VOCAL MUSIC FORMS IN THE PHILIPPINES AND SOUTHEAST ASIA IN THE PRE-WAR ERA

Vocal Music Forms in the Philippines and Southeast Asia in the Pre-War Era

1. Indigenous Songs

Traditional songs and chants were used from birth ceremonies, lullabies, initiation rites, and weddings to healing the sick, praying to gods, repelling evil spirits, and performing death rituals. Some chants were even done as preparation for battles and after victories in war.

1. Indigenous Songs

In the Philippines, the ambahan was a poetic, rhythmic, and monophonic chant of the Mangyan people. Other Mangyan vocal forms include iyaya, lullabies, and marayaw, songs to communicate with spirits.

Many ethnic communities in Southeast Asia had their own shamans, and in the Philippines, we called them "babaylan. Chants were one of the shamanic tools used in performing community miracles in Southeast Asia.