FOLK SONGS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

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...

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...

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.

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...