Beyond the Classroom: Asia and the Middle East

When I first started thinking about what topics to choose for this blog, I had no idea where to even begin, so to get myself thinking I literally googled "Countries in Asia." After scrolling for a second, I saw the Philippines, and that caught my attention. The reason it caught my attention is that my grandmother (step-grandmother technically) is Filipino. She married my grandpa a few years after my grandmother passed away, and at the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception, they had a ton of Filipino food. The food was fabulous, so I learned a lot about traditional Filipino food from that, but I realized today that I really don't know anything about Filipino music, so here's what I learned from the internet.

 
1. A little intro/background of Music in the Philippines
My initial search took me to the World Federation of Music Therapy, with a great article by Ryan Osal. Here I learned that Filipino music is regarded as a unique blending of musical traditions of both the east and the west. Additionally, it is divided into four eras, or traditions, known as Ethnic, Spanish Colonial, American Colonial and Contemporary tradition. Most of their music is heavily influenced by the west, due to Spanish and American rule, but ethnic music still exists, mostly in areas less influenced by the west. 

Due to a broad range of influences, the music can sound almost Indian, European or even Chinese. According to an article from Tatler, traditional Philippine music employs what is know as the hagod style of singing, which is basically "gliding" between notes, much like the use of microtones in Arabic and Indian music, so it no surprise much of their music has similar sounds. Instrument-wise, instruments like the guitar play a major role in the music, as Spanish rulers instructed native people in various instruments they brought over from Spain. While Instruments are very important, vocal music is absolutely central to the musical culture. 

Music is regarded as central to daily life in the Philippines. In some indigenous cultures, it is even seen as something that simply cannot be detached from daily life. They see life as an "indivisible whole" of art, ritual, myth, and work are all part of one life. These cultures have a song for every part of life, every step from birth to death. 
I could go into the specifics of those four eras of music, but that would definitely go way over the word count for this assignment, so for the next two sections, I decided to focus on two major influences, American and Spanish. 

2. American Influence on Philippine Music
According to National Geographic, the Philippines was a U.S. colony from 1898-1946. During this time, it's no surprise that music, as well as many other aspects of the culture were influenced by American culture. American music including Disco, Funk, Motown, and rap gained popularity as more people were introduced to it. Additionally, the rise in immigration from the Philippines to the US led to increased exchange of music between immigrants and their families and friends back in the Philippines. 

During this time, turntablism was on the rise, and scratch DJ’s were popping up everywhere. Among some of the best were many Filipino musicians. Filipino Americans took this new style of music and made it their own, and were very successful in doing so. Below there’s a video of DJ Qbert, a Filipino American turntablist who was named the best American DJ in 2010. The video below is from the National Association of Music Merchants in 2015. It's pretty long, but if you watch the first minute or so, you can get a pretty good sense of the vibe of his music. 

3. Spanish Influence on Philippine Music

According to Britannica, the Philippines were under Spanish control for a large portion of recent history, from 1581-1898 when they became an American colony. This shaped just about every aspect of their culture, from schooling, to religion to music. As you probably already know, the Spanish were pretty big on spreading the Christian faith to the various places they ruled, and the Philippines was no exception. According to World Federation of Music Therapy, the Spanish initially used music as a way to bring Christianity closer to the natives. The Spanish introduced the guitar, organ, and harp to the natives, along with Christian chants and western styles of harmony vastly different than native music. 

This period of Spanish influence became the roots of what many know today as modern Filipino music. Being a very portable instrument, and much easier to make than instruments like the organ, the guitar became the most popular instrument and was a feature of almost all music. The three main types of music that arose from the era of Spanish rule were the harana, the kundiman, and the rondalla. The harana is a form of courtship music played on the guitar, kundiman is a form of lyrical song that starts in a minor key, then shifts to a major key, and rondalla is an ensemble of string instruments. Usually when I think of a string ensemble, I immediately think of an orchestra type of ensemble, but rondallas are a bit different. They feature plectrum instruments, or instruments that are plucked with a pick. Below is a video from the 2019 National Association of Music Competitions for Young Artists, showing a traditional Philippine rondalla.