Monday, February 26, 2007

Boom Tarat Tarat - original?

I meant to blog about this before when the boom tarat tarat hype was at its highest but decided it was not worth blogging about. However, this morning, a friend and superior in school came to me to show me an article written by Ricardo F. Lo at the Entertainment section of the Philippine Star that appeared on Februrary 22. The article said that Miguel Zubiri will be using the boom tarat tarat theme as his jingle.

...Lito Camo has agreed Miguel "Migs" Zubiri (to) use his popular song Boom Tarat Tarat as Migz's campaign pitch in his bid for the Senate in this May's election "for nothing."... But inside soursces said that Lito was paid "no less than P3 million" for the rights to the song.


Really? If the sources cited by Mr. Lo is correct, then, I can say that Zubiri might be wasting too much money over this. Why? The Boom Tarat Tarat tune is not new. The tune has been used in our Father and Son camps since tralala time. The friend that showed me the article has always been the scoutmaster of these camps and always used the tune to gather the troops, enliven the campfire, entice them to participate in all the activities and what else it can serve us. We use the tune as a fanfare every year that we do not have to teach the old timers how to sing the song and dance to it. This has been a boy scout tune without the gyrations and that final hump of the hips, of course. However, it is not that we do not have an accompanying choreography for the tune. What we do is to mimic playing a trombone for the tarat tarat portion and a big bass drum for the boom part. This we do like playing a guitar on air. Not as exciting as the new version, maybe, but nevertheless, has been with us since time immemorial.

I do not wish to discredit Mr. Lito Camo or portray him as a plagiarist for I am sure he had composed a song and has all the rights to his creation. I have not heard the song played in its entirety but I am also positive that what Mr. Zubiri is after is the boom tarat tarat portion, an old tune incorporated into the song. Now, certainly that cannot be worth P3 million, can it?

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! Tito Rolly, this is an issue that is certainly worth following up. I am sure Mr. Camo knows that, for election propaganda purposes, it is only the "boom tarat tarat" part that matters to Mr. Zubiri. If it is proven that this was not his original creation, then he certainly is in BIG trouble. I am sure Mr. Zubiri will not take this sitting down. I want to laugh!

Mec said...

I think what Tito Rolly meant is that the core beat that made Boom tarat catchy has been around for so long (and I doubt campfire jingles will have much in the way of copyright... but of course, am not sure) and Zubiri could just have used that, where he need not pay nothing, instead of the Boom Tarat song

Nick Ballesteros said...

Hmmm... I heard the Zubiri jingle at the flower festival in Baguio last weekend (yeah, tell me about it. politics in the fiesta). He used more than the core "boom tarat tarat" line. He also used the other portions that were Mr. Camo's composition. So I guess that's where the money went to. Though yes, he could have just used the tarat portion and had the same mind retention epek... this is interesting tito rolly.

Dr. Emer said...

Awesome costs and pricing do that to products, whatever they happen to be. A product may not be worth anything, but if the seller attaches an unholy pricing tag into it, the common notion is that its quality is something extraordinary. While there are exceptions to the rule, like what you have pointed out in the case of that abominable song, the opinion of the majority will not change overnight.

Bayaan mo na, Tito Rols. There are just those people who enjoy burning their spare money without verifying if it was necessary.

Ok ka na ba? I was met with toxicity last weekend. Ngayon lang lumuwag. Sorry I wasn't able to call. I hope you're doing well.

rolly said...

Bugsy i don't know much about copyright laws but I read somewhere that if a painting, song or any other opus has reached 50 years or so, ownership transfers to the people. In that case, if the boom tarat has been used 50 years or so, then Mr. Zubiri can use the same just like Mr. Camo did without having to pay any rights. Pero syempre malamang mali ang tanda ko.

Anyway, below, Watson said that Mr. Zubiri used the entire song. So, that may explain it. Well, maybe not the exorbitant fee but nonetheless the exclusive right to use it.

Mec exactly. Unless he uses the whole song composed by Mr. Camo.

Watson Thanks for the info. That explains a lot.

Doc Emer
"A product may not be worth anything, but if the seller attaches an unholy pricing tag into it, the common notion is that its quality is something extraordinary. " I wonder if this equation would work with my paintings. hehe Imagine the profit I'd be getting. hehehe

Yup, that's his money and he has the right to spend or burn it anyway he wants to.

Okay na ko doc. I was able to finally post my entry sa blogkadahan. I knew you were too busy because you never renege on a promise. Thanks.

Dr. Emer said...

In my opinion, your asking price for your paintings is really too low! Noon ko pa sinabi sa yo, you should increase it a bit more.

;-)

batjay said...

3 million? wow. gawa tayo ng pang eleksyon na kanta to the tune of the old sunny orange drink jingle.

baka bigyan din tayo ng mga #$%#$^@#! ng pera.

ipanema said...

Ah, Tito Rolly you're right this is an old song actually. I just dont know the lyrics until my son informed me that this is their group theme song in Church. The other day when I came home, he was listening to it over the net.

3M is expensive. :)

Anonymous said...

it's only now that i found out what my dad was singing that one time when we were talking over the net. hahaha!

i thought it was an old song too... something they'd sing when he was younger. :-p

Unknown said...

Doc You compliment me endlessly. I'll think about it. Thanks a lot. I'll think about it.
:-)

Batjay hehe, baka magtunog commercial ng PBA nung 1970's ah.

Ipanema Medyo nga ano? Well, hindi naman confirmed tong post na to.

Tanya Baka boy scout din daddy mo.

Nostalgia Manila said...

It is an old song, and 3 million pesos is quite a ridiculous amount to pay for a ridiculous sounding (not to mention recycled) jingle.

rolly said...

Nostalgia Manila Thanks for the validation. Coming from you, it's like the blog has been officially validated.

ganda ng blog mo, sir. Paganda ng paganda and it does bring a lot of memories.

NOYPETES said...

Pang masa and very catchy tune! Whoever is working on Mr. Zubiri's campaign ads is of course playing to the masa. I believe there was also a tune that came out a while ago titled "Ye Ye Vonnel" which was the ad tune for a kind of fabric or shirt back in the 60's?

As far as I can remember it's always been a tradition by spin doctors and king makers during elections in the Phils. to use popular tunes or replace lyrics from popular tunes to use for their jingle ads to promote their clients.

rolly said...

Noypetes Hey, it's so nice to see you here. AHve alwaysa seen you at Ipanema's and Bugsy's.

Anyway, that's precisely why they want to use the jingle. Pang-masa ito. And we know that winning the masa is almost a guaranteed win in the election - wag lang dadayain hehe.

Unknown said...

Tito Rolly, you're right. After a certain period of time (my law is rusty so I can't remember if it's 40 or 50 years), these songs become part of public domain so anybody can use them. I heard Mr. Camo's entire song and frankly, I'd not pay a single cent for it even if I were running for public office. :)

Mas gusto ko yung Ye Ye Vonnel - noypetes, that came out in the early 70s or late 60s, right? O kaya yung walang kamatayang United American Tiki-tiki. Ha ha ha! Old style talaga.

Sidney said...

Boom Tarat Tarat seems to be quite popular and as such worth a lot of money...
I have to confess I don't undrstand its popularity but then there are so many things I don't understand... ;-)

auee said...

Ey gusto ko din yung United American Tiki-Tiki... pero the best ang Gloria Labandera
:-)

Tito Rolly, alam ko yang Boom Tarat na yan. Nagch-chanting kami ng mga kalaro ko (early 80's) ng ganyan e. Parang sub-conscious na nga yung recall nung rhythm, tipong "Boom tiyaya Boom tiyaya-Boom yeye" hehe

rolly said...

Bugsy I'll take your word for it.

Ye Ye Vonnel- hehe 60's pa yun used in a commercial.

Sidney So do I. Thanks for coming over.

auee yeah, 80's o 90's na ata yang boom tiyaya na yan. Pero I swear, mas matagal pa ang Boom tarat tarat dyan.

Anonymous said...

Tito Rolly,

Talaga bang ugali na ng Pinoy ang mang-angkin ng gawa ng ibang tao? Naalala ko tuloy yung Theme Song ng Pinoy Big Brother (Pinoy Ako)na likha kuno ng "Orange and Lemons" na ginaya naman pala sa kanta ng "The Care"(Title ng song ay "Chandeliers"). Hay nako sabi nga nila na ang Filipino raw ay "Great Imitators." OK lang siguro mang-imitate pero iba rin sa palagay ko ang mang-akin ng likha ng ibang tao. Pagnanakaw na yan e. O baka naman e wala na tayong pakialam dahil normal na lang sa atin ang ganitong kaugalian, sapagkat lantaran na ang pagnanakaw/pangungurakot sa ating Lipunan (ng mga Trapos, etc.). Sabi nga ng isang Hapon na dumalaw sa Pinas dati nung si Marcos pa ang presidente, sabi niya, "You Piripno pipor are very rucky, because you have a president who robs (loves)you, and a First Rady who robs you more.

rolly said...

Anonymous In fairness to Mr. Lito Camo, I think he did compose a song to which he incorporated the Boom Tarat Tarat tune. Pwede naman yun if the song had been with us fifty years ago as songs this old becomes public domain. Kung hindi naman, sino ang composer to whom we can attribute the tune?

What I am only saying here is that if Mr. Zubiri has really paid 3M for the rights, it might be too expensive as the real interest to the song, which is the Boom Tarat Tarat tune, is not original. Now, whether or not Mr. Zubiri paid 3M is not confirmed. As a matter of fact, he is adamant that he allowed Mr. Zubiri to use it for free.

{illyria} said...

i think political hopefuls squander much too much just to secure their place in a government that neither inspires nor elevates its people. sad but true. history does repeat itself at an alarming rate.

rolly said...

illyria How they squander big chunks of money for a position in government really worries me. I'm thinking, they do plan to take it back, don't they? Either that or they are power starved or both. And where are the constituents on both instances? Far from their minds, I suppose. Troublesome, isn't it?

Andy said...

So glad I found this blog post after searching for ‘camp song boom tarat tarat’. I knew the song wasn’t new and that it had exactly the same lyrics (boom tarat part) as the song we used in girl scout camps. Just couldn’t confirm it back then as I thought maybe I was wrong. You may not have felt this was valid initially, but this validates it for me for sure. A big thank you.

rolly said...

And your comment validates my post entirely although ancient as it is, still...Thanks for sharing.