KYLE RENZO L.

AGUA
EDISON

Dance drama -

GRADE 7

drama performed through dance movements,

frequently with dialogue.

Festivals

A festival or gala is an event ordinarily staged by a community, centering on and celebrating some
unique aspect of that community and its traditions, often marked as a local or
national holiday, mela or eid.
Festivals often serve to meet specific purposes, especially in regard to commemoration and/or
thanksgiving. They are associated with celebration and may also provide entertainment, which was
particularly important to local communities before the advent of mass-produced entertainment.
These celebrations offered a sense of belonging for religious, social, or geographical groups. Festivals
that focus on cultural or specifically ethnic topics also seek to inform members of their traditions and
the involvement of community elders sharing stories and experience provides a means for unity
among families.
A festival is a special occasion of feasting or celebration, usually with a religious focus. Aside from
religion, and sometimes folklore, another significant origin is agricultural. Food (and consequently
agriculture) is so vital that many festivals are associated with harvest time. Religious commemoration
and thanksgiving for good harvests are blended in events that take place in autumn such
as Halloween in the northern hemisphere and Easter in the southern.

Most festivals in Philippines are religious in origin, but nowadays the religious component
is usually secondary to the general spirit of celebration.
Philippines has dozens of festivals and most towns have their own in addition to the
national ones. Filipino hospitality is legendary and at no time is it more in evidence than
at festival time.

Quiapo Procession of the Black Nazarene

Date: 9th January
The procession, and the accompanying Feast of the Black Nazarene, takes place every
year on 9th January. It is usually the single largest festival of the year in the Philippines
and thousands of devotees come to the district of Quiapo to take part in the procession
to commemorates the transfer of the Black Nazarene image (traslacion) from
Intramuros to Quiapo Church.

Ati-Atihan
Date: 3rd Sunday of January
The Ati-Atihan Festival is a feast held in honor of the Santo Nio held annually in January
concluding on third Sunday, in the town of Kalibo, Aklan in the Philippines. It is the
wildest among Philippine fiestas and considered as the Mother of All Philippine festivals.
Celebrants paint their faces with black soot and wear bright, outlandish costumes as
they dance in revelry during the last three days of this two week-long festival. Catholics
and non-Catholics alike observe this special day with processions, parades, dancing, and
merrymaking.
Read more on Ati-Atihan Festival

Ati-Atihan Festival
Photo by Kickflickr

Sinulog
Date: 3rd Sunday of January
The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City,
Philippines. The festival honors the child Jesus, known as the Santo Nio (Holy Child),
patron of the city of Cebu. It is a dance ritual that commemorates the Cebuano peoples
pagan origin, and their acceptance of Christianity. The festival features a street parade
with participants in bright-colored costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets,
and native gongs.

Sinulog Festival
Photo by 2rokbotoy

Dinagyang
Date: 4th Sunday of January
The Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the
fourth Sunday of January. It is held both to honor the Santo Nio and to celebrate the
arrival on Panay of Malay settlers and the subsequent selling of the island to them by the
Atis. Dinagyang was voted as the best Tourism Event for 2006, 2007 and 2008 by the
Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.

Dinagyang Festival
Photo by Blueacid

Panagbenga
Date: February
Panagbenga is month-long annual flower festival occurring in Baguio. The festival, held
during the month of February, was created as a tribute to the citys flowers and as a way
to rise up from the devastation of the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The festival includes floats
that are decorated with flowers unlike those used in Pasadenas Rose Parade. The festival
also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-inspired costumes, that
is inspired by the Bendian, an Ibaloi dance of celebration that came from the Cordillera
region.

Panagbenga Festival
Photo by Whiteknight

Kaamulan
Date: 28th Feb 1st March
The Kaamulan Festival is a Bukidnon ethnic-cultural festival that takes place from the last
week of February to the first week of March. Kaamulan, from the Binukid word amul, to
gather, is an indigenous Bukidnon term for a gathering for any purpose. It can mean a
datukship ritual, a wedding ceremony, a thanksgiving festival during harvest time, a
peace pact, or any number of these together. The Festival is held in Malaybalay City from
the second half of February to March 10, the anniversary date of the foundation of
Bukidnon as a province in 1917,d to celebrate the culture and tradition of the seven
ethnic tribal groupsBukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon
and Umayamnonthat originally inhabited the province. It is the only ethnic festival in
the Philippines.

Kaamulan Festival
Photo by kleo marlo

Moriones
Date: Holy Week
The Moriones is an annual festival held on Holy Week on the island of Marinduque,
Philippines. The Moriones are men and women in costumes and masks replicating the

garb of biblical Roman soldiers as interpreted by local folks Morion means mask or
visor, a part of the medieval Roman armor which covers the face. The Moriones or
Moryonan tradition has inspired the creation of other festivals in the Philippines where
cultural practices or folk history is turned into street festivals.

Moriones Festival
Photo by ompoint59

Maleldo / Cutud Lenten Rites

Date: Good Friday
Every year on Good Friday or the Friday before Easter a dozen or so penitents mostly
men but with the occasional woman are taken to a rice field in the barrio of San Pedro
Cutud, 3km (2 miles) from the proper of City of San Fernando, Pampanga and nailed to a
cross using two-inch (5 cm) stainless steel nails that have been soaked in alcohol to
disinfect them. The penitents are taken down when they feel cleansed of their sin. Other
penitents flagellate themselves using bamboo sticks tied to a rope.
Read more on Maleldo / Cutud Lenten Rites

Maleldo Festival
Photo by ponslizares

Turumba
Date: Between April and May
Every year during the months of April and may, the people of Pakil, in the province of
Laguna celebrates the Turumba Festival. It commemorates the seven sorrows of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. It is held 7 times each year between the months of April and May.
The first is held on the Friday before Palm Sunday and the last falls on Pentecost Sunday.

Flores de Mayo
Date: 1st May 31st May
Flores de Mayo is a Catholic festival held in the Philippines in the month of May. It lasts
for a month, and is held in honor of the Virgin Mary. The Santa Cruzan is a parade held on
the last day of Flores de Mayo in honor of Reyna Elena.

Santacruzan
Date: 31st May
Santacruzan is the queen of Maytime festivals. It is a novena procession, in
commemoration of Saint Helenas finding of the cross. Saint Helena was the mother of
Constantine the Great. The procession, however, differs from other religious processions
in that it does not parade the usual images of patron saints. Instead, biblical and

historical characters are represented by the local people dressed in appropriate

costumes.

Carabao
Date: 14th May 15th May
Begining May 14th, the people of Pulilan in Bulacan Province, San Isidro in Nueva Ecija
Province, and Angono in Rizal Province celebrate for two days. On the first day, farmers
pay pay homage to the beast of burden which is the farmers best friend the lowly
carabao. These animals are very important for farmers because they help till the land.
Farmers brush their carabaos skin until it is sleek and shiny. Then the carabaos are
decorated with ribbons and attached to carts. In the afternoon, farmers lead their
carabaos to the church square to be part of the procession. At the church, the carabaos
kneel for their blessings. On the second day, the carabaos compete in a friendly race.

Carabao Festival
Photo by Susancorpuz90

Pahiyas
Date: 15th May
Lucban celebrates the Pahiyas Festival in honor of the patron saint of farmers, St. Isidore.
This festival showcases a street of houses which are adorned with fruits, vegetables,
agricultural products, handicrafts and kiping, a rice-made decoration, which afterwards
can be eaten grilled or fried. The houses are judged and the best one is proclaimed the
winner.
Read more about Pahiyas Festival.

Pahiyas Festival
Photo by stitch

Obando Fertility Rites

Date: 17th May 19th May
Santa Clarang pinong-pino, Ang pangako ko ay ganito, Pagdating ko sa Obando,
Sasayaw ako ng pandanggo. The Obando Fertility Rites are a Filipino dance ritual. Every
year during the month of May, to the tune of musical instruments made out of bamboo
materials, the men, women and children of Obando, Bulacan, Philippines wear traditional
dance costumes to dance on the streets followed by the images of their patron saints
San Pascual Baylon (St. Paschal), Santa Clara (St. Clare) and Nuestra Seora de
Salambao (Our Lady of Salambao), while singing the song Santa Clara Pinung-Pino. The
feast days or dance festivals are held for three consecutive days: May 17 for St. Paschal,
May 18 for St. Claire and May 19 for the Our Lady of Salambaw. What makes the Obando
fiesta unique among Philippine festivals is the dance performed in the streets by the
childless women.

Pintados
Date: 29th June
The Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival is a merry-making event lasting a whole month,
highlights of which include the Leyte Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals, the Pintados
Festival Ritual Dance Presentation and the Pagrayhak Grand Parade. These festivals are
said to have begun from the feast day of Seor Santo Nio, held every June 29th. The

Leyteos celebrate a religious festival in a unique and colorful way. Since the Visayans
are experienced in the art of body tattooing, men and women are fond of tattooing
themselves.

Kadayawan
Date: Third week of August
The Kadayawan Festival is an annual festival in the city of Davao in the Philippines. Its
name derives from the friendly greeting Madayaw, from the Dabawenyo word
dayaw, meaning good, valuable, superior or beautiful. The festival is a celebration of
life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest
and serenity of living.

Kadayawan Festival
Photo by Belarminoed

Penafrancia Fluvial
Date: Third Saturday and Sunday of September
The Peafrancia Festival in Naga City, Camarines Sur, Bicol Region. During the festivities,
people attend church services, followed by parades on the streets, fireworks, and
feasting. The ninth day, usually falling on the third Saturday of September, is marked by
a fluvial procession. The image of the Virgin Mary is carried on a barge which is trailed by
thousands of devotees in boats gliding alongside. People who line the river banks shout
Viva la Virgen! as the Virgin passes by.

Peafrancia Fluvial Festival

Photo by Sir Mervs

MassKara
Date: 3rd weekend nearest to 19th October
The MassKara Festival is a week-long festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital
of Negros Occidental province. The festival features a street dance competition where
people from all walks of life troop to the streets to see colorfully-masked dancers
gyrating to the rhythm of Latin musical beats in a display of mastery, gaiety,
coordination and stamina. The word MassKara has a double meaning. First, it is a fusion
of the English word mass or many and kara, the Spanish word for face. MassKara
then becomes a mass of faces, and these faces have to be smiling to project Bacolod
already known in the late 70s as the City of Smiles.

MassKara Festival
Photo by Keith Cabillon

Lanzones
Date: 25th October
Each year there is a Lanzones (a small grape-sized tropical fruit) Festival held in October.
The week-long festival is one of the more colorful events in the Philippines. The Lanzones
festival is celebrating its 30th Anniversary on October 2009.

Lanzones Festival
Photo by Grandmasterson

Higantes
Date: 23rd November
Angono celebrates the Higantes Festival which coincides with the Feast of Saint
Clement, the Patron Saint of Angono. Higantes Festival is now promoted as tourismgenerating event in the country. This attracts numerous tourist from all over the world.
The higantes are made of paper-mache. Higantes measures four to five feet in diameter
and ten to twelve feet in height. Traditionally, it began in the last century when Angono
was a Spanish hacienda. This higantes was influenced by the Mexican art form of papermache brought by the Spanish priests to the Philippines.
Read more on Higantes Festival

Higantes Festival
Photo by aspirecaptured

Giant Lanterns
Date: December Saturday before Christmas Eve
The Giant Lanterns Festival is an annual festival held in December (Saturday before
Christmas Eve) in the City of San Fernando in the Philippines. The festival features a
competition of giant lanterns. Because of the popularity of the festival, the city has been
nicknamed the Christmas Capital of the Philippines.
Read more on Giant Lanterns Festival

Giant Lanterns Festival

Photo by ianong

Ang moro-moro ay isang uri ng "komedya" sa Pilipinas na isang adaptasyon mula sa

dula sa Europa na comedia de capa y espada. Ang moro-moro, ay natatangi sapagkat
walang ibang bansa na nakaisip at nakapagsagawa ng nasabing palabas na katulad nang
sa Pilipinas. Ang Pilipinas lamang ang nawili sa paggawa ng moro-moro na ang obrang ito
ay tuluyan nang itinuring na kasama sa buhay ng mga Pilipino sa halos dalawang siglo.
Ang moro-moro ay pinaniniwalaang nag-ugat mula sa sagupaan sa pagitan ng mga
Kristiyano at Pilipinong Muslim. Ang makasaysayang laban na ito ay nagsimula noong ika16 na siglo nang ang mga Kristiyanong Malay, mga Pilipino sa Luzon at Visayas ay
sumama sa pakikidigma ng mga Kastila laban sa mga Pilipinong Muslim na nasa Timog ng
Pilipinas.

Ang Sarsuwela ay isang dulang may kantahan at sayawan, na mayroong isa hanggang
limang kabanata, at nagpapakita ng mga sitwasyon ng Pilipino na may kinalaman sa mga kwento
ng pag-ibig at kontemporaryong isyu. Ito rin ay tinatawag na zarzuela, sarsuela, dulang inawitan,
dulang hinonihan, drama-lirico at operetta.
Ang sarswela ay maaaring maglarawan ng mga tema nang pagmamahal sa bayan sa panahon ng
rebolusyon, tulad ng Walang Sugat (Not Wounded), 1902 ni Severino Reyes; panlilibak sa mga
kahinaan ng pagkatao ng mga Pilipino, tulad ng Paglipas ng Dilim (After the Darkness), 1920;
pagtuligsa sa mga baluktot na gawain, tulad ng mataas na interes sa pautang, sa Bunganga ng
Pating (At the Mercy of the Sharks), 1921; at paglalahad ng isang nakawiwiling kwento ng pag-ibig,
gaya ng Anak ng Dagat (Child of the Sea), 1921 at Dalagang Bukid (Country Maiden),1919.

The balitaw

is

the song traditionally associated with the Visayas region in the same way

the kundiman and kumintang are associated with ancient Tagalog music.
The music of the balitaw is usually written in 3/4 time. It is also danced to, although it
originally was something that was merely sung. This folk air has a more developed form
calledbalitao romansada. The traditional

instrument used to accompany the balitaw was a

three-string coconut-shell guitar; later, a harp was adopted as

the instrument of choice

because more chords could be played on it. When performed today in modern

rendition, a

five-string guitar is used.

The balitaw is a debate or dialogue song in which a young woman and a young man
compete to see who is

better at improvising romantic verses. These verses are sometimes

memorized in advance. Using song to disguise the intimate sentiments of courtship reduces the
embarrassment involved in meeting potential mates.

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.

Musical Composers of Filipino Music

Nicanor Abelardo
Nicanor Sta. Ana Abelardo (February 7, 1893 March 21, 1934), was a Filipino
composer who composed over a hundred of Kundiman songs, especially before the Second
World War. Abelardo was born in San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan. His mother belonged to
a family of artists in Guagua, the Hensons. He was introduced to music when he was five
years old, when his father taught him the solfeggio and the banduria. At the age of 8, he
was able to compose his first work, a waltz entitled "Ang Unang Buko," which was
dedicated to his grandmother. At the age of 13, he was already playing at saloons and
cabarets in Manila. At age 15, he was already teaching in barrio schools in San Ildefonso
and San Miguel Bulacan. All of these happened even before young Abelardo finally took up
courses under Guy F. Harrison and Robert Schofield at the UP Conservatory of Music in
1916. By 1924, following a teachers certificate in science and composition received in
1921, he was appointed head of the composition department at the Conservatory. Years
later, he ran a boarding school for young musicians, and among his students were National
Artist Antonino Buenaventura, Alfredo Lozano and Lucino Sacramento. In the field of
composition he is known for his redefinition of the kundiman, bringing the genre to artsong status. Among his works were "Nasaan Ka Irog," "Magbalik Ka Hirang," and
"Himutok." He died in 1934 at the age of 41, leaving a prolific collection of more than 140
works.
As a composition major at the University of the Philippines, he also composed the
melody for the university's official anthem, U.P. Naming Mahal.
The building housing the College of Music in UP Diliman (Abelardo Hall) is named in
his honor.

Antonino Buenaventura
Antonino was a composer, conductor and teacher who was born in Baliuag, Bulacan,
4 May 1904. At 19, he entered the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music and
earned a teachers diploma, major in science and composition in 1932. Among his mentors

at the UP were Nicanor Abelardo, Franciso Santiago and Jeno von Takacs. When Abelardo
died in 1934, Buenaventura took over his classes.
During his student days, Buenaventura was president of the Music Senior
Organization and led the UP ROTC Band. He organized the first student string quartet and
student symphony orchestra, which became the nucleus of the UP Junior Symphony
Orchestra. As a member of the Presidents Advisory Committee on Folk Songs and Dances
created by the UP President Jorge Bocobo in 1935, he scoured the country with Francisca
Reyes and Ramon Tolentino to record folk dances and music.
On several occasions, he represented the Philippines in international conferences
as head or representative of music organizations. He was also overall coordinator of the
Second Southeast Asian Bandmasters Association held in Manila in 1977 and member of
the Philippine delegation to the 40th anniversary of the All-Nippon Bandmaster Association
in Tokyo 1978.
Writing in the neoclassic and neoromantic vein, Buenaventura uses ethnic and folk
materials in his compositions. Among his works based on Philippine folk melodies are:
Minuet, 1937, for chamber orchestra; Mindanao Sketches, 1947, a tone poem;
Divertimento for Piano and Orchestra, 1959; Variations and Fugue, 1972, for full orchestra;
and Greetings, 1978, a fantasy for band based on the kumintang. One of his most popular
compositions is Pandanggo sa Ilaw (fandango of Lights), 1936, which was originally
meant to accompany a dance choreographed by Francisca Reyes-Tolentino, and was
transformed into a song by lyricist Levi Celerio who entitled it Pandangguhan. Other
notable works are Echoes from the Philippines, performed by the PC Band under Loving at
the Golden Gate Exposition in California, USA in 1939; By the Hillside, 1947, his most
widely performed symphonic work; and Awit sa Tagumpay ng Bayan (Song for Nations
Triumph), 1986, a song commemorating the February 1986 uprising in the Philippines.
He also wrote a textbook entitled Sing and Be Happy, 1966,for Grades V and VI
music classes in public schools. He has composed a number of school hymns and
university marches.

Lucrecia Kasilag
Lucrecia R. Kasilag, as educator, composer, performing artist, administrator and
cultural entrepreneur of national and international caliber, has involved herself wholly in
sharpening the Filipino audience's appreciation of music. Kasilag's pioneering task to
discover the Filipino roots through ethnic music and fusing it with Western influences has
led many Filipino composers to experiment with such an approach. She dared to
incorporate indigenous Filipino instruments in orchestral productions, such as the prizewinning "Toccata for Percussions and Winds, Divertissement and Concertante," and the
scores of the Filiasiana, Misang Pilipino and De Profundis. "Tita King", as she is fondly
called, worked closely as music director with colleagues Lucresia Reyes-Urtula, Isabel
Santos, Jose Lardizabal and Dr. Leticia P. de Guzman and made Bayanihan Philippine
Dance Company one of the premier artistic and cultural groups in the country.
Named as a National Artist in Music in 1989, Kasilag's first musical influence was
her mother. At an early age, Kasilag played the banduria and the guitar. She finished her
bachelor of music degree at the Philippine Women's University, and then studied at the

Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester in New York, where she obtained her
master of music degree, major in theory and minor in composition in 1950.
Kasilag began composing during WW II. She has written over 250 compositions: folk
song arrangements, art songs, solo instrumental pieces, and chamber and orchestral
works. Her orchestral music also include Love Songs, Legend of the Sarimanok, Ang
Pamana, Philippine Scenes, Dilarawan, Her Son, Jose and Sisa and chamber music like Awit
ng mga Awit Psalms, Fantaisie on a 4-Note Theme, and East Meets Jazz Ethnika.