1. KUMINTANG
The kumintang is the name given to several distinct styles, techniques and forms in
music and dance probably originating in the areas used by early Spanish cartographers
and chronicles to denote a large province centering around what is known as
Batangas. Early 19th-century travelers' accounts often mention the kumintang as a
Tagalog "chant national", describing them as dance-songs performed by pairs of men
and women, with texts concerning love and courtship. All accounts mention a glass of
coconut wine passed from hand to hand by the dancers as they sing.
Jean Baptiste Mallat describes it as a pantomimic dance where the man runs around
and gestures to a woman(not always decently), and finally pretends illness to get the
woman's full attention.
In the 20th century, Francisca Reyes-Aquino dubbed as kumintang the circular hand
and wrist movement also known as the kunday. Among present-day afficinados of
musical and dance events called awitan and pandangguhan in and around the city of
Batangas, kumintang also refers to a guitar-plucking style, considered the most
melodious and beautiful of all guitar styles accompanying the old kinanluran style of
pandangguhan dance songs.
E. R. Mirano.
BALITAW
The balitaw is an extemporaneous exchange of love verses between a man and a
woman. Danced and mimed, it is accompanied by a song, or the dancers themselves
sing, improvising the steps and verses. It may last for hours, ending with the woman
accepting or rejecting the man's suit. The balitaw is found mainly in the Tagalog and
Visayan regions. The dancers may be costumed in balintawak or patadyong or in
contemporary everyday clothes. Its accompaniments could be provided by the
subing(bamboo flute), castanets, coconut guitar, harp, the five-stringed guitar, or a
combination of the three. The Visayan balitaw is usually in the minor key, while the
Tagalog is in the major. Both are related to the kumintang and kundiman in their
styles of accenting.
As sung in quatrain or ballad stanza in the Visayas, it is 'expansive and erotic in
character' with accompaniment similar to the bolero, a Spanish dance also in triple

2. time, accompanied by the dancer's singing and castanet playing (Molina in Filipino
Heritage VIII, 2029). In words which may be humorous and full of energy, the typical
Visayan balitaw speaks of all domestic phases of life, from love and courtship,
marriage and separation, gambling and employment, child rearing, envious neighbors,
to the dignity of labor. The Cebuano couple Pedro Alfarara and Nicolasa Caniban
were titled the 'king and queen' of the balitaw at the turn of the century.
Kundiman (originally spelled Cundiman) is a genre of traditional Filipino love songs. The lyrics
of the Kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and
gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundiman was the traditional means of serenade in the
Philippines.
The Kundiman came around to be an art song at the end of the nineteenth century and by the
early part of the twentieth century, its musical structure was formalised by Filipino composers
such as Francisco Santiago and Nicanor Abelardo (February 7, 1893-March 21, 1934); they
sought poetry for their lyrics, blending verse and music in equal parts.
Scholars and historians believed that the Kundiman originated from the Tagalog town of
Balayan, Batangas. [1] Dr. Francisco Santiago(1889–1947), the "Father of the Kundiman Art
Song", briefly explains in his scholarly work "The Development of Music in the Philippines" the
reason why this Tagalog song is called Kundiman is because the first stanza of this song begun
thus:
"Cundiman, cundiman
Cundiman si jele"
"Hele ng Cundiman
Hele ng Cundangan"
In 1872, the illustrious Franciscan Tagalist and poet, Father Joaquin de Coria wrote the "Nueva
Gramatica Tagalog Teorica-Practica" which, besides treating grammar, also enumerates the
characteristics of Tagalog language, and discusses Tagalog poetry.[2] In this book, Father Coria
also gave us a list of the names of the most important songs of the Tagalogs. They are:
• Diona and Talingdao (songs in the homes and in ordinary work)
• Indolanin and Dolayin (songs in the streets)
• Soliranin (boat songs)
• Haloharin, Oyayi, and Hele-hele (lullabies)
• Sambotani (songs for festivals and social reunions)
• Tagumpay (songs to commemorate victory in war)
• Hiliraw and Balicungcung (sweet songs)

3. • Dopayinin (similar to Tagumpay; more serious and sincere)
• Kumintang (love song; also a pantomimic "dance song" -Dr. F. Santiago)
• Cundiman (love song; used especially in serenading)
The Spanish scholar V.M. Avella described the Kundiman in his 1874 work "Manual de la
Conversación Familiar Español-Tagalog" as the "cancion indigena" (native song) of the
Tagalogs and characterized its melody as "something pathetic but not without some pleasant
feeling." [3]
In his 1883 book "Cuentos Filipinos", Don José Montero y Vidal recorded in Spanish the sad
lyrics of a "popular" Kundiman of the "Tagalas" or Tagalogs :[4]
Cundiman, cundiman
Cundiman si jele
Mas que esta dormido
Ta sona con ele.
Desde que vos cara
Yo ta mira
Aquel morisqueta
No puede traga.
Cundiman, cundiman
Cundiman, cundaman
Mamatay, me muero
Sacamay mo lamang.
The Spanish writer and historian Wenceslao E. Retana recorded in 1888 the lyrics of a popular
Kundiman in Batangas. The melancholic lyrics in the Tagalog original as recorded in Retana's
book "El Indio Batangueño" reads: [5]
Aco man ay imbi, hamac isang ducha
Nasinta sa iyo, naghahasic nga
Di ba guin si David ng una ay aba
Pastor ay nag harin ng datnan ng awa?

4. Estrebillo:
Hele ng Cundiman
Hele ng Cundangan
Mundo palibhasai, talinghaga lamang
Ang mababa ngayon bucas ay marangal.
Sa lahat ng hirap sintang dala-dala
Salang cumilos isip coi icao na
Acoi mananaog na hahanapin quita
Estrebillo:
Hele ng Cundiman
Hele ng Cundangan
Cundangan nga icao ang may casalanan
Tataghoy-taghoy ni 'di mo pa paquingan.
In 1916, Dr. Juan V. Pagaspas, a doctor of philosophy from Indiana University and a much
beloved educator in Tanauan, Batangas described the Kundiman as "a pure Tagalog song which
is usually very sentimental, so sentimental that if one should listen to it carefully watching the
tenor of words and the way the voice is conducted to express the real meaning of the verses, he
cannot but be conquered by a feeling of pity even so far as to shed tears." [J.Pagaspas, "Native
Amusements in the Province of Batangas"]
Dr. Francisco Santiago, the "Father of Filipino Musical Nationalism" declared in 1931 that the
Kundiman "is the love song par excellence of the Filipinos, the plaintive song which goes
deepest into their hearts, song which brings them untold emotions." [F. Santiago, "The
Development of Music in the Philippines"]
The melody and sentiment of the Kundiman tends not only toward the melancholy but also the
cheerful [6], and the commitment of the heart to passion is celebrated in every piece. The singer
of the kundiman expresses the pain and beauty of love felt by every listener, for the kundiman is
not merely entertainment but an embodiment of collective emotion.
Endowed with such power, the Kundiman naturally came to serve as a vehicle for veiled
patriotism in times of colonial oppression, in which the undying love for a woman symbolized
the love of country and desire for freedom.

5. Dr. Jose P. Rizal (1861–1896), the Philippine national hero, has consecrated the Kundiman in his
social novel “Noli Me Tangere”. Not only this but he himself wrote a Kundiman which is not of
the elegiac type because its rhythm sounds the threat, the reproach and the revindication of the
rights of the race.
Kundiman ni Rizal
Tunay ngayong umid yaring diwa at puso
Ang bayan palibhasa'y api, lupig at sumuko.
Sa kapabayaan ng nagturong puno
Paglaya'y nawala, ligaya'y naglaho!
Datapuwa't muling sisikat ang maligayang araw
Pilit na maliligtas ang inaping bayan
Magbabalik man din at laging sisikat
Ang ngalang Tagalog sa sandaigdigan!
Ibubuhos namin ang dugo'y ibabaha
Ng matubos lamang ang sa Amang Lupa!
Hanggang 'di sumapit ang panahong tadhana
Sinta ay tatahimik, tutuloy ang nasa!
Sinta ay tatahimik at tutuloy ang nasa!
O Bayan kong mahal
Sintang Filipinas!
From 1896 to 1898 the most famous Kundiman, which fired the patriotic sentiments of the
Tagalog revolutionaries in the struggle for liberation from Spanish colonial rule, was Jocelynang
Baliuag. Officially known as Musica del Legitimo Kundiman Procedente del Campo Insurecto
(Music of the Legitimate Kundiman that Proceeds from the Insurgents), Jocelynang Baliwag was
the favorite Kundiman among the revolutionaries of Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution of
1896 - earning it the title "Kundiman of the Revolution."
In the guise of a love and courtship song, it features lyrics dedicated to a young and beautiful
Filipina idolized in the Bulacan town of Baliuag named Josefa 'Pepita' Tiongson y Lara who
symbolizes the image of the beloved Motherland, the Inang Bayang Katagalugan or Filipinas.
JOCELYNANG BALIWAG

6. P- Pinopoong sinta, niring calolowa
Nacacawangis mo'y mabangong sampaga
Dalisay sa linis, dakila sa ganda
Matimyas na bucal ng madlang ligaya.
E- Edeng maligayang kinaloclocan
Ng galak at tuwang catamis-tamisan
Hada cang maningning na ang matunghaya'y
Masamyong bulaclac agad sumisical.
P- Pinananaligan niring aking dibdib
Na sa paglalayag sa dagat ng sakit
'Di mo babayaang malunod sa hapis
Sa pagcabagabag co'y icaw ang sasagip.
I- Icaw na nga ang lunas sa aking dalita
Tanging magliligtas sa niluha-luha
Bunying binibining sinucuang cusa
Niring catawohang nangayupapa.
T- Tanggapin ang aking wagas na pag-ibig
Marubdob na ningas na taglay sa dibdib
Sa buhay na ito'y walang nilalangit
Cung hindi ikaw lamang, ilaw niring isip.
A- At sa cawacasa'y ang kapamanhikan
Tumbasan mo yaring pagsintang dalisay
Alalahanin mong cung 'di cahabagan
Iyong lalasunin ang aba cong buhay.
The Filipino composer, conductor and scholar Felipe M. De Leon Jr., wrote that the Kundiman is
a "unique musical form expressing intense longing, caring, devotion and oneness with a beloved.

7. Or with a child, spiritual figure, motherland, ideal or cause. According to its text, a kundiman
can be romantic, patriotic, religious, mournful. Or a consolation, a lullaby. Or a protest and other
types. But of whatever type, its music is soulful and lofty, conveying deep feelings of devotional
love." [F.M. De Leon Jr., "But What Really Is The Kundiman?"]
[edit] See also
The awit is a form of Filipino poetry. Its literal translation into English is "song," although in the
context of poetry, it is closer to the narrative.
[edit] Characteristics
The following are characteristics observed in the awit, Florante at Laura.
1. 4 lines/stanza;
2. a rhyme scheme of AAAA (in the Tagalog manner of rhyming described by Jose Rizal in
Tagalische Verskunst);
3. a slight pause on the sixth syllable;
4. each stanza is usually a complete grammatically-correct sentence;
5. each stanza is full of figures of speech (according to Fernando Monleon, Balagtas used 28 types
in 395 instances throughout the poem);
6. the author is usually anonymous;
Moro-moro (Comedia) is a play that became popular in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial
period. It depicted battles between Christians and Moros-as Muslims in the Philippines are popularly
known-with the Moros as the perpetual villains who always lost to the Christians in the end.

8. zarzuela (Spanish pronunciation: [θarˈθwela]) is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates
between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as
dance. The name derives from a Royal hunting lodge, the Palacio de la Zarzuela near Madrid,
where this type of entertainment was first presented to the court.
There are two main forms of zarzuela: Baroque zarzuela (c.1630–1750), the earliest style, and
Romantic zarzuela (c.1850–1950), which can be further divided into two. Main sub-genres are
género grande and género chico, although other sub-divisions exist.
Zarzuela spread to the Spanish colonies, and many Hispanic countries – notably Cuba –
developed their own traditions. There is also a strong tradition in the Philippines where it is also
known as zarzuelta.[1] Other regional and linguistic variants in Spain includes the Basque
zartzuela and the Catalan sarsuela.
A masque-like musical theatre had existed in Spain since the time of Juan del Encina. The
zarzuela genre was innovative in giving a dramatic function to the musical numbers, which were
integrated into the argument of the work. Dances and choruses were incorporated as well as solo
and ensemble numbers, all to orchestral accompaniment.