Music

Wedding Ceremony
Talindaw
Rowing song
Tagpasin
Street song
Indulanin
Love songs
Hele hele

Kumintang

Description

Nuptial songs

Rowing song

Street song

Technically known as
oyayi which later
developed into a love
song.
Originally a war song,
but it developed into a
love song, and it is the
popular.
The kumintang
originate in Batangas
which used to be
called Provincial de
comintang.

Taking a bath
Ak-akong

It is a somg of the
Igorot people, a song
for taking a bath.

Rituals
Panilan

It is a ritual song. One

group is dancing and
the other group is
taking the honey or
getting the honey.

Is called the outdoor

re-enactment of the
Holy couples search
for lodging.

To hear bravery,
heroism and
adventure of their
legendary hero (Lamang).

Religious Song
Pananawagan or
Panunuluyan

Ballad-Epic
Dalot

References
Musical Instruments (Now
and Then)
Rosita F. Rivaldo, 1994

Boat song
Talindaw

A boat song

Banas, R.C. (1992)

Musika: an essay on
Phiippine Ethnic
Music

Mournal song
Tagulaylay

A mournal song

Banas, R.C. (1992)

Musika: an essay on
Phiippine Ethnic
Music

Feast song
Sambotani

A song sung at feast

Banas, R.C. (1992)

Musika: an essay on
Phiippine Ethnic
Music

A song that requires

advanced vocal
technique and musical
maturity for its
performance usually
on the concert stage

Indigenous Music
Tradition and
Transformation.
Tiongson, Nicanor
CEd. (1994) CCP
Encyclopedia of the
Philippine Arts.

Courtship song
Sua-sua

Is a celebrated
courtship song and
dance that has often
been modernized for
troupe performances

War dance
Sayagan

Epitomizes the
gallantry of Muslim
combatants while
little girls perform a
festival dance wherein
they wear hollow
copper anklets and
ring little cells to
produce certain sound

Folk song
Kundiman
1. Pakiusap
2. Medaling araw
3. Sakali man

to accompaniment of
a variety of tom-tom
and an indigenous
xylophone.
(Banas,1975)

Rice harvest
Tud-ob

A song composed of
four notes is sung
during rice harvest.

Indigenous music can be instrumental or vocal and this musical tradition marked rites of passage
and life-cycle events for the early Filipinos. In celebrations, instrumental playing is common
whereas solo instrument playing is done for courting or self-entertainment. The Islamic music
tradition, which is part of the ethnic tradition, is largely based on the practices of the preIslamic
cultures of the southern part of the Philippines (Anupol, 2007).
Ethnic music in the Philippines was started by different groups and is premised on an admiration
of native instruments which are used in the various ritual and worldly activities of these peoples.
These native instruments are generally grouped into: wind instruments; chordophones or stringed
instruments; idiophones or percussion instruments that are struck with a hammer, against each
other, or against another object like the hand, and membranophones or percussion instruments
using animal skins or membranes. Nevertheless, the ethnic music was not only made by playing
instruments but also by using the voices of the people. Like the instruments, vocal music
expresses and transmits in a concrete and vivid manner a great variety of the thoughts, beliefs,
lifestyles, character and way of life of the native peoples. Singing is a central component of life
among the people. Historically, people sang solo or in groups according to the composition of the
song with or without accompaniment or lyrics. Improvisation was very prominent and music was
made with very little knowledge of music theory (Anupol, 2007).
Vocal music was used long before musical instruments were invented. The beating of two pieces
of wood was used to accompany the most primitive kind of song (Yamio, 2011).
Three main characteristics are exemplified by traditional ethnic music. The first is the cantata
form. A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment and often contains
more than one movement. In singing, the groups sing in solo or by group and some songs were
sung by accompaniment. Another characteristic that is exemplified is the use of acapella. An
acapella song is a vocal composition without instrumental accompaniment. The groups also did
this when they sang in solo or by group without using any instruments in the background. Lastly,
the sonata form is used - a composition for one or more solo instruments, one of which is usually
a keyboard instrument, and usually consisting of three or four independent movements varying in
key, mood, and tempo (Anupol, 2007).

Secular Songs from Indigenous Groups

Unlike the earlier two songs, this form of song has more resemblance with other traditional
music from the Orient as it uses the same scale as that of the Chinese pentatonic scale or closer
to home, the Indonesian Slendro scale. This form also employs a recurring beat, verse lines set in
syllables and a wide melodic range.
Although it is very difficult to establish what meter is used in a certain song, one can easily
recognise that it is not as free as the 'Huluna'. There are also cases in which the accent of the
words is altered in order to suit the beat of the tune. This is especially true in songs of the
Northern Tradition like the 'Salidumay' of the Kalinga. It is also syllabic and the lines do not end
in rhyme but in assonace.
But even though vocal music falling under this category is regarded to have a wide range, as
most of them stretch more than an octave, they are still considered singable even for an average
singer.
Vocal Music
Vocal music to be the most important form of music found in every ethnic group in the country.
Although there is some music intended for dance, the best form of preserved traditional music is
those intended for the voice.
According to the book Philippine Literature: Folk Songs by Mauricia Borromeo, folk songs from
the country may be divided into Western-Type Folk songs, Narrative Psalm, and Secular Songs
from the Indigenous Groups.
The Western Inspired
According to Borromeo, Philippine folk songs inspired by Western music are characterised as
songs with (1) singable melody, (2) syllabically set stanzaic text, (3) simple structure, (4) major
and minor tonalities, (5) duple or triple in meter, and (6) simple harmonies.
Melody
Western music came to influence the traditional music of the Philippines through Spain and
Mexico. As the country was under Spanish Rule for more than 300 years through Mexico City, it
is inevitable that this kind of music will have noticeable resemblance to Western music.
This kind of music is mainly found in the Christian regions for the reason that they had more
contact with the Spaniards than the non-Christian groups.
The observation made by Dorothy Scarborough is specially true to the Western Inspired
Philippine Music:
A song that starts out as sheet music, duly credited to author and composer, may be so altered as
to words or music, or both, by singers who learn and transmit it orally, as to become a folk song.
The fact that elsewhere it may be known as published music makes no difference.

... no genuine folk music is ever the exact duplicate of any other version even of the same song.
Each version or variant has its own value. (Scarborough 1935: Foreword)
Indeed, songs like the Visayan Matud Nila and Usahay are considered folk songs despite some
versions credited to particular composers such as Ben Zubiri, Nitoy Gutierrez and so forth.
With regard to the range, most songs are relatively easy for an untrained voice as they are
between six to eleven tones. Musicologists agree that the normal range of an untrained voice is
fourteen tones or an octave and a half.
Filipino folk songs are also sung in a relaxed and easy voice. Though singers of this type of
songs may employ falsetto, its use is not actually compulsory. Modern recordings of these folk
songs employ the speaking voice used in popular music.
Syllabically Set and Stanzaic Text
Most Western inspired songs are either fall under the corrido, four lines of eight syllables each,
or awit, four lines of 12 syllables each. And although these lines do not generally rhyme, most of
them end with an assonance.
However, unlike traditional songs from Spain, Western-inspired Philippine traditional songs do
not employ lengthy mellismas. As a general rule, a "mnemonic for each note' style as
exemplified in the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, "The Sound of Music", is identifiable in
some Philippine traditional music.
It is also characterized as strophic, wherein one melody is repeated for every stanza. This is
specially true to the ballads. Though modified strophic, like the case of the Irish song, "Red Is
the Rose", hardly exists. The Binary form is more common, where a refrain of a fixed verse is
repeated after each stanza.
Simple Form
According to Borromeo:
The single-unit song is made up of musical phrases (two or four) with an internal relationship
that could be progressive, reverting, repetitive or contrasting. The two-unit song or binary song
form is common to haranas and kundimans. Each unit is repeated as in 'Lulay'. A return to the
first part changes the form to a ternary or three repeated designs. The version of 'Sarong Banggi'
is one example.
The verse and refrain type has been mentioned; i.e. 'Magtanim ay di Biro'. A rare example of the
leader-chorus type is the Ivatan rowing song 'Un As Kayaluhen'.
Major and minor tonalities
As mentioned above, Traditional Philippine Music employs the Diatonic scale rather than the
Pentatonic scale, as the common practice of traditional songs from the Orient. This means songs
are either in the Major scale or Minor scale. In some cases also, the Kundiman and other art

songs that have been included in the Traditional repertoire begin with the minor mode and then
modulate into the relative major in the second half.
As a result, songs are stereotyped as in joyful, peaceful, and exuberant if they are in the Major
mode while those in the minor mode are sad, plaintive, mourning of longing.
Duple and triple meter
Though there are songs that exist in quadruple meter, those in duple and triple meter are most
common in Western-inspired Philippine music. As one could notice when they examine a
collection of traditional songs, those with triple meter form the largest part in the repertoire. This
form is specially suited for the song-dance type which will be discussed thoroughly below.
Simple harmony
Most common folk in the Philippines have acquired a natural disposition to play the guitar, thus
this musical instrument (usually strummed rather than plucked) is the most typical fashion of
instrumental accompaniment for Western-inspired "traditional" songs. Many folk songs falling
under these types were once classified as art songs, one and the importance of an accompaniment
cannot be undermined.
Some songs, like the Habanera inspired 'Ti Ayat Ti Maysa Nga Ubing' from the Ilocos Region,
are highly chromatic, one can still easily accompany it using the I-IV-V or Tonic-SubdominantDominant chord progression.
The Native Psalm Type
The Native Psalm style is less frequently used but nevertheless a very important part in the
repertoire of Traditional Philippine Music. Unlike the Western tradition, however, Borromeo
classified songs with lengthy mellismas under the Psalm category.
The 'Huluna of Bauan', from Batangas, is the paramount example of this form of music. Indeed
the 'Huluna of Bauan' is characterised with highly elaborate fioritures, free in meter, modal in
melody, long phrases and narrow range.
This kind of vocal music is undoubtedly taxing for an average singer. Though the range of this
kind of songs is generally a sixth above, the lengthy mellismas and elaborate fioritures make it
very difficult. Here, the singer must take a deep breath every time he reaches the end of the
cadence in order to sustain the next long phrase.
Secular Songs from Indigenous Groups
Unlike the earlier two songs, this form of song has more resemblance with other traditional
music from the Orient as it uses the same scale as that of the Chinese pentatonic scale or closer
to home, the Indonesian Slendro scale. This form also employs a recurring beat, verse lines set in
syllables and a wide melodic range.
Although it is very difficult to establish what meter is used in a certain song, one can easily
recognise that it is not as free as the 'Huluna'. There are also cases in which the accent of the

words is altered in order to suit the beat of the tune. This is especially true in songs of the
Northern Tradition like the 'Salidumay' of the Kalinga. It is also syllabic and the lines do not end
in rhyme but in assonace.
But even though vocal music falling under this category is regarded to have a wide range, as
most of them stretch more than an octave, they are still considered singable even for an average
singer.
Mobility
Borromeo also noted that one interesting feature of Western-Inspired traditional music is that a
tune is not bound to a particular language or dialect. One must remember that the Philippines is
an archipelago and the use of Filipino as a national language is just very recent. Thus, Filipinos
did not have a unifying language during the time of the Spaniards.
Yet, the tune used for the Tagalog 'Magtanim ay Di Biro' is also used for the Kapampangan
'Deting Tanaman Pale' and the Gaddang 'So Payao'. Just to give the reader a clear difference
between these languages, Tagalog is related to Kapampangan in the same way that English is
related to German. On the other hand, Tagalog is related to Gaddang in the same way English is
related to Nordic Languages.
Other examples of this tune sharing are the Visayan 'Ako Ining Kailu', the Ibanag 'Melogo Ti
Aya' and the Kapampangan 'Ing Manai'. One can also notice the same with the Bicolano 'Mansi
Pansi' and the Ilocano 'Pamulinawen'.