IF YOU think the current vogue for “Tagalized” hits is strictly a “jologs” (lowbrow) phenomenon, think again.

Songs like Miss Ganda’s “Payong” (translated from Rihanna’s “Umbrella”) and David Idol’s “Ikaw Lang Ang Iibigin” (from David Cook’s “Always Be My Baby”) might cater to the mass audience’s overwhelming preference for the mother tongue (and fear of English) and the music industry’s knack for cashing in on the latest novelties. But they also demonstrate that lyrics often work best in one’s native language, reaching emotions that might be impervious to a foreign tongue, even when that tongue is, like English, considered a second language by many.

In the right hands, translated lyrics can peel a song to its emotional core, where the original remains veiled in the idiomatic quirks of English. (They can also inject humor where none was intended before, but that’s another story.)

A case in point is poet, screenwriter and journalist Pete Lacaba’s long-running “Salinawit” series.

For more than a year now, various bars and night spots have played host to live performances of Lacaba’s Tagalog translations of well-known ballads and standards. Occurring most often in Conspiracy Bar in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City, where monthly “Salinawit” sessions have been held, the performances by such artists as Cooky Chua, Bituin Escalante, Kat Agarrado of Sinosikat? and jazz chanteuse Skarlet have struck a responsive chord in many listeners hearing such familiar songs as “Yesterday” and “Love Me Tender” with Tagalog lyrics.

In fact, Lacaba has been deluged with requests for more translations from prospective singers, and for more “Salinawit” sessions.

The “Salinawit” snowball finally reached Makati when a star-studded “Salinawit” was held March 16 at Merk’s Bar Bistro in posh Greenbelt.

“Richard Merk told me it was time to take ‘Salinawit’ out of the underground,” quipped Pete Lacaba by way of introducing the evening’s lineup. “By ‘underground’ I think he meant Quezon City.”

In any case, the night proved that Lacaba’s “Salinawit” could be stretched to fit an infinite number of variations, from Merk’s own bluesy take on “Tag-araw” (“Summertime”), to Armida Siguion-Reyna’s kundiman-like “Kulay Rosas” (“La Vie en Rose”), to lounge singer Suzy Unas’ bossa nova “Mahinang Samba” (“One Note Samba”). In between, Gino Padilla essayed “Kahapon Lang” (“Yesterday”), Ricky Davao did “Lagot ang Puso Ko” (“My Foolish Heart”) and tenor and UP College of Music dean Montet Acoymo blasted an operatic “Buong-Buo” (“All of Me”).

The audience could also avail themselves of a copy of “101 Salinawit ni Pete Lacaba,” a printed compilation of his translations so far (though he’s still working on new translations).

Translating foreign songs into Tagalog is nothing new, of course. Levi Celerio Jr. and Rolando Tinio, to name just two, essayed their own translations in the 1970s, some of them even making it on record. Traditionally, popular songs have always traveled well across linguistic borders: Many hit English songs were originally written in French (“My Way”), Spanish (“Sway”), Portuguese (“The Girl from Ipanema”) and other languages. It used to be standard practice for hit-makers to record foreign-language versions of their songs for other markets. The Beatles, for instance, did “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” (“I Wanna Hold Your Hand”) and “Sie Liebt Dich” (“She Loves You”) for the German market, having made it big in Hamburg before their own native England.

For Lacaba, it all started out as a lark. He and his drinking buddies would, as drinking buddies do, burst into song when in their cups, and a favorite was the Big 3 Sullivans’ spoof of “Sa Lumang Simbahan.” One night, Lacaba decided to write his own spoof of the King’s “Love Me Tender,” titled “Nakaliliyo.” The song was eventually published in Philippine Graphic magazine, but several years passed before he wrote another.

Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge” inspired his next translation. He had written a screenplay of Nick Joaquin’s “May Day Eve,” which remained unproduced. The idea was broached of making it into a musical, like “Moulin Rouge,” and Lacaba did a version of “Where Is Your Heart,” the theme from the original John Huston “Moulin Rouge.”

“I used to translate poetry and novels from English to Tagalog, and I also used to do the English subtitles for Tagalog movies – mostly the ones I wrote – when they were sent to film festivals abroad,” he recalls. “I thought I should translate more songs. Why should we only sing in English? That’s how it started. People would request songs to be translated.”

A piano bar habitué, Lacaba had ample opportunities to test his material, as it were. When his mother fell ill, translating songs proved to be therapeutic for Lacaba.

“When my mother died, I had written 30 translations,” he recalls. “My need for therapy had ended, but my brother Billy said 30 was an inauspicious number for a journalist – when you write ‘30’ you’re dead! So I’ve never stopped. Sometimes I would be listening to the car radio and I would hear a song that I thought might sound good with Tagalog lyrics. By the time I arrived home, I would have finished the first stanza.”

It was his brother who also suggested the term “salinawit,” which he had coined for a songwriting contest. Not all “Salinawit” are straight translations, however, says Lacaba. Some are more or less free adaptations, with the writer trying to keep the feel of the song while not sticking to a strict line-by-line translation.

“The difference between translating poems and songs is, with poetry you don’t need to match the original meter, but with a song, you need to go with the melody,” he says. “I try to retain the idea of the song, but sometimes I also write completely different lyrics.”

“Salinawit” has taken on a life of its own. Fellow writers such as novelist Charlson Ong and poet Marne Kilates have essayed “salinawit” of their own, for instance, and requests for translations continue to come in. If this continues, “Salinawit” might grow into a genre all its own. Feelers for possible recordings of Lacaba’s song translations have also come, the only obstacle being the complicated tangle of international copyright laws.

Meanwhile, “Salinawit” could be coming to a venue near you. Don’t miss it. •