[ NIHON BUNKA KENKYUU ] BUNKEN 101: Reviews, comments, and insights on Japanese pop culture.
Original Filipino Music, otherwise known as OPM, has always been proud of its originality and creativity -- and why shouldn't it? OPM tunes are easy to listen to, great to sing along with, and always talk about things that matter most to us Pinoys.
However, many tunes that we think are OPM -- some of which are so popular that they are part and parcel of the OPM identity, actually feature melodies "borrowed" from (and I use the term lightly) popular Japanese tracks. At the time, Japanese music was rarely heard outside of the country, so when their most popular tunes found their way to distant shores, local artists capitalized on them by translating them, or reworking the lyrics to whatever would suit the melody (never mind that the subject matter was totally unrelated).
This trend could have gone on forever with very few people realizing what was happening behind the scenes, but then somebody came along and invented the Internet. With tunes from all countries and all languages easily available at the click of a mouse button, musical tastes diversified, and music lovers were no longer shackled to their radios, listening to whatever the deejay felt like playing for the day (or what his producers demanded he play for the day).
One unexpected development of this free access to world music was that several Pinoy listeners, with a keen ear for tunes and a passion for Japanese pop music, managed to put two and two together, and came up with the realization that not only did several OPM standards have more than a passing resemblance to several classic Japanese show tunes, but some current tracks charting in local hit lists also begged, borrowed, or stole the melodies from contemporary Japanese pop hits.
For example, a local crooner's beer-garden-and-karaoke-bar hit cannibalized the piano melodies of popular X JAPAN track FOREVER LOVE; RYUICHI KAWAMURA's LOVE IS also has its own bastardized Filipino version, which still features the fractured English coda that made the song memorable to foreign listeners.
UTADA HIKARU, international pop and R&B sensation and darling of the Japanese press, has had her first multi-platinum single FIRST LOVE defiled not once but three times: by a local hip-hop group, who stole FIRST LOVE's coda and refrain for their one and only radio hit (good riddance to them); by a reality TV show host who operates under the illusion that she can sing -- and hence recycled FIRST LOVE's refrain for her own single (as if it hadn't been done before); and last but not least, by a former B-movie starlet turned "singer", who had someone more or less translate FIRST LOVE into English and then passed it off as an original track.
Sometimes I wonder why these people think they can pull this sort of con off. Someone somewhere will find out, and the damage these accusations of creative thievery could deal to the reputations of local pop stars should be enough to deter them from foisting off Japanese pop tunes (and music tracks from other countries) as their own. Also, the possibility of a costly lawsuit being filed by the powerful, well-organized, and well-financed Japanese recording industry should turn away most potential song hacks.
However, with some local musicians determined to make a quick buck, or wrestling with their own lack of creative output, or both, the temptation to hijack popular Japanese songs and sell them off as their own compositions is still high. Perhaps it’s left to us now – the few and proudly united J-pop fans, to make sure that this kind of thievery is prevented. Please support local artists who produce all-original compositions, and make no attempt to promote borrowed music and lyrics as their own. Let’s all do our part to put an end to stolen melodies and ripped-off lyrics!