Kundiman

Kundiman
Stylistic origins	Filipino folk music
Cultural origins	Tagalog, also other ethnic groups in the Philippines
Typical instruments	Vocals • acoustic guitar
Derivative forms	Manila Sound

Kundiman is a genre of traditional Filipino love songs. The lyrics of the Kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundiman was the traditional means of serenade in the Philippines.

The Kundiman came around to be an art song at the end of the nineteenth century and by the early part of the twentieth century, its musical structure was formalised by Filipino composers such as Francisco Santiago and Nicanor Abelardo (February 7, 1893-March 21, 1934); they sought poetry for their lyrics, blending verse and music in equal parts.

Scholars and historians believed that the Kundiman originated from the Visayas . Dr. Francisco Santiago(1889–1947), the "Father of the Kundiman Art Song", briefly explains in his scholarly work "The Development of Music in the Philippines" the reason why this Tagalog song is called Kundiman is because the first stanza of this song begun thus:

In 1872, the illustrious Franciscan Tagalist and poet, Joaquín de Coria wrote the "Nueva Gramática Tagalog Teorica-Práctica" which, besides treating grammar, also enumerates the characteristics of Tagalog language, and discusses Tagalog poetry. In this book, Coria also listed the names of the most important songs of the Tagalogs. They are:

The Spanish scholar V.M. Avella described the Kundiman in his 1874 work "Manual de la Conversación Familiar Español-Tagalog" as the "canción indígena" (native song) of the Tagalogs and characterized its melody as "something pathetic but not without some pleasant feeling." </ref name=Kundiman>

In his 1883 book "Cuentos Filipinos", Don José Montero y Vidal recorded in Spanish the sad lyrics of a "popular" Kundiman of the "Tagalas" or Tagalogs :

The Spanish writer and historian Wenceslao E. Retana recorded in 1888 the lyrics of a popular Kundiman in Batangas. The melancholic lyrics in the Tagalog original as recorded in Retana's book "El Indio Batangueño" reads:

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