Gloc-9: ‘Minsan mas lalaki pa sa lalaki ang bakla’
At the end of the dramatic video, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Gloc-9, aka Aristotle Pollisco, had just previewed “Sirena” to Yahoo! Philippines OMG! It was a private screening of the video of the single from Gloc-9’s latest album, “MKNM aka Mga Kwento Ng Makata.”
Buoyed by a driving reggae-ish beat and the vocal interplay between rapper Gloc-9 and singer Ebe Dancel who takes up the main melody, “Sirena” is part “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” and part “Hey Jay” from Eraserheads.
The video shows the trials and tribulations of a gay person while growing up:
“Gamit ang pulbos na binili kay Aling Bebang
Upang matakpan ang mga pasa sa mukha
Na galing sa aking ama na tila di natutuwa.”
The main character, the “sirena” of the song, gets bullied, his head dunked in a drum of water and beaten up to harden his “soft” ways. In the end, when his bullying dad grows old, it is the gay son who stays and takes care of his father.
“Drum na may tubig
Ang aking sinisisid
Sa patagalan ng paghinga
Sa ‘kin kayo bibilib.”
The triumph is in the chorus:
“Ako’y isang sirena
Kahit anong gawin nila
Bandera ko ay di tutumba.”
‘Exploiting gay stereotypes’
This early, “Sirena” has elicited negative remarks. Gloc-9 tells Yahoo! Philippines OMG! that he got a tweet saying that the song was been mentioned in a Sunday mass homily because of the focus on homosexuality. An online review lambasted the song’s social incorrectness and its apparent exploitation of the stereotypical gay.
Gloc-9 thinks the detractors are getting ahead of the story.
He explains, “I decided to write the song after I talked to Raimund Marasigan backstage of a Yeng Constantino show. Raimund asked me, ‘Why don’t you write a song about gays from a first person’s point of view? No artist has done it yet.’ That was my drive to write the song ‘Sirena.’”
While conceptualizing the song, Gloc already had Ebe in mind to sing it. “We finally met in a show and I sang the chorus to him. Ebe liked it and we made plans to have it recorded after my last tour in the U.S.”
Vetted by Boy Abunda and Ladlad
The accompanying video for “Sirena” was a separate matter altogether. During the private screening for Yahoo! Philippines OMG! a photographer was openly teary-eyed, saying it made real what her gay friends faced.
Gloc-9 and wife Thea also approached TV host Boy Abunda to participate in the video. They wanted to make sure Boy wouldn’t find the song offensive to the gay community.
A friend of the couple sent the song separately to the gay rights party list group, Ladlad. A major supporter of the party list, Boy met reps from Ladlad to discuss the merits of the song.
Is the word ‘sirena’ derogatory to gays?
Boy told Gloc-9 and Thea that initially, Ladlad felt the title of the song itself, “Sirena,” seemed to depreciate the image of gay people.
Boy requested Ladlad to listen to the song first before making any judgments.
Eventually, the group agreed that the song wasn’t offensive and Boy became a part of the video.
As far as he is concerned Gloc-9, has a simple gauge on being a man: “I feel that today the true measure of manhood is how you accept and handle the responsibility that’s given to you regardless if you’re wearing pants or skirt. For me also, if you’re engaged in a worthy cause or something with a good purpose, you have every reason to say you’re man enough.”
As the songs says:
“Di sinusukat ang tapang at bigote sa mukha
Dahil minsan mas lalaki pa sa lalaki ang bakla.”
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