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Jerry Donato - The Philippine Star
June 21, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The version by American OPM artist Sahara and Filipino singer-songwriter Paul Sapiera is a welcome addition to the number of covers of the late Freddie Aguilar’s international hit and classic, Anak.
It again shows the universal appeal and timelessness of the Original Pilipino Music (OPM) song. The newest take on it was released before the demise of the OPM artist and icon, who liked the rendition of Sahara and Paul with a social media post, commenting, “Awesome,” as shared by their local publicity team.
In their cover version, Sahara lends her voice while Paul plays the guitar.
The STAR had a recent virtual chat with them, who are both based in Las Vegas.
“I heard of Anak from many years ago,” began Sahara, who fell in love with it as she began to sing more in Tagalog and be with the Filipino community.
“They would sing that song a lot and show me, like, this is our, basically like, national song. We’re proud of Freddie Aguilar,” added she, thinking back then that one day, she would want to sing and perform it.
As you and I know, Sahara did not only do that but also recorded a cover of it. She recalled it probably took them a year to work on it, “to perfect it and just to make it my own and of course, to pay tribute to Freddie Aguilar,” shared she, “and this is, of course, way before his passing.” The legendary artist heard the rendition of Sahara and Paul.
“Sahara liked the song a lot and I shared the same feelings because it was one of the first songs that I learned as a child, playing the guitar and singing,” recalled he, who, as a 10-year-old, participated in a singing contest and won with Anak as his material or piece.
“So, it has a special place in my heart,” said Paul, who also became close to Freddie when the former lived in Quezon City and was a mentee of the latter. “The song is close to my heart and the man is close to my heart. So, it’s great and I’ve always wanted to record a version of Anak.”
Their version is the reimagining of the song from Sahara and Paul.
Following their line of thinking, one could gather that it used available modern technologies and the song narrative was told in the pitch of a female voice. As for the orchestration, there’s a shift in key, with a vision to stay faithful to the original as possible, as compared to some versions that rearranged it.
Sahara remained close to “the melody line” or “the blueprint” and sang it in Tagalog. She could also opt to record it in English, as one may put it.
Asked about certain aspects of Anak that appeal to them and inspired them to make a reinterpretation, Sahara said the storytelling and its writing. “For me, just listening to it, I feel something immediately, like in my chest. I feel overwhelmed by the emotion.”
When she saw and read the translation, Sahara was amazed by the artistry of Freddie Aguilar.
“For me, it is very universal, but it is truly Filipino,” said she. “For me, it gets into the psyche and into the mind of how the parent-and-child dynamics is.”
Paul added it’s about the parent-and-child relationship in which the child gets lost, comes around and asks for forgiveness.
“Parents, we, no matter (what) our children do, at the end of the day, we love our kids. It’s a touching story,” continued he.
After releasing their Anak version, what can Pinoy fans and communities look forward to from Sahara and Paul?
She said that they’re working on a lot of music. One is a duet. Paul is going to sing and a video will accompany the song. She described it as colorful and imaginative and considered the tune “a great collaboration.”
Paul added that Filipinos and everybody will love it.
(For more information on Sahara and Paul, visit https://www.facebook.com/sapieramusic, https://www.facebook.com/voiceofsahara and https://bio.to/sahara. To stream and give Anak a listen, visit https://lnk.to/sahara_sapiera_anak Watch ANAK : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hKfwVhPUNI.)
