Lyrics: Igorota Song

Some of you have been googling for the lyrics of the Igorota song performed by Jun Utleg so we decided to blog about it. Here's the unofficial lyrics transcribed by a bibaknets member and forwarded to us.

Igorota
On a soft green [play] ground by the river bend
She was sitting there to meet the morning sun
She was playing a [flute] when the songbird's broke out

As they listened to [her wonderful] melody
And he was filled with every note she's playing
Slowly I sat by her side

Refrain:
Igorota, girl of my dreams
You're the most precious gift that I ever had
Igorota, queen of my heart
I'll go on loving you
Throughout my life

You are my day, my morning sun
You'll forever be my only one
She puts the [flute] then sweetly she smiles

And she asks me, "Why are you staring at me?"
I held her close and a songbird sang
I whispered to her, "I love you."

Repeat Refrain

I think credit for the song and its lyrics goes to Danny Tawanna. Great performance by Jun Utleg. By the way, the lyrics here are not 100% correct so please use it with caution :-)

RELATED: Jun Utleg's Igorota

Shower, Shower, Soap and Trouble

Note: Sponsored post

One hot summer day, you were trying to rinse your troubles away but then your shower curtain kept getting in the way. Yeah, it was as if the curtain has a mind of its own; it got clingy, and sticky, and no amount of "shooing" it with water will dissuade the curtain from its clinginess.

So how do you solve a problem like this? Well, if you are Fred Flintstone, this is what you should do: 1) get a piece of stone and 2) tie it to the bottom of the curtain. Mission accomplished; the weight of the stone will keep the curtain in its place.

Unfortunately for you, you are not Fred Flintstone nor do you live in a town called Bedrock. So what do you do?

Aha, maybe you should try ShowerBow. But how does this ShowerBow solve the problem? Well it uses the same law of physics (i.e., that weight keep things down) that Fred Flinstone applied but in a more stylish way. Basically, the ShowerBow creates a counterweight that keeps the shower curtain in its place. Pretty simple, eh?

Now, if you've installed ShowerBow, you can use the shower undisturbed by clingy curtains. In fact, while showering, you can even sing Phoebe Buffay's Shower Song which goes:

I'm in the shower and
I'm writing a song,
Stop me if you've heard it,
My skin is soapy and my hair is wet,
And Tegrun spelled backwards is Nurget.

Lather, rinse, repeat,
And lather, rinse, repeat,
And lather, rinse, repeat,
As needed

Ahh, Phoebe Buffay, that silly but lovable Friend.

Jun Utleg's Igorota

Note: Back by popular demand.

Mapapa-wow ka sa ganda ng kantang ito. I think it typifies the kind of songs we love in the Cordilleras -- smooth, kind of quiet (or walang vocal theatricals), and meaningful.

Jun Utleg used to be a member of Binhi, the Baguio band known for that hauntingly beautiful song, "Ang Bata". I remember hearing "Ang Bata" performed in one of Baguio's bars, was haunted by it, and went back the following night to buy a copy of the band's record. I can imagine myself doing that for this song, "Igorota".

Fellow bloggers: Let's help promote this song. I-blog na rin ninyo sa inyong blog hehe.

UPDATE from rainne68, a commenter in youtube:

Atlast the song is finally uploaded sa youtube. Most people from Kias know this song way back 1990's because this song was introduced by Danny Tawanna who was the composer. Jun was so lucky that Danny gave him all his compositions to record. Danny is likewise lucky to have Jun record his songs.

For everybody's info Danny suffered from a stroke and is now living in Nueva Vizcaya. Just don't know if Jun pushed his plan of having Danny in his audience when he launched this album.

Our best wishes to Danny Tawanna. We hope he gets well.

NOTE: You can find the lyrics of the song here.

VIDEO CREDIT: Jun Utleg

Apartments in Budapest

Note: Sponsored post

Any chance you will be going to Budapest in the near future? If there's a good chance that you will, you might want to check out these Budapest apartments at apartmentsinbudapest.com.

But why should you? Because apartmentsinbudapest.com has been consistently top-rated "for its wide selection, cheap rates, and unparalleled service". Cheap rates and unparalleled service? What's not to like?

By the way, did you know that a lot of the scenes in the film Munich were shot in Budapest? Yeah, the sneaky producers disguised Budapest as Rome, London, Paris, etc. What this means for you if you're apartment hunting is that you just might end up living in an apartment where Munich was filmed. Unless of course the producers actually used a warehouse and made us believe that it's an apartment.

Anyways, do check out these Budapest apartments if you are looking for a place in Budapest.

Ay-ayyeng The Movie

This could be the most romanticized and most over-acted movie about Igorots/iCordilleras ever? Since when did Igorotas dress like that when they work in the fields? Maybe after they attended a wedding where that kind of wear is appropriate?

You can watch the trailer here if you are in the mood to do so because I'm not in the mood to upload it. Hehe.

Sponsored: Find an Outlet in Your State

Do you like to buy your things in factory outlets? It saves you money, right? Anyways, if you like buying in factory outlets or if you never did it before but you'd like to try it now, then you might want to check out efactory.com, a website which helps you find premium outlet stores in different parts of the U.S.

Say for instance you just arrived in North Carolina and you'd like to buy home furnishings for your new place, then check out efactory.com; it has the addresses of and directions to several factory outlets in North Carolina.

Speaking of North Carolina [huh, you think I picked NC at random?], let's hope that the people there will vote for Barack Obama and give him a very big margin of victory. Please, North Carolinians.

The Biking Priest Goes to the Boondocks

Say hi to this guy, if you see him biking around our mountains. His name is Amado Picardal, a Redemptorist priest from Davao City who is biking around the country "for life and peace".

Shocks, Fr. Amando naman inunahan mo ako dito. Plano ko ding gawin iyan. Hehe. We should really give props to our kababayans in Mindanao for coming up with creative ways of expressing their advocacies. Remember the group of farmers from Bukidnon who walked all the way to Malacañang?

Anyways, Fr. Armando just finished biking to Abra (as you can see in his picture stolen from his blog). Here's the rest of his schedule according to Mindanews:

From Malibcong he will proceed to Lubuagan on the 18th, to Bontoc on the 19th, Abatan on the 20th and Baguio on the 21st.

After resting on Earth Day, April 22 in Baguio, Picardal will proceed to Alaminos on the 23rd, to Iba in Zambales on the 24th, Balanga, Bataan on the 25th, Manila on the 26th and 27th he will bike around Manila “to deliver letter to Malacanang, Preach at Manila Cathedral.”

Read the Mindanews article here. Good luck, Padi (Father in Ilokano and some Cordi languages). We hope you enjoy your biking through the boondocks.

PHOTO CREDIT: Fr. Armando Picardal's Blog.

Dear Ignacio: No Need to Be Ashamed

Cross-posted at Kaigorotan.com: Our kailiyan Ignacio Canuto should not be ashamed for billing Gloria. Ket inala met ni Gloria diyay strawberry, di dapat lang nga bayadan na. That’s P6,000, pare. Malaking pera iyon. Dapat talaga nga mabayadan.

If anyone should be ashamed, it should be Gloria’s staff because this is something they should have handled smoothly. Isuda ti dapat nga maba-in. Otherwise, Gloria will be liable for stealing if this is what happens wherever she goes, i.e., that she and her people harvest the produce of others without paying. Sabagay, expert naman yata itong si Gloria sa pagnanakaw ng mga bagay na hindi sa kanya.

Ano kaya ang masasabi ng ating kailiyang si Presidential Assistant on the Cordilleras sa bagay na ito? Hehe

From GMA-7: The farmer who billed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the strawberries that she picked is now the one with the “strawberry" cheeks.

Ignacio Canuto wrote a letter to La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan saying that the whole thing was "an unfortunate and embarrassing experience."

Canuto said that it wasn't him who personally asked that Mrs Arroyo pay P6,000 for the 60 kilograms of the strawberries that she and her entourage picked from Canuto’s farm in Betag village last Black Saturday.

He said that it was a relative who complained on radio about him not being paid for the strawberries.

"I did not approach any government office to demand payment for my crop, nor was I given the runaround as to what was falsely portrayed," Canuto wrote.

But Municipal Agriculturist Felicidad Ticbaen earlier said that the payment due to Canuto was indeed delayed because there were government procedures that should be followed.

Ticbaen said Canuto was paid P7,000 for the two huge baskets of strawberries that President Arroyo and her group picked from the farm.

Tibaen also said the neighboring farm was paid P3,000 for the lettuce that the presidential party harvested.

Ticbaen said the media should not have blown up the incident.

Canuto said he had no intention to embarrass those in government.

"I have no ill feelings toward any of our government officials, as I believe the transaction to the purchase (of) the strawberries were all done properly, in the usual course of good business, and in conformity to what has been agreed upon," Canuto said in his letter.

Canuto did not say what moved him to write the mayor about the strawberry issue, almost a month after the incident. - GMANews.TV

Swiss Mountains Are Very High

Here's something you can add to your "must-listens". It is a song, with a very Cordillera melody, about them high Swiss mountains. The singer is pretty good as he does a heartfelt rendition of the song (lyrics and melody by H. Foken).

By the way, you can watch a BIBAK-Switzerland dance performance here.

Video credit: Igorotland

Dealing With Racism

How do Americans react to discrimination and bigotry? According to this experiment, six people approved the act of discrimination, 13 condemned it, and 22 were silent when they witnessed a Muslim woman being discriminated against.

Lozada in Baguio

From gmanews.tv

BAGUIO CITY - Celebrated ZTE whistleblower Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada is finally coming to the North, and his visit would be capped by a series of dialogues with religious leaders here from April 15 to 16.

Chie Galvez of the Baguio-based Inter-Faith Gathering for Truth and Accountability said Friday Lozada would be accompanied by the Association of Major Religious Superiors in his talk in the afternoon of April 15 at the Saint Louis University Social Hall.

Lozada would also be attending a religious and youth caucus at the Sangkabalayan Hall at the Bishop's Residence here.

But the more important activity, Galvez said, would be a gathering on April 15 with Lozada in front of the Supreme Court here.

The SC, which is having its summer court here, would be deciding on the "executive privilege" issue being invoked by former socioeconomic planning head Romulo Neri on that day.

Galvez said that they are prepared for any obstructive activities by anti-Lozada groups in the city.

The Inter-Faith Gathering for Truth and Accountability is headed by Fr. Mario Tambic and Sr. Alice Sobrevinas with the Social Action Center-Baguio Benguet, Association of Women Religious- Baguio Benguet, Tongtongan Ti Umili and Cordillera People's Alliance as member organizations.