Join the Dalit via Text Contest

The dalit, is a song-ritual usually sung to the rhythm of dance, and has its beginnings in early Philippine literature. Today, you can join the Dalitxt Contest and submit your dalit via sms text, similar to the Text Tanaga contest held some months ago.

A dalit has four 8-syllable lines. Mono-rhyme. I guess that means the last syllable of each line should rhyme with the last syllable of the lines. Text your dalit, name and address to 0918-531-1669. The theme of your dalit is: "Pagmamahal sa bayan"

Here's a rushed sample by Manuel Viloria
(Bebang, tama ba ito?):

O Bayang kong sinilangan
Kasaysayang hinahagkan.
Kung tayo ay aapakan,
Dayuha'y mapipilayan.

I hesitate to translate the above into English, lest it sound as crazy as those translations of F4 Meteor Garden songs.

Other Links:

Early Philippine Literature (Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago) -- "The early inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago had a native alphabet or syllabary which among the Tagalogs was called baybayin, an inscription akin to Sanskrit. It was through the baybayin that literary forms such as songs, riddles and proverbs, lyric and short poems as well as parts of epic poems were written."

English Translation of the Meteor Garden Opening Theme (Qing Fei De Yi by Harlem Yu) -- Please scroll down to the May 11, 2003 post of mars_mg. Hmmm... the translation looks pretty good, so I'll try translating the sample dalit above:

O land of my birth
Your history I kiss.
If we are stepped on,
The foreigner will get lame.

Igs. What a lame translation. ;-)

[ First posted on 08/05/2003 by Manuel Viloria ]