Philippine Folk Songs

The Philippines has a rich folk song tradition, for songs mark every stage in the life of the Filipino, from the moment he is born to the time he dies and is buried. That Filipinos are a musical people had been noted by foreign visitors to the country. Like our aspects of our culture, our folk songs have been touched by foreign influences in the course of our history, resulting in a folk song tradition characterized by richness and variety and exhibiting blend of East and West.
Serenades

During the period of courtship, the serenade is standard practice, and some of the most beautiful love songs are sung to serenade the loved one. In Tagalog serenades, hyperbole is the main device used to win sympathy of the girl, so she will look at her window. In “Alaala Kita sa Aking Pagtulog, ” the lover says that when he sleeps,

Ang binabanig ko’y luhang umaagos            
Ang inuunan ko’y sama ng loob
In”Sa Pinto ng Langit,” the exaggeration is even more:
Sa lungkot ng buhay, sa gitna ng lagim
Malapit na akong bangkay na tanghalin
Kaya dungawin mo, ng magtamong aliw
Buksan mo ang pinto ang langit sa akin

Some serenaders are extremely polite and apologize for the lateness of the hour. A Bikol suitor is very humble and would be happy with a little:

Na minsan dati na
Ako mo pasakton
Dungawa man lamang
Mata mong magayon
Kung di manginguhang
Makapagdungaw ka ,
Alagad pagmata
Taling kilingan

Truly devoted lovers even express a willingness to die for the loved one

Duena nga pagraemak
Yetnag mot’kaasim ket imdengannak
Ta uray mo pakatayak
No isut”gustoem sia namungak
Se antuengque ipatec
Yo raddam cu gumafu sicuam

Lullabies and Children’s Songs

Like the lullabies of other peoples, Philippine lullabies tend to be soporific in tune and sometimes repetitious in text. In the majority of examples, however, the text tells us something about the folk –their family life and their workaday world. The singer is not always the mother but an older sibling or relative, perhaps even just a neighbor. In many lullabies we find lines like:


Tulog na, bunso ko
Ang ‘yong  Ina ay wala
Darating agad ang iyong tatay
May dala dalang suman at tinapay

The mother and father are away working at some occupation and the care of the child is itself to an older sibling or to relatives. In one Tagalog lullaby, the singer, apparently a teenaged older sister of the child, adds a bit of moralizing about love at the end:

Kung makabili ka man at bihis ng bihis
Marami mang damit ay siyempre mapupunit
Gayon din naman ang gawang umibig
Kung bago ng bago’y walang masasapit

In Bukidnon lullaby, the singer is probably just a neighbor:

Nga bata ng dili ako
Yawat na man maka dako manatad
man ako masugo

Children’s songs takes us to the happy and carefree world of the child—a world of fun and games, of jokes and laughter, with time spent mostly at outdoors, Climbing trees and picking fruits, catching fish in nearby stream, or just playing in the street on moonlight nights. In this world, even poverty wears a pleasant face. When the child sings “Bahay Kubo”, it is not a squalid squatter dwelling he describes but a neat little house set amidst a garden planted to all kinds of vegetables--- a truly idyllic scene which gives an impreession of serenity and abundance.

The child’s closeness to anture is expressed in songs in which he mimics the movements of certain animals like the crab (Pakitong-kitong) and talks to them (Cuckoo, Taringting Bird).

Wedding Songs

The longest Tagalog wedding ballad, Matrimonyo, is serious in tone and advices the newly weds from a religious point of view. They should treasure teir marriage and should take as models St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary and the pious Abraham and his wife Sarah. Some very popular wedding songs, however, are sad and give gloomy picture of married life for the bride. The burden of married life is placed on her. She has to do the adjusting to her husband. Her world now revolves around him. She has to give up her friends, forsake all her former pleasures, and concentrate on pleasing her husband, lest he displeased and beat her. The contrast between the single life and married life drawn in another song only confirms this gloomy picture of married life:

Buhay ng dalaga ay masaya sa lahat
Pag nag-asawa ka ay diyan na ang hirap
Makatagpo ka pa ng lalaking tamad
Para kang nagpasan ng krus na mabigat

A Bikol song also opens with a gloomy admonition to the bride:

Herac man simo tugng co
Sohay ca na qui Nanay mo
Iyo nang pagsosondon mo
An gobierno ni lagom mo

A Pangasinan wedding song is an exception to this gloomy mood of Tagalog and Bikol wedding songs. It is happy song that begins:

Abeten, abeten ko’y manugang ko
Sayawan, sayaway kindo-kindo
Pangipatnag ko met lad satad abay ko
Pangipatnag koy tuan panangaro

A Bukidnon wedding song,also sung by a parent, gives a cheerful picture of married life:

Taba yon sayo ko don
Ta tu gan a mag yo nom on
Ta mag sa bu wa on la ag

In a Gaddng song, the parents are more practical. They give their newly married children money to start life with and express hope that they may raise children who will be good citizens of the country.

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