Philippines


 * Philippines: **

Philippines kept its own music for several centuries not giving in to other foreign music. Philippine was a colony of Spain; however their music doesn't contain any extreme rhythm. Nevertheless, they have calm and peaceful rhythm. When we go deeper, the tribal people didn't have any effect of Spain, so they mostly have music and songs about heroes. However, the rhythm and style of folk music is similar to Arabian music style. Philippine has traditional instruments such as flute, kulintang(8 bells making different note), dabakan(drum made out of coconut tree and skin of buffalo) and kudayapi(a string instrument.) The music and dance of the Philippines are mostly influenced by countries in the same region such as Oceania and other parts of South East Asia. The music of Philippines can be divided in to two areas: North and South. In the Northern area, flat gongs (known as the gangsa) are mostly played; bossed gongs are played more commonly among the areas of Southern Phillipines. In Southern Phillipines songs, there is a lot of percussion and the melody and tunes have a metallic tone. The metallic tone is created by the kulintang which is an ancient instrument made out of a row of 8 gongs that function melodically. There is a specific tune or melody that will be repeated a lot of times throughout the whole song. In Northern Phillipines, the music is more festive as they are only performed in specific events and most of the time, the music will be accompanied by dances (that are similar to those in South East Asian countries). But however, unlike other countries in South East Asia, Philippines traditional music still haven’t reached the popularity of national level yet.

Works Cited: []

Written by: Van & So Hee

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