posted on: Tuesday, November 25, 2014

In a recent published by Inquirer, they’ve interviewed the “unknown” man behind the popular yuletide music, “Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit”.

newsinfo.inquirer.net

 

In the article, they introduced Josefino “Pepe” Cenizal, a composer who scored countless Filipino movies from the 1930s to 1960s.

Leo M. Sabangan II via inquirer.net

 

According to the interview, Cenizal, along with National Artist , composed the popular Christmas song, “Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit”.

pep.ph

 

Cenizal said that “Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit” is actually a reinterpretation of a music he composed in 1937 for the movie, “Pugad ng Aguila”.

Here’s a copy of the music sheet, from , a Heritage Interpreter.

from Ka Bino Guerrero

 

However, the Cebuanos challenge this claim – that it was the Cebuano composer Vicente “Noy Inting” Rubi who originally composed the song in Cebuano.

#NoyIntingRubi the Original composer of #KasadyaNingTaknaa which was adopted to Tagalog as #AngPaskoAySumapit pic.twitter.com/wuW7O9avYI

— Ka Bino (@ka_bino) November 24, 2014

 

In a The Freeman written by Garry B. Lao, the original song – “Kasadya Ning Taknaa” was composed by Rubi along with lyricist Mariano Vestil in 1933.

The Freeman, philstar.com

As the story goes, the song became very popular and Rubi proceeded to sell it to a recording company in Manila in 1950 but he was underpaid. He sued the company but justice was too late, he died in 1980 before the decision came into his favor.

In another written by Ricky Lo in 2002 entitled “Where credit is due”, it turns out that many songs have been wrongly credited to Levi Celerio, including “Rosas Pandan” and “Tinikling”.

Who’s to blame with all this misconception? And which do you think came first, “Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit” or “Kasadya”?

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