As I searched for some South East Asian music, I was looking for something that spoke to me as a string instrument player (guitar, mandolin). In the Philippines there is a strong history of Spanish influence, the Spanish also have a strong history of classical guitar. This piece was no exception to that. While not written for classical guitar, the performance outlined that tradition of combining the two together. The traditional Filipino piece Rosas Pandan has been a popular number in the Philippines for many years. The piece tells the tale of Rosas Pandan, a young girl from the mountains, who charms the festival goers of the Philippines with her songs and dances.
While many of the performances of the song are done in ensembles, as it typical of the region, this performance is the melody line of the song by a solo performer on guitar. There are lyrics to the song (not sung here) that tell the tale of Rosas. I chose to submit this specific performance because of the classical guitar performance. I felt that the dynamic, emotion, and timbre of playing was quite expressive and really emphasized the various sections and changes of the piece. While I found several chamber choir performances of the piece, I did not feel the same emotion, nor satisfaction as I found with the solo guitar performance. I thought that the timbre of strumming with the pad of the finger coupled with the juxtaposition of picking with the fingernail really provided for an interesting landscape of the piece. Imagining a girl from the mountains and listening to the piece really brought to mind the open landscape, mountains, and Filipino tradition. I also enjoyed the expression and use of roboto as it related to rests and changing sections of the piece. I felt that while this indicated changes that were coming, it also created a different feel from what one experiences in other renditions of the traditional song. I also thought it was unique because the performer arranged the piece for classical guitar as it obviously is not typically performed in this fashion. This added another layer of musicianship to the performance and was something that stuck out to me in arranging a piece normally performed by a group for a solo musician.
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