FOLK SONGS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

This is among the most easily recognizable Cebuano-Visayan folk song. Thanks to Yoyoy Villame, this already popular song became even more popular especially to non-Visayan speakers. The comic song is about a fisherman named Filemon who went fishing in the sea. All he got was a small mudspringer ( tambasakan ), which he sold at a dilapidated market for 50 centavos ( kura ) each. His earning was enough to buy himself tuba wine.

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.

  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.

One of the most popular Philippine folk is this song about the parting of lovers. Dandansoy is the nickname of the man who is leaving his beloved in their place Payao.  Early version of this song appearing in the American period music book - the Progressive Music Series - Philippine Edition states that this song originated from the town of Culasi in Antique Province and was reported by a certain Fortunata Masipok.  The simple, yet lovely melody of the song truly have a universal appeal that it already have versions in many Philippine languages, primarily in the Visayan regions. The notation of the song below was taken from the thesis of Mr. Cainglet, available online. For classroom instruction purposes, only the first verse is given here.

  A Cebuano children's song about a rooster who loudly crows "kukuliya, kukula !" The rooster was later butchered and cooked into a delicious dish.  This is song was collected by Rosemary V. Diaz from a Cebuano-speaking area in the Visayas sometime in 1972. The complete song text is given below. The music transcription of the song below by Sr. Lilia Therese Tolentino, was taken from a learning module, available online.  Akong manok sa buhi pa, akong manok sa buhi pa  Kusog motuktugaok, "Kukuliya, kukula!" Kusog motuktugaok, "Kukuliya, kukula!" Akong manok sa buhi pa. Akong manok sa patay, akong manok sa patay na  Wa' nay motuktugaok, "Kukuliya, kukula!" Wa' nay motuktugaok, "Kukuliya, kukula!" Akong manok sa patay na. Akong manok sa lamisa, akong manok sa lamisa  Lami ang pagkaon, "Kukuliya, kukula!" Lami ang pagkaon, "Kukuliya, kukula!" Akong manok sa lamisa.

            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.      ...

From the Ivatans of Batanes to the Samals of Tawi-tawi, the Philippines is replete with songs which revolves around the occupation or livelihood of the people. Damiana L. Eugenio, considered as “Ina ng Folklore sa Pilipinas” classified these kinds of songs in her monumental anthology “Philippine Literature Series VIII: The Folk Songs” into “occupational songs.” The Ivatans sing the kalusan while their seamen row boats.  The Ilocanos of the north have songs about salt-making, the Ibaloy of Benguet have hunting songs.  Who could ever forget the short and choppy Ifugao rice pounding song “Chua-ay”? The Visayans, living in an archipelago surrounded with seas teeming with marine resources are expectedly sea-oriented, in terms of culture, life ways and livelihood. The Eastern Visayas is no exception. Jaime B. Polo wrote in 1983 about a colorful fishing “ritual-drama” in the village of Binalayan in Leyte. Much is also written about the buhat ritual to attract schools of d...

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...

This is one of the more popular folk songs of Samar and northeastern Leyte.  The song is probably a dance music because of the similarity of the melody to the Pandangyado dance music.  The song texts are the most popular version available, although other song texts are used by the people of Eastern Samar.  Further research on this song found out that songs is just a part of a two-part song from Eastern Samar, the "Miripiti Kanding."  This "Han Nakadto Ka Pa" is actually, the second part of that song. Han nakadto ka pa, ka pa Ha kahigrayu-an, yu-an An kasingkasing ko, singko Alang nakain man diyes man. An pag-ilalanat, kinse Sobrado kapinan baynte Pero pag-aanhon kon mag-aalkase, When you were still there, still there On that very far place, far place My heart, beats not for fifteen times No, more than twenty times But what can I do if I lost. Source:   Courtesy of Mr. Irasga.

Scanning through my collection of Philippine folk song books, I find it easier to find samples of songs which express pride of one's ethnicity, especially, the noteworthy virtues of each people group's maidens/womenfolk: industrious, beautiful, socially-accomplished, good example, modest, peerless, and so on. Folk songs like the Babaeng Bikolana, the Kapampangan  Ing Manai, the Tagalog Ang Dalagang Tagabukid and Lulay ; the Waray An Marol (featured earlier in this blog's series, No. 3) , the Ilocana a Nadayag and the Daragang Taga-Cuyo  of Palawan all take pride in the prime qualities of their womenfolk. However, our love for the Filipinoness outside our own ethnicity is rather rare in the themes of our folk songs. That could be safe, probably, to presume that there could be a lot of folk songs which embody the ardent love for one's place of origin: a town, a province, an island, a region or an island group; however, for folk songs with theme of love for our country co...

The study of Philippine history during the Spanish colonial era is never a task solely relying on digging of chronicles, travel accounts, books published during that time, letters, government documents, statistical reports, catechisms and various ethnographic reports written (and most were published) by the frailes  themselves.  While the invaluable pieces of information the aforementioned offered can't be discounted, something  as paramount and as encompassing are on vernacular dictionaries and lexicons! The foreword written by Fr. Jose M. Cruz, S.J. for   prolific writer William Henry Scott's book  Barangay: Sevententh Century Philippine Society   mentioned the importance of dictionaries in the reconstruction of 17th century Philippines Society and culture: Dictionaries figure importantly in this book.  in the sixteenth century, there were only about a million and a half natives and only a small number of missionaries.  Aware of t...