Folk music takes us back to the roots of our culture.

"Folk music takes us back to the roots of our culture."- Tulsi Kumar 

Original title: Ethnic music makes a wholesome life; it is therapy*

Music is closely associated with everyday life among village folks more than it is to us living in the city. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Lucrecia Kasilag and Lucio San Pedro, famous Filipino composers,

and ethnic musicologists

Have you ever noticed village folks singing or humming as th ey attend to their chores? They have songs when rowing the boat, songs when planting, songs of praise at sunrise, songs while walking up and down the trail, etc. Seldom is there an activity without music. Even the sounds of nature to them are music.

According to researcher Leonora Nacorda Collantes, of the UST graduate school, music influences the limbic system, called the “seat of emotions” and causes emotional response and mood change. Musical rhythms synchronize body rhythms, mediate within the sphere of the autonomous nervous and endocrine systems, and change the heart and respiratory rate. Music reduces anxiety and pain, induces relaxation, thus promoting the overall sense of well being of the individual.

Music is closely associated with everyday life among village folks more than it is to us living in the city. 

Philippine native songs are associated with rural life.  Countryside scene by national artist Fernando Amorsolo

The natives find content and relaxation beside a waterfall, on the riverbank, under the trees, in fact there is to them music in silence under the stars, on the meadow, at sunset, at dawn. Breeze, crickets, running water, make a repetitious melody that induces sleep. Humming indicates that one likes his or her work, and can go on for hours without getting tired at it. Boat songs make rowing synchronized. Planting songs make the deities of the field happy, so they believe; and songs at harvest are thanksgiving. Indeed the natives are a happy lot.

Philippine Ethnic Music

Filipinos already had a rich and unique musical tradition long before westerners set foot on our native land. Music was present in every stage of our ancestors’ lives — from birth to death, in blissful or tragic times.

Ethnic musical instruments 

Ethnic music continues to thrive in the Philippines, particularly among indigenous people who comprise 10 percent of the country’s population and represented by more than 100 language groups from the mountains of northern Luzon as well as from Mindanao, Sulu, Palawan, and Mindoro in southern and western Philippines.

Such instruments as flat gongs, bamboo buzzers, clappers, quill-shaped percussion tubes, and brass Jew’s harps are often seen in the north. Meanwhile, bossed gongs, ring flutes, log drums, xylophones, single-stringed violins, and suspended beams are commonly used in the south.

These musical instruments are used in various rituals, festivities, and other activities. For instance, the paldong or kaldong, the lip-valley flute of the Kalinga, is a favorite instrument for serenading.

Vocal forms, performed either responsorial (viz., leader-chorus) or solo, are also used for different purposes. They follow the sequence of natural events and human activities, from the personal to social, from the economic to the political, from the spiritual to the cosmic. 

The Ibaloy ba-diw, an example of responsorial singing, is used in ceremonies for the dead called du-udyeng or ta-tamiya. In weddings, epic songs, which may be sung for one or more nights, may also be chanted to entertain guests or villagers themselves. Meanwhile songs, performed by a soloist may be accompanied by instruments and/or dancing.

Among indigenous Filipinos, one important function of music is to celebrate or commemorate important events in the human life cycle. Examples are the Kalinga dopdopit, which is sung the first time a child is bathed outside the family’s house; and the dinnayan, dawak, and paliwat, also of the Kalinga, which are sung during a ritual celebrating the rite of passage from boyhood to manhood.

The variety of musical forms, styles, repertoires, and traditions that exist mirror the rich diversity in Filipino culture. Fortunately, until today, these rich indigenous musical traditions live on. They serve as a reminder of the Filipinos’ long history of musical talent and ingenuity.

Rondalla - Philippine counterpart 

of the Western orchestra 

Sources:

• Hila, Antonio A. Musika: an Essay on Philippine Ethnic Music. Manila: Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, 1992.
• Santos, R.P. “The Ethnic Tradition,” CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, volume VI: Philippine Music. Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines, 1994.

* Living with Nature School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday