A Study On The Original Pinoy Music PDF

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A DELIBERATIVE CONCEPTION AND STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ORIGINAL PINOY MUSIC TO THE LIFESTYLE OF FILIPINOS A Term Paper Requirement For English 10 by Anthony Luisse F. Reyes Professor Julieta Mallari 27 May 2016 A DELIBERATIVE CONCEPTION AND STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ORIGINAL PINOY MUSIC TO ...

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A DELIBERATIVE CONCEPTION AND STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ORIGINAL PINOY MUSIC TO THE LIFESTYLE OF FILIPINOS

A Term Paper Requirement For English 10

by Anthony Luisse F. Reyes

Professor Julieta Mallari 27 May 2016

A DELIBERATIVE CONCEPTION AND STUDY ON THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ORIGINAL PINOY MUSIC TO THE LIFESTYLE OF FILIPINOS

Music is a form of art and an activity that involves culture whose primary medium is sound. The common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. Pitch governs melody and harmony. The rhythm is associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation. Dynamics is the loudness and softness of a sound. The sonic qualities of timbre and texture are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound. Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces such as songs without instrumental accompaniment and pieces that combine singing and instruments.1 Music in the Philippines is an art that embodies the Filipino Culture. Music in the Philippines comes in a many different forms, layering a wide range of sources, based on history and based on geography, and representing more than 100 ethnolinguistic groups as well as different social and cultural environments in the Philippines. In this huge

Thomasine McGeHee [Cobb], People and Music: A Textbook in Music Appreciation (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1931), pp.18-20. 1

embodiment of music in the Philippines, Filipino audiophiles were greatly affected by the culture of this kind of art. 2 The effects of the Philippine Music in Filipino audiophiles can be considered as a huge contribution to the Filipino Culture. As the culture of the Filipinos grows large, the rise of the new genre of Philippine music happened, the advent of Original Pinoy Music. Original Pinoy Music came with different genres from generations to generations that comes with different legendary Filipino music icons. There are many factors that influence culture. These factors influence the way of living, the lifestyle of the people. The contributions of Original Pinoy Music in the Philippine Music scene are major factors that influence the Filipino culture. It affects the Filipino music listeners or the Filipino audiophiles. Before the newly evolved Filipino music, which is the Original Pinoy Music, made a rise, there are certain cultures and traditions that influenced the Filipino standard in music. For every period of time that happened, OPM evolved. From just a little piece of music through the use of nature instruments, the music changed into a well-developed standard. The history of Orginal Pinoy Music is a culture that evolves through time. The traditional music is the beginning of the music in the Philippines. Like the traditional music of other countries, tradition or folk music resembles the life of the common, habitually Filipino natives that live in mountains. Similar to the counterparts around Asia, many of folk songs from the Philippines have a strong connection with the

2

William Rogers Pfeiffer, Music in the Philippines, Indigenous, Folk, Modern, and Introductory Survey (Quezon City: The Author, 1985), p. 23.

environment. Filipino Folk music is reflective to the country's past as an advent of different cultures.3 As time passes, Filipino Folk music was influenced by different cultures and traditions. Other traditions from other natives gave rise and influence the Filipino music from its origin, traditional Filipino music. It is difficult to severely know the whole embodiment of Philippine music as either Western or Eastern. A system is used to catalog Philippine music according to its origin, ethno-linguistic, or cultural divisions: for example, traditional Tagalog music, which is somewhat more Hispanic, differs from Tribu music and Maranao kulintang music.4 In the 15th century, as the Europeans start to colonize the Philippines, the Spaniards began changing the lifestyle of the Philippines’ natives, our katutubos. They started it by forcing the natives to live by the city, with this, they could easily influence and change the lifestyle of the people. Living inside the city is a good start in changing the perception of the people because the city mostly depicts the culture of an entity. The Spaniards had a good vantage point in seeing a best strategy in spreading their influence. 5

3

Nicanor Tiongson and R. C. Banas, "Himig" Himig.com, January 28, 2010. (Accessed May 22, 2016) http://himig.com.ph/features/36-indigenous-philippine-musictradition-and-transformation. 4

Corazon Canave-Dioquino, Philippine Music, A Historical Overview (National Commission for Culture and Arts, 2015) http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/music/philippinemusic-a-historical-overview. 5

John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700, Vol. III: Vantage Point (Mandaluyong: Cacho Hermanos, 1959), p.134.

As the Spaniards colonizes the Philippines, the music of the Philippines experienced an alteration with the influences from the West, mostly the SpanishEuropean culture during the 17th to the 19th centuries. It caused an alteration in the people’s view on music and what arise was a huge and widely expression attached with Hispanic genre. It shaped a music connected to and outside the religious and secular music adapted by the Filipinos and reflected in their songs and instrumental music.6 Native Filipinos that were influenced by the Westerns moved into the city where there is a widely-spread culture from the Spaniards. The churches, where the Filipinos were brain-sculpted, were the place that Spaniards do their influencing. The Spaniards let the church held activities that will captivate and nourish their culture into the Filipinos. Activities such mass, that have such music, became a culture to the Filipinos and later became traditions.7 The utmost significant occasions during which religious music influenced by the Western is accomplished in the calendar year of Christians includes the May Flower consecrations to our Virgin Mary that the Filpinos culminates in the Santacruzan, Lent and Christmas seasons. Particular religious hymns are connected to specific activities like the Alay in May; the Pabasa and Pasyon, the Senakulo and, Salubong during Lent and Easter; and the Panuluyan, a search of the Virgin Mary for a birth-giving place for Jesus during Christmas Eve. Each community has other religious and semi-religious occasions

6

Antonio J. Molina, Music of Philippines (Manila: National Museum, 1967) pp.79-80. 7

John Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and Filipino Responses, 1565-1700, Vol. III: Vantage Point (Mandaluyong: Cacho Hermanos, 1959), pp.135-136.

such as the feast of the patron saint and other special festivals. Harvest festival called Pahiyas in Quezon province or the tribute of the feast of the Sto Niño in Panay Island called “Dinagyang” are the so-called festivals that rise from the influence of the Westerns. It should be noted that many of the forms under this category began as compositions by the clergy and/or locally trained musicians, but have nevertheless become part of the over-all oral literature and learned spontaneously through centuries of practice. 8 The advent of chorale groups in the Philippines is also due to the existence of influence of the Spaniards. Choral music has become a significant part of the culture in Philippine music. Through the voice of the great grand choir, the music that tells the story of Catholicism and the story of how the Europeans, the Spaniards spread the beliefs of the said religion. The choir sings the lyrics of the verses that turned into songs. It dates back to the choirs of churches that sing during mass in the old days. In the middle of the 20th century, performing choral groups started to emerge and increasingly become popular as time goes by. Aside from churches, universities, schools and local communities have established choirs. The established choirs, as influenced by the Spaniards, sing songs in multiple languages. They sing religious church song in Espanol and Tagalog. Through this, different choirs from different parts of the Philippines developed from just a choir that sings religious to a choir that sings variety of songs not only the songs that they sing in churches. The variety of music in the Philippines was

8

William Rogers Pfeiffer, Music in the Philippines, Indigenous, Folk, Modern, and Introductory Survey (Quezon City: The Author, 1985), p. 24.

expanded through the development of choral music. This is the beginning of other Philippine Music genres.9 Philippine choral arrangers like Robert Delgado, Fidel Calalang, Lucio San Pedro, and Eudenice Palaruan have included in the vast repertoires of choirs beautiful arrangements of OPM, folk songs, patriotic songs, novelty songs, love songs, and even foreign songs. Many choral competitions in different parts of the country started. Choral competitions include song compositions that involves the harmony of voice of a choir: tenor, bass, soprano, alto. The immersion of the Spaniards in these competitions is completely active because they are the one who is sponsoring the competitions. 10 In the grounds of vocal music, harmonic music in the Philippines has intensely expanded, with the rise of the high quality choral singing and the nationwide multiplying of choral groups in all sectors of society: church, government, business and culture. Initially, Philippine choral music consisted of folksong arrangements, and old masses and hymns. Choral music in the Philippines was a great contribution in executing songs as locally composed for operas and Sarswelas in the theaters in cities such as Manila and Cavite. Today, the repertoire has been augmented by local madrigal-like pieces. The arrangements of popular love songs, folksongs, religious songs, and Spanish and Tagalog songs in the Sarswelas and Dulaang-Bayan are large scale compositions that in the Spanish period are very much in demand during choral competitions and choral festivals 9

Ibid., pp.25-26.

10

Leticia G. Del Valle, "History of Music Education in the Philippines - National Commission for Culture and the Arts," NCCA.com, April 15, 2015. (Accessed May 26, 2016) http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/music/historyof-music-education-in-the-philippines/.

that occur during the Christmas and Lenten Seasons, and other culminating activities that depicts the lifestyle of the Westerns especially Catholicism. 11 The strong band tradition in the Philippines, which began during the Spanish period and which continues to this day, produced outstanding musicians, composers and performers. Another popular instrumental ensemble was the Rondalla which came from an earlier type of ensemble called the Cumparsa from the Spanish culture. The latter was an adaptation of similar instrumental group, the Estudiantina of Spain.12 The involvement of the Spanish in the music line of the Philippines starts to vanish as the Americans began settling in the Philippines but the effect of their invasion focusing on music still remains because their influence had a great impact to the mindset of the Filipino audiophiles. Many Filipino audiophiles still fantasized the classical music the Spanish brought to our culture. The choral music still remains since the Catholicism did not even vanish completely. Instead, the music of the choral helped in maintaining the good perception of the Filipinos in Catholicism even if the Spaniards’ invasion diminished already. 13 After the Westerns invaded the Philippines and remarked their influence to our culture in music, the Americans started to settle at Pearl Orient of the Sea. Just like the 11

William Rogers Pfeiffer, Music in the Philippines, Indigenous, Folk, Modern, and Introductory Survey (Quezon City: The Author, 1985), p. 27. 12

Antonio J. Molina, Music of Philippines (Manila: National Museum, 1967) pp.79-81. 13

Leticia G. Del Valle, "History of Music Education in the Philippines - National Commission for Culture and the Arts," National Commission for Culture and the Arts.com, April 15, 2015. (Accessed May 26, 2016) http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/music/history-ofmusic-education-in-the-philippines/.

Spaniards, Americans use their culture as instrument in their spreading of influence. Americans used their way of living, their liberal lifestyle in making remarks in the culture of the Filipinos. The way of living starting from the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and the music they listen to, were imitated by the Filipinos. America’s culture had huge impact to Filipinos that is why Filipinos have a high impression on their lifestyle, the things they do. 14

In the newly established public school system of the Americans that was applied to the Philippines, music was one of the subjects that is included in the curriculum at the primary level and later at the secondary school levels. Music conservatories as a department or college were established at the tertiary level. The alumni from this newly established curriculum that includes music produced a generation of Filipino composers whose works were written in American idioms and forms. Their compositions and those of the following millennials of Filipino composers represent the music tradition influenced and guided by the Americans which continues to flourish and make fruitful culture today. 15

Alongside with this music tradition influenced and guided by the Americans was a lighter type of music compared to the music influence of the Spaniards. This semiclassical range includes stylized folk songs, modernized theater music, and instrumental music. The opera tradition of the Americans produced a large body of music consisting

14

Renato Constantino, The Miseducation of the Filipino (Quezon City: Foundation for Nationalist Studies, 1982), p.14. 15

Ibid., pp.16-19.

of songs patterned after Sarswela of the past Spaniard-influence as well as short instrumental overtures and interludes.16

The lifestyle of the Americans and their pop culture gave rise to music shaped by Filipinos. Denoted to as Pinoy Pop, it includes a wide range of forms: folk songs that reflects the lifestyle of the folks in the rural area, dance tunes that are used in living the beat of music and dance floor because Filipinos love to celebrate and dance, ballads, Broadway type songs, Rock’ n’ Roll as the Filipinos like to watch rock concerts, disco, jazz, and rap.17

A departure from the typical forms of American classical music is an important characteristic of the compositions of composers who are exploring unconventional directions and concepts in music composition industry. Led and inspired by people like Jose Maceda, these works derive their essence, theoretical and structural parameters from non-American sources, specifically Asian music and Philippine indigenous cultural traditions. At the same time, they have been initially influenced by the ideas of mass structures that were advanced by such modern music composers as Edgar Varese and Iannis Xenakis, and later by the different streams of indeterminacy and improvisation as explored by John Cage and his supporters. With these modern music composers, Original Pinoy Music made a rise to the line of Philippine music. 18

16

Antonio J. Molina, Music of Philippines (Manila: National Museum, 1967) pp.86-87. 17

18

Ibid., pp.81-82.

Joseph E. Peters, Contemporary Music in the Philippines (Quezon City: The Author, 1985), p. 39.

Original Pinoy Music has been mainly popularized in Manila, where English and Tagalog are the primary tongues. Other ethnolinguistic groups such as Visayan, Cebuanos and Kapampangan, despite making music in their native languages, have not been accepted as OPM. Multiculturalism activists and federalists habitually associate this unfair treatment to the Tagalog-centric cultural dominion of the capital city, Manila. Though, as the Original Pinoy Music develops, it created different genres and under these genres are the subgenres. 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. 19 After the successful inclusion of Visayan music in the Original Pinoy Music, the Kapampangans takes after the lead. Debuts of songs and music video of Kapampangan song occurred in the OPM industry. The song and music video of Oras , a song by a Tarlac City-based Kapampangan band has penetrated MTV (Music Television) Pilipinas, making it the first ever Kapampangan music video to join the ranks of other mainstream Filipino music videos. RocKapampangan: The Birth of Philippine Kapampangan Rock, an album of modern remakes of folk Kapampangan extemporaneous songs by various Kapampangan bands is also an evidence of a successful inclusion of other languages besides English and Tagalog in the line of Original Pinoy Music. This proves that the

19

Jonas Baes, "Popular Music in the Philippines - National Commission for Culture and the Arts." National Commission for Culture and the Arts.com, April 15, 2015, (Accessed May 26, 2016) http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-onthe-arts-sca/music/popular-music- in-the-philippines/.

Tagalog-centrism is not a basis anymore in composing and creating Original Pinoy Music.20

Despite the rising demand for non-Tagalog, and non-English music, and greater representation of other Philippine languages, the local Philippine music industry, which is centered in Manila, is focusing in venturing investments of music to other locations. Some of their major reasons include the language barrier, small market size, and sociocultural emphasis away from regionalism in the Philippines. Organizing events such as Music Festival helps the Philippine music industry in venturing investments of music to places besides Manila and other civilized cities. 21

In decade of 1970’s, the Metro Manila Popular Music Festival became the barrier for the formation of pop songs and the introduction of aspiring artists and performers. It is a festival that showcase different compositions from different artists and composers. The festival will proclaim a winner who has the most beautiful composition. The Metro Manila Popular Music Festival, also known as Metropop, was initiated by the Popular Music Foundation of the Philippines to venture music investments to our culture and to the Philippine music industry. The festival is held annually from 1978 to 1985. It is said that it was the country’s pioneering and once foremost songwriting competition. The festival’s goal was to promote the development of Original Pinoy Music, and its chief

20

Joseph E. Peters, Contemporary Music in the Philippines (Quezon City: The Author, 1985), pp.46-49. 21

Jonas Baes, "Popular Music in the Philippines - National Commission for Culture and the Arts." National Commission for Culture and the Arts.com, April 15, 2015, (Accessed May 26, 2016) http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-onthe-arts-sca/music/popular-music-in-the-philippines/.

proponents were Teodoro Valencia and Imee Marcos, the daughter of the late former president, Ferdinand Marcos. Music festivals launched many careers and gave birth to the fame of songwriters and singers. The festivals gave Original Pinoy Music more than a few memorable and modern-day song classics. Further music competitions and music festivals inspired even more artis...