Ever heard of Idemdem Malida? It is a traditional Itneg victory chant arranged into a chorale piece by Prof. Elmo Makil. This video is an interpretation of the song by the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus. The singers look kinda silly with all that arms-waving (I’m not sure it fits the song) but they really sing well. Nice eh?
Category Archives: Cordillera Music
Benguet Country Singer
Country singer Rio “Filemon” Carino sings proudly of Kabenguetan. Maybe our Ibaloi friends can translate the song so we will enjoy it more fully 🙂 For those of you who love country music, make sure you check out the Igorot yodeler here.
More Fun Stuff: Bagbagto
This is a song I learned from my high school Practical Arts teacher. I don’t know what teachers call the subject these days but during our time, Practical Arts is where we learn stuff like carpentry and gardening. I’m not quite sure how this song relates to either carpentry or gardening but I’m glad our teacher taught it to us. I appreciated him then but I have a much higher appreciation for him now.
I’m also not quite sure if the song means something. I think it’s just a play on words and the words themselves might not mean anything. I say “might” because I don’t know all the Cordillera languages and “Bagbagto” just might mean something in Ifugao or Ibaloi or Kalanguya or Isneg.
Odina Batnag: I Am But a Small Voice
Here’s a Youtube video of the song written by Odina Batnag (music composed by legendary musician Roger Whittaker). Odina, if you recall, made it to Part 6 of the List of Igorot Achievers.
The Igorot Yodeler
Several posts down, I mentioned that Igorots can yodel. Here’s the YouTube video that proves my claim. Enjoy the music!