A Pussycat Doll Wants to Sing for Pacquiao
Nicole Scherzinger, the Filipino-Russian-Hawaiian star of The Pussycat Dolls, told ABS-CBN television in the Philippines yesterday that she is a huge Manny Pacquiao fan and that she would like to sing the Filipino national anthem before his next fight. The Pussycat Dolls are currently in the Philippines on tour and are set to perform in Manila tomorrow night.
The question of the Philippines’ national anthem (titled “Lupang Hinirang") and Pacquiao has been a touchy one since Pac Man’s fight with Ricky Hatton last month. Filipino pop star Martin Nievera sang the anthem before that fight, and his rendition brought severe criticism in the Philippines from the nation’s National Historical Institute.
What Nievera did with the anthem is the type of thing that has become customary here in the States: He played around with the pacing and phrasing of the song to better show off his vocal chops, and in doing so turned it into more of a crooner’s ballad than the martial romp that it was written to be.Because we Americans have for years now suffered the abuse of “The Star Spangled Banner" as the proving ground for every young diva’s tireless melisma, it’s hard to imagine that people anywhere in the world could get worked up about such an offense. At this point, as soon as I see some sheeny-haired, stiletto-heeled diva stepping up to the mic before a fight or a game or whatever, I just take it for granted that I’m about to hear a version of our national anthem that is indistinguishable from whatever song this particular Mariah Carey ripoff has on the charts now about how she doesn’t need a man, or how she really needs a man, or how, you know, she loves to get freaked in the back of a Lexus.
Unfortunately for Martin Nievera, they still have standards for such things in the Philippines. To them, dinkering with the Natty A is serious business. Criminal business, even. There was actually talk of Nievera being prosecuted for his Pac-Hatton rendition (and if that goes down, I immediately bring a motion to have Mariah Carey put in the stockade for life). NHI chairman Ambeth Ocampa sternly reprimanded Nievera in a public statement that said, “Despite repeated reminders, some artists continue to make adjustments to the anthem, which is not an ordinary piece of music open to free interpretation."
In other words, Miss Nicole Pussycat Scherzinger Doll, I hope you know what you are getting yourself into, because it appears that you are stepping into a viper pit these days when you volunteer to sing the ole “Lupang Hinirang" before a Pacquiao fight. You better get that tempo right, and you better leave your melisma (and your finger-wagging ... oh the bloody finger-wagging) at home, or else ... off with your head.
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