Laygay Samarnon Series, No. 6 - "BATO NGA PAMUNAKAN"

The song "Bato nga Pamunakan" vividly describes the ways back then, when the Samarnon women, heavily-laden with a basin-full of soiled clothes goes for the nearest river, brook or stream for laundry. It is in this set-up that news and gossips about the town's prominent and the common folks' lives are unintentionally subjected under scrutiny and deliberation. It is in such gossip-mongering situation that the persona of the song laments.

The song is actually sung in the common dodecasyllabic lines of the Visayan balitaw or more specifically, the ismayling or amoral of Samar. This version of the song was notated by Mr. Irasga as sung by an unidentified staff of the Division Office of Borongan City in Eastern Samar sometime in 2014. Further research on the song yielded more versions from Tacloban City and Western Samar. The longest version so far is the one found in the unpublished manuscript Antolohiya han mga Tradisyonal ng Porma. Nevertheless, the song text below is common to all versions;

Buhi pa an bato nga pinamunakan

Ngan didto la pagtikang an karukayakan

May-ada ko singsing, singsing nga bulawan

Pinurot ni Inday, ngan pagtinangisan.

The big rock still stands

Where those gossips first came about

I once have a ring, a golden ring

Which Inday picked up, only to weep on it.

[Literal translation by the blogger.]

Comments

ILI-ILI TULOG ANAY - Philippine Folk Song (Hiligaynon)

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.

ANG ALIBANGBANG - Philippine Folk Song (Hiligaynon)

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.

Philippine Folk Song - LUBI-LUBI (Waray)

Lubi-lubi is a Waray folk song about the coconut ( lubi ). The song simply means that the Waray folks can enjoy coconuts in all the 12 months of the year. The Waray version of the song (also called Lubi-lubi Lingkuranay ) is about a dwarf coconut (probably an allusion to a small maiden) which a man promises not to climb, after all it was not that tall. The song proceeds the now famous enumeration of the months of the year. The succeeding stanza is a dialogue between a maiden and a suitor who is trying to win her "immature" heart which she likened to a young coconut ( silot ). The maiden warns the suitor to first seek the permission of her parents before even picking one silot. For those familiar with the song, the third verse, sung for the second part of the music can be sang: Kun waray sin abaniko/ Patay na inin lawas ko/ Lawas ko, ay, ay, madedesmayo/ San balhas nga dimasyado. For classroom use purposes, the only the first two stanzas are sha

FOLK SONGS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

Search This Blog