Few people know that the popular Tagalog folk song Paru-Parong Bukid is actually a poor translation/rendition of the Spanish original which is entitled Mariposa Bella.

The original Spanish song was composed during the tumultuous decade of the 1890s. When the genocide of Spanish-speaking Filipinos commenced during the American invasion, the song itself was included in the casualty — little by little, many people started to forget it especially when the Thomasites began the English-language campaign in the country. The final nail in the coffin happened in 1938 when the Paru-Parong Bukid that we are all familiar with was released by Sampaguita Pictures as a soundtrack for the movie of the same name (it starred legendary actors Rudy Concepción and Rosario Moreno).

Of course, I haven’t seen the movie; but I can diss its accompanying theme song con mucho gusto.

In 1960, Señor Guillermo Gómez Rivera (who was then doing radio production work on a DZFM program called “La Voz Hispanofilipina” made a research on Filipino songs which were sung in Spanish. His research resulted in a bestselling 1962 LP entitled Nostalgia Filipina.

Fifty years later, some friends of Señor Gómez demanded that he re-release Nostalgia Filipina in CD format for the sake of today’s generation. And with the help of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation, and the Ministerio de Cultura of the Spanish Embassy in Manila, Nostalgia Filipina was relaunched in CD format on 14 August 2007.

My contertulio in Círculo Hispanofilipino, fonsucu, uploaded Mariposa Bella in the YouTube video below:

Here are the lyrics.

Mariposa bella

de mi tierra inmortal

es la filipina

en su traje natal,

que ostenta unas mangas

con gracejo y sal

y saya de cola

de una pieza de percal.

Con peineta de carey ¡uy!

y un pañuelo coquetón,

y enaguas de ojetes

que la roza el talón,

con el tápiz real

sobre el talle sutil

y es la mariposa

del malayo pensil.

Con peineta de carey ¡uy!

y un pañuelo coquetón,

y enaguas de ojetes

que le roza el talón,

con el tápiz real

sobre el talle sutil

y es la mariposa

del malayo pensil.

Mariposa bella

de mi tierra inmortal

es la filipina

en su traje natal,

que ostenta unas mangas

con gracejo y sal

y saya de cola

de una pieza de percal.

Con peineta de carey ¡uy!

y un pañuelo coquetón,

y enaguas de ojetes

que le roza el talón,

con el tápiz real

sobre el talle sutil

y es la mariposa

del malayo pensil.

¡Olé!

With Jesli Lapus’ efforts in bringing back the Spanish language into our educational system, hopefully all Filipino folk songs that were sung in their original Spanish lyrics will be brought back to our airwaves. Right where they belong.