedding I have ever attended, here and abroad. I will admit, however, that I did not inquire as to whether my hosts had performance permits to play them. When my two daughters got married, I used the same marches. Since I was paying for the whole splash at each wedding, I guess I could have been accused of being the "performer". No, I sought no performance permits for the wedding marches. Sorry!
Then there is our travel. Whenever we Puerto Ricans travel and we come to some bistro somewhere some evening, we all get to singing all our non-official "national" anthems such as En Mi Viejo San Juan after the first bottle of wine, Lamento Borincano after the second, and Verde Luz after the third. No one has ever complained that these were sung in public without a permit. Granted that Noel Estrada and Rafael Hernández are both dead, but I’m sure someone today owns the rights to their works. Antonio Cabán Vale, El Topo, is very much alive and I have yet to hear of any lawsuit from him against any traveling bunch of Boricuas.
Back in the old days, New Year’s Eve was the evening to weep our heads off listening to Camilo Fraticheli recite the Brindis del Bohemio to all Puerto Rico. I can assure you he never sought a performance permit from the author of the Brindis. And then there was also Auld Lang Syne all over, at midnight, without permits.
No, troops. We Puerto Ricans are a happy, singing, dancing bunch. We were born with an enviable sense of rhythm. We do everything to music one way or another. Don’t try to squelch that just for political mongering. Let’s go find some real issues to mope about.