Music

philippine music: influence & isolation

The Cordillera mountain range of Northern Luzon is the home to a complex orchestrated rhythm of flat gongs, gangsa, and drums. In Asia, only Vietnam

The Philippine rondalla, featuring mandolins of 14 strings and guitars, provides a romantic backdrop to the dances of yesterday.   These instruments were introduced from Europe in the 16th Century.

In as early as the 13th century, settlers from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo introduced molded, knobbed gongs to the Philippines called Kulintang.