thanks koddi for posting the article, "where credit is due." I'm currently enrolled in a voice class and my teacher assigned me the song, 'usahay," knowing that i'm bisaya. we got the piece from a compilation of pieces in the library in a school famous for music studies where my hubby is a faculty. the song was credited to somebody else. the lyrics are even misspelled and incomplete. i had to edit it pa gani. the stress of the words are even wrong.

when my hubby transposed the song and printed out the piece, he copied the name of the supposed composer, then placed a question mark after the name.

i will print out the article. i suggested to my hubby that he will discuss this issue in his class.

this will be a good lesson for his students. 

i played that song, "pasayawa ko day" at a Filipino gathering, ning joke joke pood ahong amigo, "lagi day, sayaw ta sa katri."

lol. bu**** nga palamuut.

Komposo (Hiligaynon Song Form)
 
Edith Colmo, a Bacolod journalist says that Komposo is "Any repeated tune lang kada paragraph bala, daw gahimo bala story." Edith gives the following example:
 
Ako nalooyan buktot ko nga ugangan,
Kon akon madomdoman ,
nagasakit ang akon dughan.
Maayo pa man gani,
Kon di siya magpauli,
Kay dughan ko ang daw magisi.
 
The Ilonggo-Bisaya 'komposo' through time
Henry F. Funtecha, Ph.D.

One of the most durable of the Ilonggo forms of literary expressions is the komposo. The komposo, as the name suggests, is a composition, in this case a musical one.

The komposo, as it is commonly known today, can be traced back to the Spanish period, although the pre-colonial Filipinos had a similar past-time prior to colonization. For example, the Mangyans of Mindoro are still doing it today, composing love songs on segments of green bamboo and singing it while on a courtship. During the Spanish times, it was used as a tool for oral mass communication. Every barangay or town had, in the average, tow to three manugkomposo who would sing out in public places, usually the plaza, important events to be commemorated or the latest "news". Initially, it was a narrative sung in a repetitive melody. Later, adapting and responding to the changing situations and needs of a developing Ilonggo-Bisaya society, it expanded into a non-narrative content.

Among the popular subjects or themes of komposo during the Spanish period were muncvipal ordinances, town life as oppsoed to life in the hinterlands, the virtues of Catholicism, the brutalities of the Moro invasions, and the heroism of folk legendary heroes. A good example of the last genre is the komposo on Montor, the folk hero of the Iloilo phase of the Philippine Revolution.

The American occupation of the Philippines ushered in a new era which considerably transformed the Ilonggo-Bisaya society and way of life. The exploits of local leaders were still a popular subject, as in the case of the komposo on Quintin Salas, hero of the Filipino-American War. But, certainly, new themes brought about by a new Western culture and a new morality reflected conflicts between the old and the young. In this regard, according to a paper written by Alicia Tan-Gonzales (1990), the manugkomposo became the legitimate speakers for the old culture and values.

The Japanese interlude, on its part, brought more komposo. The war brought together the poor and the rich to the hills for protection and safety. This abnormal situation made the komposo very popular as a free means of entertainment. During peaceful nights when everyone was assured of being free from the threats of Japanese presence or raids, komposos would flow lyrically from the manugkomposo's lips. Other than the entertaining ones, horrifying komposos of massacres, pillage and atrocities came out in this period of terror and deprivation.

Interestingly, the end of the Japanese occupation up to about the eighties witnesses a resumption of the Ilonggo-Bisaya folk's resistance to the new morality brought about by the earlier Americanization process. Thus, among the subjects taken in the komposo were the youth's insubordination, the changing attitudes of young women, western fashion, and the idealization of rural women because of their embodiment of valued tradition (Gonzales 1990).

The period 1950s to the 1960s was further characterized by the proliferation of komposos bearing political contents. Election campaign strategists discoveredone effective way of communicating with the electorate by using the komposo. This was the case, for example, with a very popular komposo for the candidacy of the late Pres. Ramon Magsaysay.

The seventies up to the eighties, on the other hand, brought to the surface propaganda komposos, especially pertaining to the many programs of the Martial Law regime. The ninities and beyond speak of love, violence, death, infidelity, the plight of overseas workers, the changes in the cultural landscape, as well as the human need for justice.

It can be said, therefore, that whatever the subject or theme is, the komposo has always reflected historical and cultural realities and changes through time. Significantly, the Ilonggo-Bisaya manugkomposo, regardless of what he sings, is often amicable and non-confrontational. Maybe, this is a reflection of his orher reputation as an endearing person, cautious of the feelings of other people. This will perhaps explain why he/she always asks for "dispensasyon" for himself/herself at the end of the komposo.
 
 
 
Source:
 
Atty. Manuel Lino G. Faelnar
Co-Convenor for Language and Culture
Subsidiarity Movement International

Vice President, DILA Phils. Foundation, Inc.
(Defenders of the Indigenous Languages of the Archipelago)

Director, Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya, Inc. (LUDABI)

Member, Linguistic Society of the Philippines

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