Did you know that the popular romantic ballad “Harana” has another stanza that has not yet been heard by majority, even Parokya ni Edgar frontman Chito Miranda?
The “missing stanza” was revealed when the song’s original composer, Eric “Yappy” Yaptangco, met with Chito, Cholo Mallillin and former Smokey Mountain member Tony Lambino through Jing Castañeda‘s “Pamilya Talk.”
Jing was among those who knew about the missing stanza during her college years. She was also one of the lucky girls who was first serenaded with the ballad.
“It would have been a mistake to ignore the opportunity to have the gang retell the journey,” she wrote in her column on Philstar.com on Monday.
The journalist invited the balladeers of the famous love song to appear in her program and “paint the whole story.”
The “Harana” song traces its story back to Yappy’s college days, where it came into fruition in 1989.
“Yappy and some of our ka-barkadas called themselves ‘torpe’ when it came to courtship, hence relying on serenades as their way to ask girls out,” Jing narrated.
“Torpe” in Filipino is used to describe an individual who likes someone but is too shy to approach the person of interest.
Yappy said that he wrote the song for two hours since he felt so connected to it. At that time, he was a 19-year-old third year management engineering student at Ateneo de Manila University.
He was also inspired by the real-life serenading that his schoolmates were doing at that time.
Yappy and his friends then performed the song in university events until it grew so popular that Cholo, his close friend and a musician, did a cassette recording of it.
Enter Tony, who is the brother of Cholo’s co-member in the Ateneo-based Bukas Palad Music Ministry, Celine.
Cholo taught Tony the song, who eventually included it in his 1992 album “First Note.”
A clip of him performing the song to Geneva Cruz in “Ryan Ryan Musikahan” recently went viral on Reddit.
TIL: Hindi Parokya Ni Edgar Ang Original Na Kumanta Ng "HARANA" from Philippines
Cholo, in his later years, taught in Ateneo High School where he met a teenaged Chito.
He used the “Harana” in one of his class modules which piqued the interest of the then-aspiring rocker.
Chito, according to Jing, was also amazed at how a “bad boy” kabarkada had rocked to the love song and made it cool.
In 1997, Parokya ni Edgar released their second album “Buruguduystunstugudunstuy” which contained the song.
It further grew into popularity when APO Hiking Society released a more upbeat version of “Harana” in 2001. This was based on Parokya ni Edgar’s take.
It was only recently that Chito learned of the “missing stanza” since according to him, the “Harana” song became a tradition across batches in Ateneo and had evolved with changes in melody and lyrics over the years.
Yappy sang the elusive stanza in “Pamilya Talk” which wowed Chito, who apologized for the “mistake.”
The original composer said that it wasn’t a “mistake” and shared that he was even happy the song had taken a “life of its own” decades after writing it.
The missing stanza goes by the following lines:
Uso pa ba ang harana
Marahil ngayon ay alam mo na
Basta’t para sa ‘yo, aking hirang
Kahit na magmukhang hibang
Tutupdin ang lahat, liyag
Pagkat ako’y ‘yong bihag
At mahal kita, sinta.
The revelation impressed some fans who claimed that listening to it made them giddy.
“Grabe napakaganda ng original melody and ‘yung 3rd stanza super nakaka-shookt,” a Twitter user said with a series of heart-eyed emojis.
“WATDAHECKKK MAGANDA RIN ‘YUNG ORIGINAL MELODY HUHU KA-INLOVE PA (RIN) PATI ‘YUNG MISSING STANZA MYGHADDDD???” another online user exclaimed upon hearing the missing stanza.
Yappy said that despite its different versions, it is the song’s spirit of camaraderie that matters.
“Romantic siya, pero barkada pa rin siya. ‘Pag may ibang version, may ibang nota, dagdag nang kaunti, yumayaman ‘yung kanta. Yumayan tayong lahat. Iyon ‘yung pinaka-connection nating lahat, pinaka-bond nating lahat,” he said.