The Timeless Saudade of the Kundiman
Music is a truly unifying force, especially when it has to do with identity. The very fact that countries do not seem quite complete without their national anthem shows how valuable music is in developing and retaining a national identity. It is no novelty for the Philippines to mix music with politics as a show of nationalism, though it is nevertheless important to delve into what made Filipino music, especially the kundiman, different from the rest and how it became instrumental in crucial times of protest and patriotism.
Even before the rise of the kundiman, the musical environment of the Philippines was already directed towards the formation of a national identity—of something distinctly Filipino. As a colonized society, this was difficult, what with the myriad of foreign influences the nation was forcibly exposed to (Santos, 2005). Rather than being snuffed out, the growth of Filipino classical music from the nineteenth to the twentieth century was instead pushed forward by the oppressive American regime in search of a sound that was able to be called something truly Filipino. One such emerging Filipino sound came in the form of the kundiman.
The kundiman has become so central to Filipino culture that it is often uttered “in the same breath as the barong tagalog or the pasyon” (Santos, 2005). Notable aspects regarding its typical musical form include a binary A-B structure, starting in the minor key while ending in the major key, and a triple meter (Santos, 2015). However, what is probably the most significant and necessary aspect of the quintessential kundiman would be the topic of its content: a deep-seated expression of love for the country (de Leon, 1969). In fact, the very tone of the ideal kundiman is already capable of summing up the history of the Philippines as a nation. Musicologist Ramon P. Santos (2005) lists “sentimentality, sense of submissiveness, self-pity, yearning for freedom from want and deprivation, and the aspiration for a better future” as the “facts of the Filipino psyche” most notably exhibited in the content of a kundiman. Indeed, our history of multiple instances of colonialization left the Philippines in a state of poverty that ran deeper than just the material kind. The lyrics of “Bayan Ko” (de Guzman, 1928), one piece that can be likened to the quintessential kundiman, explicitly speaks of how the nation was seized by colonizers (“dayuhan”) and the longing for true freedom (“aking adhika: makita kang sakdal laya”). However, the kundiman form is also reflective of Philippine history in the sense that it was heavily influenced by Western notions of musical structure and theory (Castro, 2011). Though parts of the kundiman form are borrowed, it becomes even more relevant to the Filipino identity as it mirrors how much of what is referred to as “Filipino” culture (such as the Filipino language) has been borrowed from colonizers.
While most may think the kundiman is a dying art form (as the famous ones that are usually discussed are quite dated), there do remain some modern artists who strive to keep the form going through the twenty-first century. Though there may be some self-acclaimed “kundiman” in existence that merely have the word in the song’s title and fail to follow the traditional kundiman form entirely, “Isang Kundiman” by Gerry de Leon (tbrvideography, 2013) is a (relatively) modern-day kundiman in both structure and content. Sharing a hometown with renowned kundiman composers Francisco Santiago and Nicanor Abelardo (Carballo, 2012), it probably came as no surprise that de Leon would be predisposed to writing his own kundiman as well. “Isang Kundiman” was the winning entry of a 2005 literary contest and was quite popular among populations of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as its lyrics speak of a longing to return to one’s homeland (“Malungkot ang manirahan sa bansang ika'y dayuhan / Ako'y nasasabik makarinig ng isang kundiman”). It can be observed how there has been a shift in context for the kundiman. No longer is it written for a homeland that has been taken away, but rather, for one who has been taken away from his homeland. However, the kundiman still remains a unifying force in its ability to profoundly connect OFWs to each other through shared experience.
The meaning of a revival for the kundiman is not limited to just new compositions, but can also be found in the revisiting of old compositions that remain both timeless and timely. “Bayan Ko” (de Guzman, 1928) has become something of an anthem for social protests until modern times. Though first made relevant to the context of the Philippines’ colonial eras under Spain then America (Castro, 2011), “Bayan Ko” was again famously revived during the period of martial law in the 1960s (Rodell, 2002). The song was then revived a third time in protest of dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ inappropriate burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, which occurred just last year in late 2016 (Lozada, 2016). Here, the kundiman takes on a more unfortunate context. A separation has arisen between countrymen and this time, there is a longing for justice to be served for the oppressed. Again, music becomes unifying as a show of solidarity between the oppressed and those who support them.
It has been around a century since the creation and popularization of the kundiman, though it is clearly an art form that refuses to die out as it remains relevant to every new issue the Philippines faces as a nation. Assuredly, the country will not run out of those issues any time soon; likewise, its people will always be in need of a vehicle for freedom of expression and a united cry for something that is endlessly and desperately sought: justice. What is a kundiman but exactly that?
References:
Carballo, Bibsy M. “Gerry de Leon’s passion for Kundiman.” The Philippine Star, 30 Jul. 2012,
http://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2012-07-30/832880/gerry-de-leons-passion-kundiman.
Accessed 30 Jun. 2017.
Castro, Christi-Anne. Musical Renderings of the Philippine Nation. Oxford University Press, 2011.
De Guzman, Constancio. “Bayan Ko.” 1928.
De Leon, Felipe Padilla. “Poetry, Music, and Social Consciousness.” Philippine Studies, vol. 17, no. 2, 1969, pp.
266-282.
“Isang Kundiman – The Filipino Tenors.” YouTube, uploaded by tbrvideography, 1 May 2013,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_COUy_saBhQ.
Lozada, David. “UP, Ateneo, Miriam flood Katipunan to protest Marcos burial.” Rappler, 18 Nov. 2016,
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/152869-up-ateneo-miriam-protest-marcos-burial. Accessed 30 Jun.
2017.
“Philippine Music: Types and Forms.” CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, 2015,
http://digitaleducation.net/epa-web/philippine-music-types-and-forms/.
Rodell, Paul A. Culture and Customs of the Philippines. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.
Santos, Ramon. Tunugan: Four Essays on Filipino Music. UP Press, 2005.