Remembering Freddie Aguilar, his hair, hat and historic hit

Way back in 1978, the Marcos government came up with measures to help the Philippine music industry which was then dominated by foreign labels and also to bring local talent to the world stage.

The first move was the mandatory airplay of one Filipino recording every hour in all radio stations. The other one was to put up the Popular Music Foundation. Its first project was the Metro Manila Pop Music competition where songwriters would vie for the grand prize of a million pesos.

With Imee Marcos as chairman, it was easy to get all of the local labels together to support the contest and all the entries.

The first Metropop was held in 1978 and the winner was Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika by Ryan Cayabyab interpreted by Hajji Alejandro.

Vic del Rosario Jr., president of Vicor Music Corporation, had his eyes and ears on another finalist, Anak by Freddie Aguilar.

He picked up Anak for distribution and offered Aguilar a recording contract. What followed is a story that has been told many times over and is now part of Philippine music lore.

Vicor was then the go-to label of most music talents. Freddie was an unknown folk singer who alternated gigs between Manila and Olongapo. He had a great voice and a unique plaintive style.It would help his career a lot if he could get the record deal. But Del Rosario had one condition. He wanted Freddie to cut his hair and get a new wardrobe. Then maybe he could become the next Rico Puno or Basil Valdez.

Freddie refused. He had shoulder-length hair and usually sported a wide-brimmed buntal hat. His outfits were denim pants and comfortable tie-dyed shirts. He was not willing to give up those and to become somebody else just to join Vicor.

Del Rosario respected his decision and allowed the hair, hat and hippie clothes to stay. Little did Del Rosario know that he himself would soon be selling buntal hats at $5 each to fans of Freddie abroad.

Non-winner Anak exploded in the airlanes the day after the Metropop. As luck would have it, a filmmaker from NHK in Japan decided to use the song for his documentary shot in the Philippines. Just like what happened after the Metropop, NHK was flooded with inquiries about the beautiful Filipino song. NHK sent the crew back to Manila, specifically to shoot Freddie who was now on his way to greatness with Anak.

Anak was soon in the Japanese hit charts, by Freddie and in Japanese by Jiro Sugita and Tokiko Kato. Soon there would also be versions in Korean, Cantonese, Vietnamese and others. Italian producer Christian de Walden next joined the Anak caravan and took the song all over Europe.

Anak was recorded in 51 languages.

Among these were an instrumental by Blonker, as Alle Kinder brauchen Freunde by the Kelly Family and as Kind by Michael Holm in Germany; by Alan Tam in Cantonese; by Kenny Bee in Chinese; by Jody Chiang in Taiwanese; as Htoo Ein Thin by Tha Chin Myar Nae Lu of Myanmar; by Playboy Than Naing in Vietnamese; by Carefree in Malay in Kebebasan; by Vader Abraham in Dutch; by Lee Yong-Bok and Jung Yoon-Sun in Korean.

Long before K-pop happened, Koreans were fans of Freddie and Anak. He was the Philippine entry to the Seoul Music Festival of 1979 where he performed Bulag, Pipi, Bingi, composed by Snaffu Rigor and won the Grand Prize. Fans mobbed him wherever he went and his presence spawned a local folk explosion where the singers had long hair and wore large-brimmed buntal hats.

The tale of Anak did not end there. Proof of the song’s enduring appeal is that Freddie’s recording was used as the theme of the blockbuster flick Gangnam Blues, starring Lee Min Ho in 2019.

Freddie went on to many other hits. Bayan Ko, Estudyante Blues, Ipaglalaban Ko, Kumusta Ka, Magdalena and others. But none of them compares to Anak which has since then sold over 55 million copies. It is the biggest-selling Filipino song of all time. No other Filipino recording has reached Anak levels. So isn’t it great that Freddie held his ground against Del Rosario and kept his hair and hat?

Freddie Aguilar, great Filipino singer and songwriter, passed away at the age of 72 last May 27.