Music of the Philippines
Filipino music is a mixture of European, American and indigenous sounds. Much of the music of the Philippines have been influenced by the 377 year-long colonial legacies of
Spain, Western
rock and roll,
hip-hop and
pop music from the
United States, the indigenous
Austronesian population and Indo-Malayan
Gamelan music.
The Philippines, being a large archipelago, has musical styles that vary from region to region.
Traditional Filipino music typically employs a combination of musical instruments belonging to the percussion, wind, and string families. These instruments are usually made of bronze, wood, or bamboo.
Southern styles
Among the various groups of the island of
Mindanao and the
Sulu Archipelago, a highly sophisticated musical repotoire called
kulintang exists in which the main instruments used are bossed gongs not dissimilar to gongs used in
Indonesia.
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A pair of agungs, one of the instruments found in the kulintang ensemble |
Generally, kulintang ensembles among the Maguindanao, Maranao, the Tausug and other lesser known groups, are composed of five pieces of instrumentation. Among the Maguindanao, this includes: the
kulintang (strung out horizontally on a stand, serving as the main melody instrument of the ensemble), the
agung (the largest gongs of the ensemble providing much of the lower beats, either coming in a pair of two or just one alone), the
gandingan (four large vertical gongs aligned front to back, used as a secondary melodic instrument), the
dabakan (an hour-glass shaped drum covered in goat/lizard skin) and the
babendil (a singular gong used as the timekeeper of the entire ensemble). The Maranao have similar instrumentation with the exception of the gandingan which they do not have an equivalent of.
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A Philippine kulintang of the Maguindanaon people with 8 gongs stacked horizontally by pitch atop a wooden antangan |
Among the
Maguindanao/
Maranao, kulintang music serves as their means of entertainment and hospitality, being used in weddings, festivals, coronations, to entertain visiting dignitaries and to send off those heading and coming back from pilgrimages. Kulintang music is also used to accompany healing ceremonies and particularly among the Maguindanao, can serve as a form of communication. Because the Maguindanao can convert the music into their language and vice versa, the Maguindanao can sends messages long distances using their instruments. The
gandingan usually is their instrument of choice to send messages, known among the Maguindanao as apad. Apad has been used to warn others of impeding danger or to send a message to a lover. In fact, people have been known to elope with the use of such songs.
*Clewley, John. "Pinoy Rockers". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 213-217. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
* Traditional Music of the Southern Philippines - An online textbook about Southern Pilipino Kulintang Music. Has chapters devoted to kulintang instrumentation, styles and uses by the Maguindanaon and other Southern Pilipino Groups.
*Various Streaming Filipino Music on Pinoy Isulong Seoph Martinez
