Monarch & Butterfly

Listening Post 161. Could the singing voice of Disney royals Mulan and Jasmine be that of a real princess? Vocal power aside, Lea Salonga is both regal and down to earth, the star who illuminates Broadway, the West End and the global concert circuit but never forgets home. Wherever she flies, her countrymen can follow her through her column in The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Her philanthropic work with World Vision Philippines focuses on expanding educational opportunity—and her latest album takes her into the classroom. Bahaghari (Rainbow) is an enchanting collection of traditional Filipino songs, produced by GLP Music as part of a series designed to promote language study. Across 15 tracks, Salonga sings in her native Tagalog, plus Ilonggo (her mother’s first language), Kampampangan (her father’s), Ilocano, Visayan, Cebuano and Bicolano—a fraction of her country’s 180+ tongues. The songs tell of love, home and children, of rice planters and fishermen, of festivity and vanity, often invoking nature as a metaphor for humanity. Spare arrangements, built around piano or guitar, allow Salonga’s sterling voice and polyglot lyrics to take center stage. Songs vary in pace and mood, from Paru-Parong Bukid (Mountain Butterfly), the title creature a stand-in for a well-dressed but slightly indecorous woman (video 1); to Ili-Ili Tulog Anay (Sleep a While, Little One), a lullaby revealing an extended family—someone other than mom rocks the baby (video 2); to Pamulinawen, describing a flirtatious effort to appease a stubborn lover (video 3). Sitsiritsit, Alibangbang (Chirp, Chirp) opens with onomatopoeia and gambols through whimsical nursery rhyme verses (video 4); and Pobreng Alindahaw (Dragonfly), features a playboy worn out from his conquests (video 5). Bahaghari is lovely from beginning to end—but is this the voice of a princess? One possible clue is in the love song Sampaguita: It means “jasmine.” (GLP Music)