By now, Moana is everyone’s favorite Disney movie — and why not, really? Aside from having a lead character who is FINALLY relatable to us, a Disney princess who isn’t out to look for her Prince Charming, there are some seriously memorable tunes penned by the amazing Lin Manuel-Miranda of Hamilton fame.
And just prior to Moana’s release was a special Southeast Asian promo where beautiful, young singers from all over the region were chosen to represent their respective countries — ours was the lovely Janella Salvador — and sing Moana’s theme song, “How Far I’ll Go”, in their respective languages.
Except for one thing: Janella sang it in English. While Janella, no doubt, did a brilliant job in singing the song, and the choice to perform it in English was no fault of hers, many Pinoys were left wondering why the song was not translated into the local language like the others. While no official statement from Disney justified the reason to keep it as such, netizens could only speculate so much on this.
Singer Moira dela Torre finally heeded the call to create a Filipino version of “How Far I’ll Go”, and the result is stunning. Not only did she write the lyrics and sing on the video, she even enlisted the help of Sam Milby for this special rendition!
Watch the video below, and if you want to sing along, the lyrics are below:
I.
Dati pa’ko nahumaling sa dagat
Di ko na maalala at di maintindihan
Kahit anong pilit makabawi
Di ko nang maiwasang tumakbo pabalik sa dagat
Bawat paglikong tatahakin ko
Bawat landas ay pabalik doon
Pabalik kung san di mapuntahan ang pangarap ko
Chorus:
Tingnan ang pagtagpo ng langit at dagat
Walang may alam kung hanggang saan
Gabayan lang ako ng hangin sa tubig
Malalaman ko kung balang araw malayo ang mararating ko
II.
Dito, lahat ng nandirito kuntento nang nandirito
Lahat ay nakaguhit na
Dito, ang bawat isa sa amin may kanya-kanyang tungkulin
Kung gawin ko nalang ang akin
Tatayong mat’wid, papalakasin
Makisama nalang makukuntento rin
Ngunit ibang kanta ang naririnig
May mali ba sa akin?
Chorus:
Tanaw ko ang kislap ng ilaw sa tubig
Walang may alam ng lalim o babaw
At ito’y tinatawag ako, ako’y hanapin
At sabihin mo- anong nariyan, abot ko ba yan?
Tingnan ang pagtagpo ng langit at dagat
Walang may alam kung hanggang saan
Gabayan lang ako ng hangin sa tubig
Malalaman ko– balang araw malayo ang mararating ko
You can check out Moira Dela Torre on her Instagram at @moirarachelle.
