Palabunibunyan (2020)

This is my first piece for solo piano and it was written during the first months of lockdown due to pandemic. The world was shaken, millions of lives lost, economy collapsed, people lost their jobs, food is limited, world leaders panicked, and everyone struggled to survive. In addition, the pandemic also affected the mental health of many. I wrote this piece as an outlet to escape from all these turmoils. It was also challenging to gather ideas and thoughts and make sense out of them during this time.

As I was reflecting, I took inspiration from the traditional gong ensemble from the southern Philippines that is played during festive occasions and celebrations, the “Palabunibunyan”. The “Palabunibunyan” ensemble consists of instruments such as kulintang, dabakan, agung, babandir, and the gandingan, and is performed for merrymaking, not played during occurrences of death, and calamities. My piece attempts to capture and modify certain elements of the Palabunibunyan including the nuances of gongs, playful melodies, melodic transpositions, and the rhythmic mode “binalig", a mode in moderate tempo, evoking joy or anger. The piece employs narrative of constructing and deconstructing musical segments, and reconstructing them again to form unity and order. I long for the time when this pandemic will soon be over and we will get to celebrate life once again with our loved ones, and be able to hear the loud sounding gongs of the Palabunibunyan.