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enthusiasts would probably agree on certain criteria derived from patterns of transmission, social function, origins, and performance.

Experts add the central traditions of folk music are transmitted orally or aurally, that is, they are learned through hearing rather than the reading of words or music, ordinarily in informal, small social networks of relatives or friends rather than in institutions such as school or church.

Some sources say the Philippines, which has 17 administrative regions with major regional languages and musical brands, is literally a treasure trove for folk songs that give sheen to the country’s over-all culture as a Southeast Asian nation.

Sources say people in the regions, particularly the younger generations, should be exposed to this wealth of Filipino folk songs “since it is an essential way to pass down tradition that has been the signature of their ancestors.”

There are those who say singing these folk songs and helping the young ones appreciate the message help preserve and protect these traditional songs which cover several musical styles although the song is commonly used to refer to a narrative song that uses traditional melodies to speak on a particular topic.

Folk songs—the music of a nation, a sub-culture or a community of people —address social and political issues like work, war, and popular opinion and communicates a message and has a strong meaning about them.

In the Philippines, these folk songs are abundant—from as far north as Ilocos Norte and Cagayan to the warrior-type Tausugs in Jolo in the far south – but are hardly known and heard, if at all, by young Filipinos.

“I think we’ll get an accord in place if everyone realizes that our window before this next pandemic, this next health threat, is probably not far away,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told journalists in Geneva last week. AFP