Answers To The Question: “What Is Kumintang?”
WHAT IS KUMINTANG? – The Philippines is known for its rich and diverse culture be it food, literature, or the arts.
As an archipelago, the Philippines is home to an array of cultures within each of its islands. Today, we are going to talk about an aspect of the Filipino culture – dance.
There are several Filipino folk dances which were primarily derived from a mix of traditional Filipino dances and with high influence from Spanish cultures. In this article, we are going to learn about the “Kumintang”.
This is the name given to several unique styles and forms in music and dance. According to historians, these forms of music and dance had probably originated from Batangas.
Travelers during the early 19th century described it as a “Tagalog “national chant”, and written about how they were dance-songs performed by a pair of men and women. Often times, these dances would denote love and courtship.
Meanwhile, in the early 20th century, Francisca Reyes-Aquino described the Kumintang as the circular hand and wrist movement popularly known as “kunday”. It also refers to a guitar-plucking style which was dubbed as the most melodic and beautiful sounding guitar styles amongst the old kinanluran style of pandangguhan dances.
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