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Music and Identity: Philippine Folk Culture: Part Three
| Article
# : |
20113 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1992 |
2,984 Words |
| Author
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Linda Pandes Jacob
Linda Pandes Jacob, a graduate of Colegio de Santa Isabel in
the Philippines, works on the editorial staff of the
Peninsula Times Tribune in Palo Alto, California. She is also
a contributing editor and feature/travel writer for Asia
Pacific Travel Magazine. |
Philippine music is motivated by a poetic sensitivity of life's ups and downs. Like music everywhere, it can either express or transcend feelings of gladness or sorrow, hopefulness or despair, longing or resignation. But in the Philippines, love is the most celebrated theme: love for a sweetheart or spouse, a parent or child, one's country or life itself.
To the Filipino people, sobered by centuries of foreign rule, music was an important mode of expression and symbolic communication. Through their songs, they transformed their passion for their beleaguered nation into nostalgic strains of romantic love. Each song has a story to tell, each melody a harvest of experiences to share.
Most popular among traditional forms of Filipino music is the Kundiman, a poetic song of love and passion typically sung in Tagalog. All Kundiman follow a nostalgic pattern, contrasting the singer's steadfast faith with his effusive anxiety concerning his lover's troth.
The theme of hardship as provocation to the survival of love is central to the Kndiman's narrative. Even lines containing the sentiments of a spurned lover attest to a peculiar resolve to be steadfast, notwithstanding the stress of despair and defeat.
In kundiman songs, the vision is clear and hope is a reality. "Nasaan Ka Irog" (Where are you, love?) is the lamentation of a soul yearning for the solace of a loving presence. Yet for all his woeful winnings, the seeker is not bereft of a glimmer of optimism.
"Anak Ng Dalita" (Child of mystery) relates the trials of destitution and despair. The combination of lyrics and melody tugs at the hearer's heart, pleading for compassion. The song conjures image of an abandoned child, longing for the comfort of a parent. But again, there is hope underneath the cries, a foreshadowing of deliverance yet to come.
In a restrictively society steeped in inhibitions, love songs were convenient methods for winnings ladies. The harana, or serenade, became an avenue for courtship as well as a favorite pastime of young men. Typically, the suitor would invite friends to accompany him on the guitar or sing along beneath his lady's window. In the song "Dungawin Mo Hirang," the suitor pleads for the woman to look out her window and acknowledge his presence and his singing.
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