TRADITIONAL COMPOSERS

With the European and American influences brought by our country's colonizers, it was
inevitable that the musical styles of 20th century Western composers found their way into
Philippine compositions. The works of many notable Filipino composers are evidence of this.

• Francisco Buencamino founded the Centro Escolar de Senoritas, Conservatory of Music, as

well as the Buencamino Music Academy in 1930. Many of his piano works have become staples
in the Philippine repertoire of today's performers, especially Mayon, Larawan, and Maligayang
Bati. He also ventured into musical direction and scoring for films, as well as composing several
zarzuelas and kundiman.

• Francisco Santiago is known as the "Father of the Kundiman" and belongs to the "Triumvirate
of Filipino Composers" along with Nicanor Abelardo and Antonio Molina. Santiago's music was
Romantic in style, incorporating Western forms and techniques with folk materials. Among his
famous works are Pakiusap, Madaling Araw, and Kundiman (Anak Dalita). He became the first
Filipino Director of the Conservatory of Music, University of the Philippines.

• Nicanor Abelardo, although a 20th-century modern composer, was also a composer in the
Romantic style. His best-known compositions include Mutya ng Pasig, Nasaan Ka Irog.
Cavatina for Violoncello, and Magbalik Ka Hirang. The Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main
Theater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Abelardo Hall of the UP College of
Music are named after him.

• Antonio Molina was a product of both the Romantic and Impressionist styles, and came to be
known as the "Father of Philippine Impressionist Music." He was fascinated by the dynamics
and harmonies of Debussy but retained much of the Romantic style in his melody. A
characteristically impressionist work is his piano composition Malikmata (Transfiguration).

• Hilarion Rubio was a composer, music teacher, conductor, and clarinetist. His name was
closely identified with his works for the orchestra; as a conductor for opera, ballet, and dance
recitals; and his music for movies.

• Col. Antonino Buenaventura promoted Philippine music by extensively using folk materials
in his works. He recorded folk and dance music around the country with Ramon Tolentino and
National Artist for Dance Francisca Reyes Aquino. He restored the Philippine Constabulary
Band in 1945, which was considered "one of the best military bands in the world." He is a
National Artist of Music.

• Rodolfo Cornejo was the researcher and official composer of the Philippine
government-in-exile, under President Manuel L. Quezon. He served as pianist-director of a USO
concert unit that entertained the Allied Forces during World War II. He later became the soloist
of several orchestras, and eventually the musical director of the Sampaguita and Vera-Perez
movie companies.
• Felipe P. de Leon Sr. is known as a nationalist composer who expressed the Philippines
cultural identity through his compositions. He wrote piano compositions, hymns, marches, art
songs, chamber music, symphonic poems, overtures, band muic, school songs, orchestral
works, operas, kundiman, and zarzuelas. His two operas, Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo, are considered his masterpieces. He is a National Artist for Music.

• Lucio San Pedro is known as a "romantic nationalist." He incorporated Philippine folk

elements in his compositions with Western forms and harmony. His chords have a rich
expressive tonality, as represented in his well-loved lullaby Sa Ugoy ng Duyan, his orchestral
compositions Suite Pastorale, a musical description of his hometown Angono, and his
nationalistic symphonic poem Lahing Kayumanggi. His other compositions include songs,
pieces for violin, cello, and chorus; and works for the symphonic band. He is a National Artist for
Music.

• Rosendo Santos Jr. was a prolific composer whose works include concerti, sonatas,
symphonies, symphonic poems, five operas in a Philippine dialect, numerous band overtures,
and over 200 marches. He also wrote 50 Masses in Latin and 20 in English.

• Alfredo Buenaventura holds the sole distinction among Filipino composers of having
composed five full-length operas. His compositions combine contemporary and conventional
styles and contain melodies that are simple and understandable, while using contemporary
harmonies that enhance their complexity.

• Ryan Cayabyab is a contemporary composer and conductor who spans both popular and
classical worlds with his pop music, ballads, operas, zarzuelas, orchestral arrangements, and
masses. psalms, and choral compositions. Among these are the award-winning Kay Ganda ng
Ating Musika, the modern zarzuela Alikabok, and the opera Spoliarium with libretto by Fides
Cuyugan-Asensio. His compositions are mostly of traditional Western influence.

NEW MUSIC COMPOSERS

• Jose Maceda's musical style was profoundly influenced when he encountered the music of
the indigenous tribes of Mindoro in 1953, He then embarked on his life's work, dedicated to the
understanding and preservation of Filipino traditional music. His extensive research and
fieldwork resulted in an immense collection of recorded music taken from the remote mountain
villages and far-flung inland communities in the Philippines. He is a National Artist of Music.

• Lucrecia Kasilag's compositional style demonstrated a fusion of Eastern and Western styles
in using instruments, melody, harmony, and rhythm. She is particularly known for incorporating
indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral productions. She is a National Artist for Music.

• Jerry Dadap, the first Filipino composer to conduct his own works at the Carnegie Recital Hall
in New York City, started composing when he was still studying at Silliman University in the
southern city of Dumaguete. Among his numerous compositions is the musical play Andres
Bonifacio, Ang Dakilang Anak Pawis (which is discussed in Quarter IV).
• Fr. Manuel Maramba OSB, one of the most accomplished musicians in the Philippines, is best
known as a liturgical composer whose body of works leans towards religious figures and events.
His versatility as a pianist, composer, arranger, theorist, and teacher is widely recognized.

• Ramon Santos' compositional style features chromaticism, music seria, and electronic
components, combined with indigenous Philippine music elements. He held the position of Dean
of the UP College of Music from 1978 to 1988. At present, he is the head of the UP Center of
Ethnomusicology and was appointed Professor Emeritus of the same institution. He is a
National Artist of Music.

• Francisco Feliciano is one of Asia's leading figures in liturgical music, having composed
hundreds of liturgical pieces. Mass settings, hymns, and songs for worship. At the Asian
Institute for Liturgy and Music, a school for church musicians which he founded, he supervised
the publication of a new Asian hymnal containing mostly works of Asian composers. He is a
National Artist of Music.

• Josefino Toledo is the founding music director of the Metro Manila Community Orchestra, the
UP Festival Orchestra, and the Crosswave Symphony Orchestra. He is noted for conducting the
premiere performances of the works of Filipino composers as well as other Asian composers.
His own musical compositions have been performed by well-known international artists and
ensembles.

• Jonas Baes, Associate Professor in Composition and Theory, ethnomusicologist, cultural

activist, and writer, has explored innovative territories and unusual musical treatments in his
works. He is known for writing music utilizing unorthodox musical instruments such as bean-pod
rattles, leaves, iron-nail chimes, various Asian instruments such as bamboo scrapers and
bamboo flutes, and vocal music using Asian vocal techniques.

20TH CENTURY FILIPINO SONG COMPOSERS

An entire group of 20th-century Filipino song composers became popular for their musical
compositions used as background music or theme songs in movies and films.

• Levi Celerio made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for being the only person to
make music with a leaf. He also wrote the lyrics for over 4.000 songs and received numerous
awards for his musical achievements in film. He is a National Artist for Music and Literature.

• Constancio de Guzman is the composer of the nationalistic song Bayan Ko. Acknowledged
as the "Dean of Filipino Movie Composers and Musical Directors," De Guzman became the
music director of movie production companies like Sampaguita, LVN, Royal, Excelsior, Lea. and
Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions.

• Mike Velarde Jr. was a composer, conductor, and musical director. He composed the popular
song Dahil Sa Iyo in 1938. In 1975 the Philippine Government Cultural Association awarded him
the Cultural Achievement Award in Popular Music. He received the Gawad CCP Para Sa Sining
in 1986.

• Santiago Suarez was an accomplished composer of traditional Filipino love songs. His
popular works include Dungawin Mo Hirang, Bakya Mo Neneng, Caprichosa, Sa Libis ng
Nayon, and Kataka-taka.

• Restie Umali was a composer, teacher, and musical arranger. He arranged the Philippine
national anthem and the local classic Kataka-taka for the Boston Pops Orchestra when it
performed for the Philippine Independence Night in Boston in 1972. He wrote a total of more or
less 120 movie theme songs, and composed more than 250 scores for movies.

• Angel Peña was a classical and jazz composer, musical arranger, and bass player. He is
widely considered by modern Filipino jazz musicians as "one of the founders of traditional jazz
in the Philippines."

• Ernani Cuenco was a composer, film scorer, musical director, and music teacher; and was
named National Artist for Music in 1999. His works embodied the Filipino sense of musicality,
with the classical sound of the kundiman evident in many of his ballads. To this day, his
compositions continue to be popular and well-loved. He is a National Artist for Music.

• George Canseco was considered "a nationally acclaimed composer of numerous popular
Filipino classics." He composed songs for some of the country's top popular singers such as
Sharon Cuneta, Basil Valdez, Regine Velasquez, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Pilita Corrales, Martin
Nievera, and Kuh Ledesma. He wrote the classic Kapantay Ay Langit, a movie theme song, as
well as Child, the English-language version of Freddie Aguilar's signature song Anák. He also
served as President of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Inc.
(FILSCAP).

• Leopoldo Silos Sr. was a composer, singer, and musical arranger. He composed and
recorded romantically soulful songs. He was the award-winning musical director of the television
musical program Aawitan Kita.