Monday, October 15, 2007

Antonio Morales Barreto "Junior" in Hola Magazine

So I'm finally talking about Junior, and this was my latest edit on Junior's article from that "encyclopedia" and I'm very happy about it, I added a lot of parts, a lot a lot of parts, including his Filipino movies and the tri-lingual part just because some Pinoys have this presumption that some Filipinos who have Spanish blood lived in an enclave amongst themselves in the Philippines where they only speak Spanish and drink wine and lounge at the pool, it's the image burned into their brains from the stereotypes from Filipino movies, ridiculous because Junior is as Pinoy as any other Filipino out there, and he wrote his songs in Tagalog, and speaks in Tagalog as well, and both of his parents are Filipino, it's just that his father just happens to be of Spanish descent, but he was born and raised in the Philippines making him a Filipino. It's really funny how Filipinos viewed Junior as a "Spaniard foreigner visiting the Philippines" during his popularity and didn't even realize that he's Filipino and still to this day sometimes until I posted this video of his song Yakap on Youtube, and Spaniards view him as a Filipino. It's because some Pinoys don't understand that's why, that the Spanish-speaking world is different from the English-speaking world in that their cultures and history are very, very different, so the Spanish-speaking world today doesn't really focus on race and racial fractions and quantities of a person, it's the country you were born in and your culture that determines who you are. Even though many Latin Americans and Filipinos have Spanish blood, they're not identified as Spanish when they go to Spain, they identify with the country that's close to their heart, the country they were born in. And for Junior, that's our Philippines, always. We'll post more pictures later, I'm trying to keep the posts short, which is impossible because I'm a writer and writing has always come naturally for me so I embellish a lot in what I write about, which is I guess good for a blog format, since that's what it's all about. Junior with daughter, singer Shaila Durcal: (their family is fond of stage names since "Junior", "Shaila Durcal", and "Rocio Durcal" are all artistic names, but not their real names, I guess it's a good way to keep your showbiz life separate from your family life)

Claudine Barreto and her sisters are his family by blood because his mother is a Barreto, and there's only one Barreto clan in the Philippines, and if you like San Miguel Beer, be grateful to their ancestors as San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia’s first brewery was established on Oct. 4, 1890 by Enrique Maria Barreto de Ycaza. A few of them have done business with and are friends of my cousin who works in Advertising and Public Relations for TV and print media, no he's not just a Kapuso or Kapamilya, that's ridiculous, and it's also a very successful marketing plan from the TV networks to draw in viewers from the C-D classes by making them feel like "family" (Kapamilya) and drawing in their "heart" (Kapuso), it's a great marketing plan for both networks, since it's obviously working considering the passionate online debates I've seen that Kapusos have versus Kapamilyas, that stuff is hilarious, anyway business is business and he works for both and has worked for both TV networks doing all that kind of stuff that he does, I don't care, hehe, anyway, the Barretos are from Manila and they own a bunch of companies, and Junior's from that one. And Junior was born in Manila. If you're confused about why his mother is a Barreto but his name is Antonio Morales Barreto, a lot of Filipinos were when I posted the video, it's because in Spanish naming conventions, the father's surname goes before the mother's. I believe that the way Filipinos do it now, where the middle name became the place to put the mother's surname, was just a clever adaptation our ancestors made to keep part of their heritage alive when they were told by the new colonizers after 1898 that you could only have one surname. So they found the loophole, "since there's no more space for our mother's surname, we'll put that in place of the middle name." And I theorize that that's how it came about. I can't be sure, because Filipino historians are so, like they don't care sometimes about researching these important things, so there's a lot of holes to fill in for us Filipinos about our history, but think about it, what other logical explanation is there for it? Putting your mother's surname as your middle name is certainly not a British or American tradition, in their middle names, they put names that are similiar to first names, but never the mother's surname because it's not the cultural tradition.

I'd also just like to say that I was really happy about what Aga Muhlach said about how the tv networks should just combine and find a way to work together, because that's what I always thought. Filipinos are always competing with other Filipinos, and we're always divided. But there's strength to be found in unity.
Junior (born Antonio Morales Barreto on May 10, 1943 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino singer and actor. He is the oldest of 5 sons. He was 15 years old when his family settled in Barcelona, Spain then in Madrid. He is tri-lingual and speaks Spanish, English, and Tagalog.

In 1957, he became part of the group Jump, a pioneering Spanish electric guitar group. In the group’s popularity, he was included in the movie Me Enveneno De Azules in 1969. His unstaked first themes Todo Porque Te Quiero (It’s All Because I Love You) in 1969 and Perdóname with English theme The Snake in 1973.

He became part of the group Los Brincos with Juan Pardo. His brothers Miguel and Ricky Morales were invited to join the group. Later, he and Juan Pardo left their group as Juan y Júnior. One of their songs include Spanish version of “Fool On The Hill” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney from LP titled Júnior in 1976.

In 1979, he stopped his career to manage career of his wife late Rocío Dúrcal whom he has 3 children, including singer Shaila Dúrcal who is dedicated not only to her mother but also to her mother’s namesake Rocío Jurado and Colombian diva Soraya who have been cancer victims.

In 1980, he starred in the Filipino movies Good Morning Sunshine with Vilma Santos, Bongga ka Day, and Disco Madhouse and released an album in Tagalog for the Philippines. One of his most popular songs that he wrote and produced was "Yakap". [1]

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a hater (above). First of all that 3% claim was made by ONE study made at Stanford University. Several studies should be made before research can be reputable. Nevertheless, even if the 3% claim was true, it does not deny that there are Fiipinos who certainly do have Spanish blood. The Philippines with a population of 92,337,852 people would mean that 2,770,135 people would have Spanish ancestry. That's a pretty big number. So yes, maybe the majority of Filipinos don't have Spanish blood but it does not deny their Spanish roots in culture and history.

Anonymous said...

Who cares!!! The Spanish suck anyway... The less Spanish blood in u the better

Unknown said...

So now that you have told us you are latin american.... I am supposed to take a Sudacas word for it on how many Filipinos have Spanish blood. Tu eres un gilipollas. Has estado en Filipinas una vez capullo? No sabes ni papa de lo q estas comentando. No pretendo de saber nada de los Sudacas.... asi q no deberias comentar ni meterse en lo que no sabes de nada. Ser hispano o tener la herencia espanola no es solamente tener sangre espanol... es mucho mas. Los filipinos no son Latinos/Sudacas pero si somos hispanos no importa que tu dices. Yes and even if only 3% are spanish (which is obviously gringo propaganda as you can see so many more people with spanish features just in the streets) that is still about the same as puerto rico, uraguay and panama haha.

Monnacco said...

Ayer 15 de abril falleció Junior Morales cantante filipino-español. DEP. Ejemplo y referente de lo bueno procedente de la unión de ambas culturas.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Morales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BAnior_(Filipino_singer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-Dcx48lEj_Y

Y a todos los hermanos filipinos desearles que tengan grandeza, y que aprovechen esa ventaja de ser al mismo tiempo asiaticos e hispanos ya que una comunidad de 500 millones tiene algo que decir en este mundo cada vez mas globalizdo, animo!!!

Anonymous said...

I'm a Filipino and just like the majority of the Filipinos I can't understand Spanish. Freedom of the press states that anyone has freedom to speak or write in any language but I am sorry I cannot understand the comments in Spanish

Anonymous said...

The Spain we know today was under the Arabic speaking Moors for 700 plus years,more than twice as long as the Spanish regime in the Philippines. Spaniards do not speak Arabic the reason I am not ashamed for not speaking or understanding Spanish

Anonymous said...

I don't care what blood I have as long as it keeps me alive and I don't have to subsist on it from other people like a vampire.

Anonymous said...

Interesting comments regarding language. The Spanish language incorporated many words from Arabic due to the almost 800 year conquest. Over the years, I've worked with many Filipino staff, and discovered Spanish words incorporated in their speech, most of the time the speakers had no idea the words they used were of Spanish origin. I've told Filipino coworkers we're "cousins" as my Mexican ancestors were also conquered and intermarried with the Spanish.

Anonymous said...

Obviously you’re concerned ...