by Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo, UP MPRO
“It’s not really music. Not in the strictest sense.”
National Artist for Music, composer, ethnomusicologist, and UP University Professor Emeritus Ramon Pagayon Santos was referring to his area of research—non-Western indigenous expressive traditions included in the genre called “ethnic music.” Music, he said, is a Western concept defined by elements such as structure, counterpoint, harmony, texture, and form, among others. Continue reading