Listen Matud Nila-Immortalized by Pilita-Asia's Queen of Songs

Lyrics

Video

Matud Nila - In 1941, at the outbreak of the second World War, a guerilla fighter from Cebu in central Philippines named Ben Zubiri composed the song Matud Nila ("They Say" in English). Pilita Corrales born also in Cebu was only two years old then, a mestiza, (of Spanish and Austronesian) ancestry. It was Pilita's impeccable rendition of the song in the 1960's that made it so por and labeled by some as the cultural anthem of the Cebuanos. The Tagalog version of the song is titled "Ikaw Lamang" (..Kalungkutan sa unang pag-ibig). She demonstrated her range as a gifted performer of Spanish, English, Cebuano and Tagalog music. In 1958, Pilita began her recording career in Melbourne, Australia and holds the distinction of being the first female artist to top the Australian pop music charts long before Helen Reddy, Olivia Newton John and Kylie Minogue. Subsequently, her reputation grew and during her international stints, she has performed with internationally acclaimed artists like Sammy Davis Jr., the Beatles, Bob Hope, Pat Boone, Frank Sinatra and Julie Andrews. She also holds the distinction of being the first Filipino to win in an international music festival by bagging the Best Performer Award during the 1st Tokyo Music Festival (1972) where she bested numerous international artists including the highly-regarded Olivia Newton John. In the Philippines, she still enjoys a reputation as "singing icon and living legend."
Back to "Matud Nila": In a country that speaks eleven major languages and some eighty-seven dialects, an attempt to translate successfully from the original native language requires not only an operational knowledge of the original language but also a familiarity of, or a complete immersion in, the culture of the people whose language is being translated. A caution is therefore offered here that in the process of translating the Visayan Lyrics into English, the original flavor of the original work and the sensations they evoke in its original eloquence may be lost.