Today, May 23 2019, the media alerted Shanti Dope Management with regards the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) media release calling on a ban on Shanti Dope’s song “Amatz.” As per reports, the PDEA alleges that the song “promotes the use of marijuana which runs contrary to the Duterte administration’s crusade against illegal drugs” (ABSCBNNews).
To support these accusations, the PDEA has singled out certain lyrics from the song such as: “Lakas ng amats ko / Sobrang natural / Walang halong kemikal”; “Ito hinangad ko / lipadin ay mataas pa sa kayang ipadama / Sa’yo ng gramo / ‘Di bale nang musika ikamatay.”
Also, according to PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino in the CNN Philippines report: “When I heard “Amatz,” alam ko 'yan eh that is referring to drugs, 'yung tama ng drugs. <…> "Nung tiningnan ko 'yung lyrics, it was indeed something na pino-promote nila, 'yung kagandahan ng marijuana and other illegal drugs."
We enjoin Director Aquino to listen to the whole song, and not just take a few lines out of context. The song begins with the persona talking about the ill effects, the violence, and dangers of drugs: “Kamatayan o parak / Na umaga o gabi, may kahabulan / Dami ng nasa ataol pa / Hangang katapusan laki ng kita sa kahuyan.”
It then continues to talk about the lessons from the persona’s father, and how this persona was challenged to go beyond the expected. “Sabi nila sa'kin nung bata, ay / Ano ka kaya pag tanda mo? / Ito hinangad ko lipadin ay mataas pa / Sa kaya ipadama sa'yo ng gramo / 'Di bale nang musika ikamatay / Kesa pera't atraso, bala ng amo.”
This is all in the first part of the song. And NONE of it promotes marijuana use. In fact it clearly shows the persona taking a stand against illegal drugs, while at the same time pointing out that what has made him “fly” (so to speak) is not drugs, but music. By the time we reach the song’s chorus, “amatz” already refers to precisely the music through which the persona found his identity — not any form of drugs, but the natural high of creativity and knowing he is the only one who knows to do what he does. This is what the next verse then focuses on, complete with the ideological anchor of Shanti’s upbringing in Buddhism, with references to concepts such as mahamantra and chakra, as a response in the end to those who think they know the persona, but in fact know little about him.
While anyone is welcome to interpret a song or any cultural text, it is also clear that for an interpretation to be valid, it needs to have basis, and must be within the context of the cultural text as a whole. To take apart a song and judge it based on certain lyrics that offend us is unfair to the songwriter; to presume that our reading of a song is the only valid one is offensive to an audience that might be more mature than we think.
We also take offense at the manner in which this questionable interpretation of the song “Amatz” has been used to malign Shanti himself. This is what PDEA Director Aquino does when he said: “Hindi pwede 'yung mga ganitong kind of music na ito at dapat hindi natin tinatangkilik itong mga klaseng artists." Ano pong klaseng artist si Shanti, kung mali ang basehan ng inyong pag-ban ng kanyang kanta?
Lastly, this ban sets a dangerous precedent for creative and artistic freedom in the country, when a drug enforcement agency can unilaterally decide on what a song is about, and call for its complete ban because it is presumed to go against government’s war on illegal drugs. This is a brazen use of power, and an affront to our right to think, write, create, and talk freely about the state of the nation. ###
Sgd,
Shanti Dope Management.
May 23 2019.
