Contemporary Philippine Music

Group 2 – 12 Pascal
Contemporary Music in the Philippines

▪ Refers to the compositions that have adopted ideas and elements

from the 20th century art music in the west, as well as the latest
trends and musical styles in the entertainment industry.
Contemporary Music in the Philippines

▪ A good number of these works have utilized the standard formats of

classical European music such as the concerto, the symphony, the
symphonic and tone poems, cantata, etc. and may therefore be
broadly categorized as neo-classic.
▪ At the same time, they have also been greatly influenced by the
textural colors of Debussy’s music and the ambiguous and “dissonant”
tonalities of early 20th century expressionist compositions.
▪ Moreover, the sounds of non-Western instruments have been added
to the tonal fabric.
 History

▪ Spain and America having colonized the Philippines from early

1500s to the late 1800s, it was unavoidable that Western
compositional techniques found their way into the works of Filipino
composers.
▪ Yet, even 20th century Filipino composers have managed to retain
some traditional elements in their assimilation of Western
techniques.
▪ In fact, they have become the strongest foundations of what we
know as Philippines Music.
 History

▪ Philippine music has truly evolved from its indigenous roots to its
contemporary form.
▪ Throughout the centuries and through several colonial influences,
the music in the Philippines have become too Westernized
especially during the American colonial period and after the
Second World War.
Some common characteristics, which are not always
present and are not only specific to this period,
include:

1. Fewer lyrical melodies than other periods.

2. Dissonant Harmonies
3. Complex rhythms
4. Percussiveness
5. Greater use of percussion, brass, and woodwind.
6. Uses synthetic and electronic sounds
Philippine Music comes in a variety of
forms, covering a wide spectrum of sources,
geographically and historically; and
representing more than 100 ethnolinguistic
groups as well as different social and
cultural environments in the Philippines. The
totality of these forms may be categorized
into three distinct repertoires:
▪1) Asiatic oral traditions; 2)
westernized oral traditions;
and 3) western-influenced
art and popular music, and
semi classical music.
Asiatic Oral Traditions
▪ covers forms that are closely related to the cultural traditions of Southeast
Asia.
▪ In the Philippines, such traditions are practiced among the villages in the
Cordillera Administrative Region, in the upland areas of Palawan, Mindoro
and eastern Mindanao, the predominantly Muslim communities in western
Mindanao and Sulu, as well as the different Negrito communities across the
archipelago, e.g. Northern Luzon, Bicol and parts of Panay and Mindanao.
▪ Most of the musical forms are performed in connection with rites of passage
and life cycle events as well as occupational activities. These occasions
consist of birth, initiation and graduation ceremonies; courtship and marriage;
death and funeral rites; hunting, fishing, planting and harvest; healing and
various forms of armed conflicts.
Asiatic Oral Traditions
▪ In public gatherings, most of the musical performances are integrated with
dancing and some form of physical movement, as well as the participation of
the community or audience. Solo playing or small group singing are done
without much movement. In Philippine literature, these forms are usually
referred to as Indigenous Philippine music.
Westernized Oral Traditions
▪ In public gatherings, most of the musical performances are integrated with
dancing and some form of physical movement, as well as the participation of
the community or audience. Solo playing or small group singing are done
without much movement. In Philippine literature, these forms are usually
referred to as Indigenous Philippine music.
▪ consists of orally transmitted genres and compositions that are performed in
rural Christian communities in Luzon, Visayas and parts of lowland Mindanao,
and are generally referred to as Philippine “folk music”.
▪ Their origins may be traced through four evolutionary processes: 1) forms
that have been introduced by the Spanish colonial power and later adopted
and modified by local artists and performers (metrical romances); 2) syncretic
and hybrid forms that have been locally assimilated elements from Western
religious traditions (subli, sanghiyang); and 4) locally processed songs based
on older pre-colonial tunes (planting songs, children’ s play songs, lullabies,
love songs and serenades).
Westernized Oral Traditions
▪ The most important occasions during which folk music is performed in the
Christian calendar year include the may flower devotions to the Virgin Mary
that culminates in the Santacruzan pageant, Lent and Christmas seasons.
▪ Particular religious hymns are connected to specific activities like
the Alay (Flower Offering) in May; the pabasa and pasyon (chant reading of
the life and passion of Christ), thesenakulo (pasyon theater), andsalubong (
meeting of the risen Christ and Mary) during lent and Easter; and
the panuluyan search for an inn) during Christmas eve.
▪ Each community has other religious and semi-religious occasions such as the
feast of the patron saint and other special festivals; e.g. the harvest festival
called pahiyas in Quezon province or the commemoration of the feast of
the Sto Niño (Holy Child) in Panay Island called “Dinagyang”.
Western-influenced Art And Popular Music, And
Semi Classical Music

▪ found in urban communities and centers of population.

▪ In the last 100 years, Filipino composers have written works in the standard
Western art music forms (chamber music, symphonic music, opera, serswela,
etc.) and contemporary music styles, as well as the latest popular music
industry- Latin American, jazz, country, rock, folk, rap, etc. In addition, modern
compositions have also been written for such theatrical forms as dance
and/or ballet, drama, musicales, and cinema.
▪ In the field of vocal music, choral music in the Philippines has dramatically
expanded in the last fifty years, with the rise of the high quality choral singing
and the countrywide proliferation of choral groups in all sectors of society :
church , government, business and culture. Initially, Philippine choral music
consisted of folksong arrangements, old masses and hymns, as well as
locally composed operas and sarswelas.
MODERN FILIPINO
MUSIC
OPM (Original Pilipino Music)

▪ OPM has been centered in Manila, where Tagalog, and English are the
dominant languages. Other ethnolinguistic groups such as the Visayan, Bikol,
and Kapampangan, despite making music in their native languages have not
been recognized as OPM, except in unusual cases like the Bisrock (Visayan
Rock music) song “Charing” by Davao band 1017..
▪ Multiculturalism advocates, and federalists often associate this discrepancy to
the Tagalog-centric cultural hegemony of the capital city of Manila.
▪ Having successfully created a subgenre of Philippine Rock they called
Bisrock, the Visayans by far have the biggest collection of modern music in
their native language, with great contributions from Visayan bands Phylum,
and Missing Filemon.
Pop music

▪ The biggest voice in the Philippines is Regine Velasquez. Original Pilipino

Music, now more commonly termed Original Pinoy Music or Original
Philippine Music or OPM for short, originally referred only to Philippine pop
songs, particularly ballads, such as those popular after the collapse of its
predecessor, the Manila Sound, in the late 1970s, up until the present. In the
70’s Nora Aunor, Pilita Corrales, Eddie Peregrina, Victor Wood, ASIN and
many more. In the 1970s the major commercial Philippine pop music artists
were, Joey Albert, Claire dela Fuente, Didith Reyes, Rico Puno, Ryan
Cayabyab, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Hajji Alejandro, Rey Valera, and
Freddie Aguilar, Imelda Papin, Eva Eugenio, Nonoy Zuniga and many others.
Pop music

▪ Between the 1980s and 1990s, OPM was led by artists such as Regine
Velasquez, Sharon Cuneta, APO Hiking Society, José Mari Chan, Dingdong
Avanzado, Rodel Naval, Janno Gibbs, Ogie Alcasid, Joey Albert, Lilet, Martin
Nievera, Manilyn Reynes, Pops Fernandez, Lea Salonga, Vina Morales,
Raymond Lauchengco, Francis Magalona, and Gary Valenciano among many
others.
▪ In the 1990s, the famous artists/bands included Eraserheads, Smokey
mountain, Donna Cruz, Jessa Zaragoza, Ariel Rivera, Southborder,
Afterimage, Andrew E., Jaya, Rivermaya, Ella May Saison among many
others. OPM pop has also been regularly showcased in the live band scene.
Groups such as the Neocolours, Side A, Introvoys, The Teeth, Yano, True
Faith, Passage, and Freestyle popularized songs that clearly reflect the
sentimental character of OPM pop.
Rock and Blues

▪ The United States occupied the Islands in 1898 until 1946, and introduced
American blues, folk music, R&B, and rock and roll which became popular. In the
late 1950s, native performers adapted Tagalog lyrics for North American rock &
roll music, resulting in the seminal origins of Philippine rock. The most notable
achievement in Philippine rock of the 1960s was the hit song “Killer Joe”, which
propelled the group Rocky Fellers, reaching number 16 on the American radio
charts.
▪ Up until the 1970s, popular rock musicians began writing and producing in
English. In the early 1970s, rock music began to be written using local languages,
with bands like the Juan Dela Cruz Band being among the first popular bands to
do so. Mixing Tagalog and English lyrics were also popularly used within the
same song, in songs like “Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko” (The Miss Universe
of My Life), by the band Hotdog which helped innovate the Manila Sound. The
mixing of the two languages (known as “Taglish”), while common in casual
speech in the Philippines, was seen as a bold move, but the success of Taglish in
popular songs, including Sharon Cuneta‘s first hit, “Mr. DJ”, broke the barrier
forevermore.
Rock and Blues

▪ Philippine rock musicians added folk music and other influences, helping to
lead to the 1978 breakthrough success of Freddie Aguilar. Aguilar’s “Anak”
(Child), his debut recording, is the most commercially successful Filipino
recording, and was popular throughout Asia and Europe, and has been
translated into numerous language by singers worldwide. Asin also broke into
the music scene in the same period, and were popular.
▪ Folk rock became the Philippine protest music of the 1980s, and Aguilar’s
“Bayan Ko” (My Country) became popular as an anthem during the 1986
EDSA Revolution. At the same time, a counterculture rejected the rise of
politically focused lyrics. In Manila, a punk rock scene developed, led by
bands like Betrayed, The Jerks, Urban Bandits, and Contras. The influence of
New Wave was also felt during these years, spearheaded by The Dawn.
Rock and Blues

▪ The 1990s saw the emergence of Eraserheads, considered by many

Philippine nationals as the number one group in the Philippine recording
scene. In the wake of their success was the emergence of a string of
influential Filipino rock bands such as Yano, Siakol, Parokya ni Edgar, and
Rivermaya, each of which mixes the influence of a variety of rock subgenres
into their style.
▪ Filipino rock has also developed to include some hard rock, heavy metal, and
alternative rock such as Razorback, Wolfgang, Greyhoundz,
Slapshock,Bloodshedd, and the progressive bands Paradigm, Fuseboxx and
Eternal Now.
 Hip-hop

▪ Filipino hip-hop is hip hop music performed by musicians of Filipino descent,

both in the Philippines, and overseas, especially by Filipino-Americans. This
article focuses first on Filipino hip-hop in the Philippines, and secondly on that
in the USA. The Philippines is known to have had the first hip-hop music
scene in Asia[1] since the early 1980s, largely due to the country’s historical
connections with the United States where hip-hop was originated. Rap music
released in the Philippines has appeared in different languages such as
Tagalog, Chavacano, Cebuano, Ilocano and English. In the Philippines,
Francis M and Andrew E. are cited as the most influential rappers in the
country, being the first to release mainstream rap albums.
Program Music

▪ Unlike pure music which has no reference in the real world and no story
component, program music is instrumental music that may tell a story with
explicit episodes, reveal facets of a character, place, or occasion, or imitate
the sounds of the world. Sometimes this may take the form of a verbal
explanation of the “story” or “program” of the piece. The term was invented
bycomposer Franz Liszt, who understood program music to involve a
program external to the music that set the parameters and the form in which
the musical piece unfolds.
20 th Century Traditional
Composers
• Francisco Beltran Buencamino Sr., was born
on November 5, 1883 in Bulacan, He was
the son of a musically inclined couple.

• He studied music composition and

harmony at Liceo de Manila.

• He taught at the Ateneo de Manila and at

Centro Escolar de Senoritas (which is now
Centro Escolar University).

Francisco B.
Buencamino Sr.
Example of his composition:
• Harana
• Pandanggo ni Neneng
• Collar de Sampaguita
• Dulces las Horas
• Ang bukang Liwayway

Francisco B.
Buencamino Sr.
• Jose Maceda was born in Manila on
January 17,1917. He started his music
studies at the academy of music in
Manila.

• Maceda’s musical style changed when

he encountered the music of the
indigeneous tribes of Mindoro in 1953.

Jose Maceda (1917-

2004
• He then embarked on his life’s
work,dedicated to the
understanding and preservation of
Filipino traditional music.

• Maceda combined sounds of the

environment with ethnic
instruments.

Jose Maceda (1917-

2004
• His compositions were usually for large groups
of musicians.
• Among his works are:
1. Ugma-Ugma (1963), a work for voice and
ethnic instruments
2. Agungan (1975), a piece for six gong families
3. Pagsamba (1968), a musical ritual for a circular
auditorium using several ethnic percussion
instruments
4. Cassettes 100 (1971), a composition for 100
cassette tape recorders;and Ugnayan (1974),an
ethnic piece played at the same time over several
stations. Jose Maceda (1917-
2004
• Considered as the first Filipino avant
garde composer.
• Maceda served as Proffesor of Piano
and Musicology at the College of
Music.University of the Philippines from
1952 to 1990.
• He was appointed Executive.Director of
its Center for Ethnomusicology in 1977.

Jose Maceda (1917-

2004
 Some of the instruments played in the “Udlot-Udlot” piece.
Kalutang or sonorous sticks , balingbing or buzzers , tongatong or
stampers,and ongiyong or flutes.
• In the same year,he was conferred
the honor of National Artist for
Music.
• He passed away in Manila on May
5,2004.

Jose Maceda (1917-

2004
 Triumvirate of Filipino Composers

1. Francisco Santiago - Father of Kundiman

Famous works:
▪ Pakiusap
▪ Madaling Araw
▪ Sakali Man
▪ Ano Kaya ang Kapalaran
▪ Kundiman (Anak Dalita) – sung before the
Royal Court of Spain upon the request of
King Alfonso II.
 Triumvirate of Filipino Composers

2. Nicanor Abelardo – developed European

romanticism with chromaticism style (hazy
tones).
Famous works:
▪ Mutya ng Pasig
▪ Nasaan ka Irog
▪ Cavatina for Violoncello
▪ Magbalik Ka Hirang
 Triumvirate of Filipino Composers

3. Antonio J. Molina (1894-1980)

▪ Began his music career as an orchestral

soloist at the Manila Grand Opera House

▪ Served as Dean of Centro Escolar University

Conservatory of Music from 1949-1970.

▪ He was a faculty member of University of

the Philippines Conservatory (now College)
of Music.
• Raymundo Cipriano Pujante Cayabyab, also
known as Ryan Cayabyab, Mr. C, as many of
the people in the music industry call him,
was born on May 4, 1945 in Manila,
Philippines.
• He is the son of soprano Celerina Pujante
and Alberto Cayabyab. He is married to
Emmy Punsalan, also a music graduate.
• Together, they have two children: Cristina
Maria and Antonio Maria Cayabyab.

Ryan Cayabyab
He wrote award-winning theatre musicals like:
• Noli Me Tangere
• El Filibusterismo
• Manificat
• KATY
• Alikabok
• Ilustrado
• Rama Hari
• Spoliarium
• LORENZO (Recent)

Ryan Cayabyab
• One of the most notable contributions of
Cayabyab is the establishments of a music
school. Ryan Cayabyab The Music Studio
specializes in developing performance
artists.
• Ryan Cayabyab has been a judge in the
reality talent shows like Pinoy Dream
Academy and Pinoy Idol.
• He had performed in front of royalties and
presidents of the world.
• He also has collaborated.

Ryan Cayabyab
 OPM (Original Pilipino Music)

▪ Original Pilipino Music, now more commonly

termed Original Pinoy Music, Original Philippine
Music or OPM for short, originally referred only to Philippine pop
songs, particularly ballads, such as those popular after the collapse
of its predecessor, the Manila Sound in the late 1970s, up until the
present.
 In the 1970s, popular OPM artists included:

▪ Nora Aunor
▪ Pilita Corrales
▪ Eddie Peregrina
▪ Victor Wood
▪ and Asin,
among others.
 Major Commercial Philippine Pop Music Artists:

▪ Pops Fernandez ▪ Celeste Legaspi ▪ Nonoy Zuniga and

many others.
▪ Claire dela Fuente ▪ Hajji Alejandro
▪ DidithReyes ▪ Rey Valera
▪ Rico Puno ▪ Freddie Aguilar
▪ Ryan Cayabyab ▪ Imelda Papin
▪ Basil Valdez ▪ Eva Eugenio
 Between the 1980s and 1990s, OPM was led by artists:

▪ Regine Velasquez ▪ Ogie Alcasid ▪ Raymond Lauchengc

o
▪ Sharon Cuneta ▪ Joey Albert
▪ JoAnne Lorenzana
▪ APO Hiking Society ▪ Lilet
▪ Francis Magalona
▪ José Mari Chan ▪ Martin Nievera
▪ and Gary Valenciano,
▪ Dingdong Avanzado ▪ Manilyn Reynes
among many others.
▪ Rodel Naval ▪ Lea Salonga,
▪ Janno Gibbs ▪ Vina Morales
 In the 1990s, famous artists/bands included:

▪ Eraserheads ▪ AfterImage ▪ and Roselle Nava,

among many others.
▪ Smokey Mountain ▪ Andrew E.
▪ Donna Cruz ▪ Jaya
▪ Jessa Zaragoza ▪ Lani Misalucha
▪ Ariel Rivera ▪ Rivermaya
▪ South Border ▪ Ella May Saison