FOLK SONGS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

This is originally a Cebuano nursery rhyme which became popular to Philippine school children in its Filipino translation. The Cebuano lyrics here given is translated: Tong, tong, tong, pakitong-kitong (Vocables)/ Crabs in the river ( suba ) are known to be hard to catch/ It is only me who can catch, and only I can eat.

Pentik Manok  is a Bagobo song that is often erroneously appearing in Philippine music textbooks as an Igorot folk song. This song is actually collected by Isaias Lim from a Bagobo singer in 1971 around the vicinity of Malita, Davao for the now UP Center for Ethnomusicology. The song was transcribed by Sr. Lilia Therese L. Tolentino and reprinted in a music book which I, regrettably, forgot the title. It later found its way to public school textbooks for Grades 3 and 4 sometime in the late 1980s. This song is translated: Use the sling on the brave chicken/ That is going around the trap/ The downward movement was stopped/ Chop wood now for firewood/ To cook the sweet potato. 

This Kapampangan folk song has among the most easily recognizable melodies as it was utilized for the popular Tagalog nursery rhyme Ako ay may Lobo (I have a Balloon). This song is about a girl who lost a gem-stoned ring ( singsing ) which she inherited from her grandparents. As a consolation to whoever is that man who finds the ring, her heart will be his.  

Annually, Obando town in Bulacan honors three saints – Santa Clara (the most famous of the three), La Virgen de Salambao, and San Pascual Baylon. Each saint has a feast day set aside where they are moved in a procession accompanied by dancing through the narrow streets of the town. The women devotee-dancers are dressed in bright baro’t saya or balintawak with matching flowered hat, waving buri fans which are similarly decorated with flowers and colorful ribbons. Men sport camisa de chinos of old while others use contemporary flowered shirts. Each saint is prayed to for specific favors sought – Santa Clara for a female mate, San Pascual for a male mate and the Virgen de Salambao, for a child. Different saints for different favors cause devotees to pray to a different saint for a different favor in a merry mix-up confusion. The sure-fire solution was to pray to all three in one kneeling. In fact, Santa Clara is always inadvertently approached by barren couples for a child. The Ob...

  Ili-ili Tulog Anay is probably the most popular Filipino lullaby. Thanks to Prof. Prisicilla Venturanza Magdamo who was able to record this gem-of-a-song from a certain Maria Abitang in Bañga, Aklan. It was later published in her Philippine Folk Songs: Songs of the Visayas Vol. 1 (with piano accompaniment), Vol II (fakesheet style), and in Vol. III for chorus.  And the rest is history. The short soothing song simply means: Ili-ili (a crooning word for babies) sleep awhile/ Your mother is not here,/ She went to the store to buy bread/ Ili-ili sleep awhile. The notation below was taken from a learning module available online.

 This Ilonggo folk song about the butterfly is in the polka tempo. Similar to the Tagalog "Sitsiritsit" this song also uses the butterfly ( alibangbang in Visayan languages) as a metaphor of a beautifully dressed woman. In this Hiligaynon version, the woman is wearing a skirt of silk ( sutla ), an embroidered nagwas (an underskirt or slip), and her whole get up is in the Parisian style ( bayong de Paris ). This song first appeared in Emilia Cavan's Philippine Folk Song (1924). It was also reported in the Historical Data Papers of Iloilo Province (1953), as Ang Mariposa . The version below was taken from a learning module available online.