Music of the Philippines include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos

composed in various genres and styles. The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian,
European, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.
The annual Awit Awards are the most prestigious music awards of the country given by the
Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI). PARI also gives out the music recording
certifications. Currently, no official music charts are being compiled in the country. Primal Music

A series of recordings have been made on music played on the spot. Music that does not have to
be repeated and has to be performed only once. There are styles that use traditional musical
instruments in a primal way. There are also productions of primal musical instruments and use of
found objects as new instruments. There is a need to create new forms and styles. Also,
influenced by the Spaniards.
Traditional music
Main article: Filipino folk music

Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who
composed the famous "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan" that recalls about the loving touch of mother to her
child. Another great composer who's known as patriotic composer, Antonio Buenaventura.
Gong music

Philippine gong music can be divided into two types: the flat gong commonly known as gangs
and played by the groups in the Cordillera region of the bossed gongs played among the Islam
and animist groups in the southern Philippines.

Kulintang refers to a racked gong chime instrument played in the southern islands of the
Philippines, along with its varied accompanying ensembles. Different groups have different ways
of playing the kulintang. Two major groups seem to stand-out in kulintang music. These are the
Maguindanaon and the Maranaw. The kulintang instrument itself could be traced to either the
introduction of gongs to Southeast Asia from India before the 10th century CE, or more likely, to
the introduction of bossed gong chimes from Java via India in the 15th century. Nevertheless, the
kulintang ensemble is the most advanced form of music from before the late 16th century and
the legacy of the Europeans in the Philippine archipelago.

The tradition of kulintang ensemble music itself is regional, predating the establishment of
present-day Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. It transcends religion, with Buddhist, Hindu
Animist, and Christian ethnic groups in Borneo, Flores and Sulawesi playing kulintangan; and
Muslim groups playing the same genre of music in Mindanao, Palawan and the Sulu archipelago.
It is distantly related to the gamelan ensembles of Java and Bali, as well as the musical forms in

Mainland Southeast Asia, mainly because of the usage for the same bossed racked gong chimes
that play both melodic and percussive.
Hispanic-influenced music
Rondalla music

The rondalya is a traditional string orchestra comprising two-string, mandolin-type instruments

such as the banduria and laud; a guitar; a double bass; and often a drum for percussion. The
rondalya has its origins in the Iberian rondalla tradition, and is used to accompany several
Hispanic-influenced song forms and dances.
Harana and Kundiman

The Harana and Kundiman are popular lyrical songs dating back to the Spanish period, and are
customarily used in courtship rituals. The Harana is rooted in the Mexican-Spanish tradition and
based on the rhythmic patterns of the habanera. The Kundiman, meanwhile, has pre-colonial
origins from the Tagalophone parts of the country, uses a triple meter rhythm, and is
characterised by beginning in a minor key and shifting to a major one in the second half.

In the 1920s Harana and Kundiman became more mainstream after performers such as Atang de
la Rama, Jovita Fuentes, Conching Rosal, Sylvia La Torre and Ruben Tagalog introduced them to a
wider audience.
Tinikling

The Tinikling is a dance from Leyte which involves two individual performers hitting bamboo
poles, using them to beat, tap, and slide on the ground, in co-ordination with one or more
dancers who steps over and in between poles. This is one of the more iconic Philippine dances,
and is similar to other Southeast Asian bamboo dances.
Cariosa

The Cariosa (meaning "loving" or "affectionate one"), is the national dance, and is part of the
Mara Clara suite of Philippine folk dances. It is notable for use of the fan and handkerchief in
amplifying romantic gestures expressed by the couple performing the traditional courtship
dance. The dance is similar to the Mexican Jarabe Tapato, and is related to the Kuracha,
Amenudo and Kuradang dances in the Visayas and Mindanao Area.

OPM (original Pilipino music)

See also: List of best-selling albums in the Philippines

Original Pilipino music, now more commonly termed original Pinoy music, original Philippine
music or OPM for short, originally referred only to Philippine pop songs, particularly ballads, such
as those popular after the collapse of its predecessor, the Manila Sound of the late 1970s. In the
1970s, popular OPM artists included Nora Aunor, Pilita Corrales, Eddie Peregrina, Victor Wood and
Asin, among others. The more major commercial Philippine pop music artists were Claire dela
Fuente, Didith Reyes, Rico Puno, Ryan Cayabyab, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Hajji Alejandro,
Rey Valera, Freddie Aguilar, Imelda Papin, Eva Eugenio, Nonoy Zuniga, Fernando Poe Jr., and
many others.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, OPM was led by artists such as Regine Velasquez, Sharon Cuneta,
APO Hiking Society, Jos Mari Chan, Dingdong Avanzado, Rodel Naval, Janno Gibbs, Ogie Alcasid,
Joey Albert, Lilet, Martin Nievera, Manilyn Reynes, Lea Salonga, Vina Morales, Raymond
Lauchengco, JoAnne Lorenzana, Francis Magalona and Gary Valenciano, among many others.

In the 1990s, famous artists included Eraserheads, Smokey Mountain, Donna Cruz, Jessa
Zaragoza, Ariel Rivera, South Border, AfterImage, Andrew E., Jaya, Lani Misalucha, Rivermaya,
Ella May Saison, Roselle Nava, Blakdyak, and Ang Dating Doon, among many others.

Underground bands emerged and along with them were their perceptions of idealism and selfexpression. The famous lyricist of Circle's End, Geno Georsua landed on top as the melodramatic
expressionist. Bassist Greg Soliman of UST Pendong grasps the title as the best bassist of
underground music.

From its origin, OPM has been centered in Manila, where Tagalog and English are the dominant
languages. Other ethnolinguistic groups such as Visayan, Bikol and Kapampangan, despite
making music in their native languages, have not been recognized as OPM, except in unusual
cases like the Bisrock (Visayan rock music) song "Charing" by Davao band, 1017. Multiculturalism
advocates and federalists often associate this discrepancy to the Tagalog-centric cultural
hegemony of the capital city of Manila. Having successfully created a subgenre of Philippine rock
they called Bisrock, the Visayans by far have the biggest collection of modern music in their
native language, with great contributions from Visayan bands Phylum and Missing Filemon.
However, a band called Groupies' Panciteria that hails from Tacloban, a Winaray-speaking city,
launched a free downloadable mp3 album on Soundclick.com in 2009 containing 13 Tagalog
songs and only one very short song in the Cebuano language.[1]

Following suit are the Kapampangans. The debut music video of "Oras" ("Time") by Tarlac Citybased Kapampangan band Mernuts has penetrated MTV Pilipinas, making it the first ever
Kapampangan music video to join the ranks of other mainstream Filipino music videos.
RocKapampangan: The Birth of Philippine Kapampangan Rock, an album of modern remakes of
Kapampangan folk extemporaneous songs by various Kapampangan bands was also launched

last February 2008, which are regularly played via Kapampangan cable channel Infomax-8 and
via one of Central Luzon's biggest FM radio stations, GVFM 99.1. Inspired by what the locals call
"Kapampangan cultural renaissance", Angeles City-born balladeer Ronnie Liang rendered
Kapampangan translations of some of his popular songs such as "Ayli" (Kapampangan version of
"Ngiti"), and "Ika" (Kapampangan version of "Ikaw") for his repackaged album.

Despite the growing clamor for non-Tagalog and non-English music and greater representation of
other Philippine languages, the local Philippine music industry, which is centered in Manila, is
unforthcoming in venturing investments to other locations. Some of their major reasons include
the language barrier, small market size, and socio-cultural emphasis away from regionalism in
the Philippines.

The country's first songwriting competition, Metro Manila Popular Music Festival, was first
established in 1977 and launched by the Popular Music Foundation of the Philippines. The event
featured many prominent singers and songwriters during its time. It was held annually for seven
years until its discontinuation on 1985. It was later revived in 1996 as the "Metropop Song
Festival", running for another seven years before being discontinued in 2003 due to the decline
of its popularity.[2] Another variation of the festival had been established called the Himig
Handog contest which began in 2000, operated by ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiary music
label Star Records. Five competitions have been held so far starting in 2000 to 2003 and was
eventually revived in 2013. Unlike its predecessors, the contest has different themes which
reflect the type of song entries chosen as finalists each year.[3][4] In 2012, the Philippine Popular
Music Festival was launched and is said to be inspired by the first songwriting competition.[5]