The Plight of the True OPM

Let's face it. The art of kundiman is a dying art. Kundiman (If it not be so) is a unique form of expression renderred in music. I myself have written several poems which i planned to render into music, but it never progressed, mainly, I guess, because most of the people i know who can put the melody to the words i made don't have an inkling of what kundiman music is. Sadly, kundiman music in the past decade has been relegated as "funeral" accompaniment. Classics which used to make women swoon like Mutya ng Pasig, Sa Lumang Simbahan, Saan Ka Man Naroroon, Marupok na Sumpa, Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal and other classics have found themselves gathering dust, with only a handful of stations giving them much-needed airtime. In the FM Band, the only station that does play kundiman music is 104.3 Business Radio, a government-run station. Nakakalungkot. Kundiman music is part of our rich and colourful culture as a people. singers like Ric Manrique, Cenon Lagman, Diomedes Maturan and others are no longer emmulated. If only there was a way to preserve these masterpieces to show future generations that the origins of true original filipino music are monuments to the triumph of the filipino musician.

Here is a sample of a popular kundiman song, "Sa Sulyap Man Lang:

Ang mga sulyap ko giliw
kung iyong madarama
ay mababatid mong tunay

na minamahal kita.

Nguint di batid man lamang
ang wagas na pagsinta

kung kaya't sa pagsuyo
ang puso ko ay nagdurusa.

Ang awit kong ito
kung iyong maririnig
sa iyo'y maghahatid ng pagi-ibig.
Pagka't sa labi ko ko
ay hindi masambit
sa sulyap na lang sinta

ay aking ipadama.

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also visit www.filipinokundiman.blogspot.com