THE AMERICAN COLONIAL AND CONTEMPORARY TRADITIONS ...

Another popular medium for light classical music is the rondalla, an ensemble
consisting of plectrum instruments which evolved from the Spanish murga (band
of street musicians) and the estudiantina (student musical groups). The rondalla,
better known as comparza during the American colonial period, consisted of five
to six plucked string varieties. Its wide repertoire ranges from native folk tunes
and ballroom music to classical pieces, including operatic overtures (Patricio
1959).
Examples of early pieces for the rondalla repertoire include the “Romance” from
Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah; H. von Tizler’s “All Alone;” and Czibulka’s “A
Dream After the Ball.” Locally composed and adapted pieces consisted of marches
and folk songs like “ Paruparong Bukid ” (Country Butterfly), “ Bahay Kubo ”
(Nipa Hut), “Lawiswis Kawayan” (Murmuring Bamboo) in mambo, cha-cha, and
calypso rhythms, as well as love songs, such as “ Bakya Mo Neneng ” (Your
Wooden Clogs, Neneng) and “Tapis Mo, Inday” (Your Skirt, Inday).
In the 1960s and 1970s, a more serious repertoire for the rondalla and some of its
individual instruments were composed, like Bayani M. de Leon’s Tatlong Bulaklak
(Three Flowers) for symphonic rondalla, Ybanag Overture, and Bahay Bata for
bandurria, mandolin, clarinet, harp, percussion; and Jerry A. Dadap’s Philippine
Symphonic Rondalla and Symphonic Balitaws Nos. 1-7.
Some of the outstanding groups in the first four decades of the 20th century
include the all-girl Comparsa Santa Cecilia, 1908; Rondalla Ideal of Antonio J.
Molina, 1909; Comparsa Gumamela and Rondalla Apollo of Juan Silos Jr.; and the
Yellow Taxi Rondalla, 1940, which was supervised by Antonio J. Molina. In
more recent times, the teaching of rondalla music has become part of the music
education in many public schools.
In 1966 the Pangkat Kawayan was organized by Victor Toledo, consisting of grade
school children playing different types of bamboo instruments (flutes, marimba,
clappers, angklung, bumbong) as an attempt to revive the musikong bumbong, an
ensemble of bamboo-made band instruments, which went out of fashion after the
World War II. The Pangkat Kawayan, whose repertoire is similar to those of the
brass band and rondalla, is usually featured in school programs, and has been
showcased by the tourist industry.
Pinoy Pop Music
Filipino popular music, or Pinoy pop, covers a broad range of forms: folk songs,
dance tunes, ballads, Broadway-inspired songs, rock ‘n’ roll and its variants,
disco, jazz fusion, and rap, that cater to a predominantly youthful audience in the
urban centers and are disseminated widely through the electronic media. With the
exposure of the mass audiences to entertainment music of various types,
Philippine popular music has become a major industry, and a source of