Hearing Indigenous, Asian and Western Notes in
Philippines
Filipinos are proven to be one of the most creative and colorful people in the world. The
types of arts that are produced in different regions, each region has its unique specialties
or product to take pride.
Arts have been parts lives, and artists are the ones who contributed arts in our society.
You may know some o the artists in our society but not their works, and some knows the
artworks but not the artist. Thus, the purpose of every Filipino artists is to express the
beauty of the world that may really express the real value of an art piece in a way that
influences us.
In this topic, you will learn the different artists and their contribution from the various
form of art in Hearing Indigenous, Asian, and Western Notes in Philippines Music.
Jose Maceda
~ He was born in Manila on January 31, 1917
~ He was highly acclaimed Filipino composer and ethnomusicologist
~ He was a National Artist for Music (1997), composer, musicologist, teacher, and
performer. The music artist ahead of his time. Traditionalist, but also experimentalist,
avant-garde. Icon of contemporary underground (as opposed to mainstream) musicians
and sound artists.
~ He devoted 40 years of his life to documenting and recording the chants, prayers,
rituals, and music of ethnic Filipinos from the northern tip to the southern tip of the
Philippines. With humility, he called the resulting massive collection "An
Ethnomusicological Survey in the Philippines."
~ He was a music professor at the University of the Philippines who sought to understand
and appreciate Filipino ethnic music for a deeper understanding of Filipinos.
~ He was an artist of the highest calibre and experimentalist, creating compositions that
revolutionized contemporary genres such as hiphop, ambient, and noise.
~ Musique concrete is composed using electronic synthesizers and nature sounds. His
works fall under the following classifications:
1. Music for bamboos, mixed instruments and voices
2. Music for six gong families
3. Music for mouth harps
4. Music for cassette recorders and radio stations
5. Music for European instruments, bamboos, percussion, and gongs
6. Music for orchestral or European instruments
7. Music as theater
~ Consider Maceda's following bold experimentations:
1. Compositions that mixed Filipino and other Asian native instruments
2. Compositions that mixed Filipino native and European instruments
3. Compositions that mixed European instruments not usually grouped together
4. Compositions that required some group/s of performers to walk in a ritual
manner or exchange places at given interval
5. Compositions that needed to be performed in open-air or spacious
venues (as these performances were tantamount to the rituals communally
practiced by our ancestors)
6. Compositions that made use of radio sets, radio stations, and
electronic instruments/gadgets
Here are examples:
~ Maceda's "Udlot-udlot" was a carnival of sounds produced by four instruments, such as
the kalutang, balingbing, tongatong, and ongiyong. The primary consideration was the
densities and thickness of sound produced by three musical components: the repeated
sounds, the mixed sounds, and the human voices. The mixed sounds were produced by 10
groups positioned in 10 squares within a circle 16 meters in diameter. The group that
produced the repeated sounds of sonorous sticks walked clockwise the circle.
Watch this video and see Maceda himself as he leads his foreign (San Francisco,
California, USA; 2003) in performing his ritual music composition “Udlot-udlot”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3gWVrEG03U
~ Another well-known work, according to Defeo, is "Pagsamba" with 116
instrumentalists and voices played by more than 200 individuals distributed throughout
the circular chapel of the UP Diliman Parish of the Holy Sacrifice.
~ Maceda's works are able to connect with the younger generations through different
means, such as his works made available by the UP College of Music, written works
about him, YouTube videos of productions of his works, special events/occasions to
honor him, and word of mouth. In 2014, the UP Center of Ethnomusicology celebrated its
16th foundation anniversary with a tribute to the legendary avant-garde
ethnomusicologist, titled "Listen to My Music".
Contributions:
Ugma-ugma
Pagsamba
Udlot-udlot
Ugnayan
Aroding
Suling-suling
Francisco Feliciano
~ He was born in Morong, Rizal on February 19, 1941
~ He was a composer, a conductor, and an educator who brought out our songs to the
world
~ He was a prolific composer of over 30 major works
~ He studied music composition at UP, the Hochschule der Kuenste in Berlin, Germany,
and the Yale University School of Music
~ He is best known for his choral compositions, which are ethnic-Filipino-Asian-
Feliciano-sounding and incorporate subtleties of rhythmic vitality and intricate
interweaving of lines from indigenous tribes. His compositions celebrate our various
ethnicities.
~ Feliciano's "Pokpok Alimpako" is based on a Maranao children's song.
Pokpok alimpako pok!
Limpakopiko malalago isi daling
daon si Boroboro
bukas kasa-isa
Pokpok alimpako!
(Pound your hands
Dali will run
Boroboro is not around
Open that hand under the other
Pound your hands!)
~ Feliciano transformed "Pokpok Alimpako" into a Maranao/Filipino-Asian choral
masterpiece.
Watch and listen to this video for Feliciano's "Pokpok Alimpako" as performed by the
internationally known UST Singers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlqxWMyv7kl
Contributions:
La Boba Negra
Ashen Wings
Sikhay Sa Kabila ng Paalam
Yerma
Samoan Sulaiman
~ He is the heralded master kudyapi player from Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
~ People who knew Samaon Sulaiman came to meet him for a variety of reasons. He was
a barber if you wanted a haircut. He was an imam in terms of spiritual matters. He was
the expert kudyapi musician when one required music to calm the nerves and comfort the
spirit.
~ Kudyapi is a two-stringed plucked lute that may be played solo or in tandem with other
instruments. Kudyapi is one of the most challenging native instruments to learn and
master. Sulaiman was taught the kudyapi by an uncle when he was approximately 13
years old, and at 35, he was acclaimed as the greatest master musician of this instrument.
Sulaiman passed away in 2011.
~ Even during his time, it was seen that young people were disinterested in studying their
native instruments, particularly the difficult ones like the kudyapi. However, it is the
youth who will pass on our cultural inheritance to future generations of Filipinos.
~ The music of the kudyapi is an important aspect of Maguindanao/Muslim culture that
Maguindanaons should preserve and respect. They have Samaon Sulaiman's stories from
when he was 13 and when he was 35 for inspiration.
Watch these videos Samaon Sulaiman, the master kudyapi player. The first in the list
shows him younger than the next two videos but in all, one feels his ever passionate pride
and passion
for his kudyapi music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?V=DCDHjQcPBCO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv3uMaZCHs4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?V =UFiRZXoEAM
