View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CSUN ScholarWorks CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Music of Pre-colonial and Spanish Colonial Philippines, and the Filipino Rondalla A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree in Master of Music in Music, Performance By Justin Cydrick Gaffud Cabales May 2015 The thesis of Justin Cydrick Gaffud Cabales is approved: _________________________________________ ______________ Dr. Alexandra Monchick Date _________________________________________ ______________ Dr. Lawrence Stoffel Date _________________________________________ ______________ Dr. Julia Heinen, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii Table of Contents Signature Page ........................................................ ii Table of Contents ..................................................... iii Abstract .............................................................. iv Introduction .......................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Ethnic Tradition .................................................. 3 Ethnic Music ...................................................... 4 Ethnic Instruments ................................................ 6 Chapter 2 Spanish Colonial Tradition ........................................ 10 Spanish Colonial Music ........................................... 12 Spanish Colonial Instruments ..................................... 16 Choral Music and San Pedro’s Sa Ugoy Ng Duyan ................... 18 Chapter 3 The Rondalla ..................................................... 23 Rondalla Music ................................................... 26 Instrumentation .................................................. 29 Conclusion .......................................................... 33 Works Cited ......................................................... 36 iii Abstract Music of Pre-colonial and Spanish Colonial Philippines, and the Filipino Rondalla By Justin Cydrick Gaffud Cabales Master of Music in Music, Perfomance With over seventy-one hundred islands counted within its border making it the second-largest archipelago in the world, the Philippines is A diverse nation that possesses many unique cultures and customs. Along with its deep tribal origins, Filipino music and its practices are heavily influenced by Western traditions. This music has existed long before Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set foot on Philippine soil in 1521. It was not until four decades later when the Spaniards conquered and colonized the islands, that change in culture, religion, and music took place. Over three centuries of Spanish rule, ended through the Treaty of Paris in 1898, this study will not only survey pre-colonial Filipino music and its Western influence, but also will primarily focus on the plucked iv string ensemble that Spanish colonists introduced to the Philippines, known as the rondalla. What were some of these changes in culture? What are some other Filipino musical styles before the Spanish reign? What kind of influence did the Treaty of Paris, when the Spaniards relinquished the Philippines over to United States governance, have on the music? Moreover what did it have on the rondalla, what are its characteristics, and what are the differences between the Filipino rondalla and its Spanish counterpart? What makes it distinctly Filipino? Through archival research and performance recordings, this research will aim to define the Filipino sound. It will also examine Lucio San Pedro’s Sa Ugoy ng Duyan as an example of the Spanish influence and its legacy of producing successful musicians and composers. v Introduction Spanish Traces in the Islands Many aspects of Philippine culture is a fusion of Spanish and native Philippine traditions. For over three centuries of Spanish rule, many of its customs have woven itself into the indigenous Filipino culture, and evolved a people with a unique blend of east and west. Spain and the Philippines also share many cuisines and clothing. The Philippine language of Tagalog shows traces of Spanish with shared words that may be different only in spelling. In the southern region of the Philippines, the island of Mindanao is populated with purely Spanish-speaking Filipinos, but the people of the Philippines find a way to cook, dress, and speak that is distinctly Filipino. Filipino music has long existed before Ferdinand Magellan and his men set foot on Philippine soil in 1521 ending their circumnavigation expedition Around the world. Magellan’s assistant, Antonio Pigafetta, recorded evidences of native vocal and instrumental music.1 Categorized into four different eras, ethnomusicologists would call this pre-colonial music as the Ethnic or Oriental 1 Eleizer GArAnchon YAnson Jr., Philippine Choral Music: A Conductor’s Guide to Selected Works Composed between 1900 and 2010, (ColumbiA: University of South CarolinA, 2010), 8. 1 tradition. The period during the Spanish crusade in the Philippines is simply known as the Spanish Colonial tradition.2 This paper will study the music of the Philippines and its development during these two eras. A description on the types of music and instruments will be given. It will also analyze Lucio San Pedro, one of the nations most prominent composers who benefited from Spanish music education, and his most famous work entitled, Sa Ugoy ng Duyan. A chapter will focus specifically about the rondalla, which is the plucked string ensemble that the SpAnish colonists introduced to the Philippines. Along with its history, the paper will also explore into its instrumentation and its musical stylistic traits. 2 RyAn OsAl, Filipino Folk Music, Accessed April 4, 2015, aboutphilippines.ph/filer/Folk_music-Philippines.pdf, 2. 2 Chapter 1 Ethnic Tradition (pre-colonial, Ninth to early Sixteenth century) Located in Southeast Asia in the Pacific, the Philippine Islands was already a melting pot of Malay stock mixed with Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, and Arab people prior to becoming a Spanish colony in the mid 1500s.3 Being an archipelago of composing over seven thousand islands and having several waves of migration, the Philippines had resulted to a country with separate regional settlements. Merchants from the Insular Southeast Asia first settled in different parts of the country to establish trading systems. Most of the Chinese and the Arabs gravitated toward the southern region to start trading with the people of MA-i, a region that had already been occupied predominantly of Chinese descent. Aside from goods, these merchants also traded social and cultural ideas, as well as religion. There is a strong Muslim population in the south, especially in the island of Mindanao, that was introduced in the fourteenth century.4 3 OsAl, 2. 4 Ibid, 8. 3 Ethnic Music Music during the Ethnic tradition mainly served religious and other ritual purposes. Some of these ceremonies marked rites of passage and life-cycle events for the early Filipinos, while some are largely based on the Islamic practices. Heavy percussive instruments, interrupted by vocal hymns, often accompany these rituals. These characteristics are also true for early Filipino tribes, such as the Bagobo tribe of Davao and the Ifugao tribe of the Mountain province.5 Similar to the early western traditions, vocal music is regarded as more important than instrumental music. Vocal music is able to express thoughts and beliefs more clearly and vividly, while music enhances it. Singing was a central component of the Filipino culture and was mainly improvisational, considering they had very little practice in music theory. Celebrations would lead to impromptu concerts and is frequently filled with singing. Two types of unnamed vocal musical styles existed. The first one is an unaccompanied vocal song, what western music call an “a capella” (Italian for “in the manner of the church”). The other, what can be called a “cantata” (Italian for “sung”), is performed with a vocalist accompanied by an instrument. During 5 OsAl, 3. 4 this time, the instruments are mostly percussive, with a handful of aerophones (wind instruments) and chordophones (stringed instruments). Most of the string instruments, like the mandolin or the guitar, were not introduced until later by the Spanish.6 6 Parnes, 2. 5 Ethnic Instruments During this era, there were mainly eight types of musical instruments used. Other than grouping them in families, they were also categorized by their volumes. The stringed kudyapi and the korlong, the wind tolali, and the subing instruments were considered as quiet instruments.7 They were often played indoors and at night. The loud instruments were the percussion and other auxiliary instruments and were originally intended for war but have since turned towards the purposes of dance celebrations and other public gatherings. The kudyapi is a small two to three-stringed lute that were used by men to accompany the love songs they might have written. Its composition is entirely made of wood, and is usually attached with a belly of half of a coconut shell to increase resonance.8 The tip of the burubunkun (neck) is decorated with intricate designs of horns and scrolls (known as apil-apil). Korlong is the female equivalent of the plucked instrument. It is made out of a single node of bamboo and is played with both hand like a lyre or harp.9 The 7 WilliAm Henry Scott, Barangay: 16th Century Philippine Culture and Society, (ManilA: Ateneo de MAnilA University Press, 1997), 108. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 6