#FEATURE | A Valued Legacy: Guitar-Making in San Anton
by Alyssa Bituin
At the wave of the conductor’s hand, the distinctive tinkling and rumbling sounds of the rondalla delight the audience. The bandurria, octavina, guitar, and double bass send listeners through time, era after era, using their repertoire of folk songs and contemporary tunes.
From the Spanish colonizers to the Filipino youth, this musical ensemble has settled in the heart of Philippine culture. How did the rondalla become such a prominent part of music in the Philippines?
“Welcome to the home of the country’s finest guitars.”
The development of the Filipino rondalla began with a single instrument in a small village in Guagua when a Spanish soldier left his prized guitar to Victor Bacani, a resident of San Antonio. According to historian Remy Capati in an interview with ABS-CBN, Bacani then brought the guitar home to San Antonio, took it apart, and studied how it made sounds and how to correctly tune its strings.
“Yun [din] ang kwento ng mga nakakatanda,” Capati added.
(That is also what our forefathers told us.)
The unique timbre of the rondalla instruments is a product of the ingenuity of the Filipinos who modeled the instruments after the guitar brought by the Spaniards. San Antonio, since shortened to San Anton, is a town filled with luthiers who developed the art of making string instruments and passed it on from generation to generation. This tradition can be seen in the music stores that line the streets of San Anton, standing back-to-back, displaying string instruments of various kinds.
While the Spanish form of the ensemble also included bowed string, wind, and percussion instruments, Filipino luthiers were able to give the rondalla a new identity — it only consisted of plucked string instruments.
Among these instruments were the octavina and bajo de uñas, which create low and deep tones that enrich the overall sound of the ensemble. Filipinos also tuned the bandurria and laud slightly lower than their European counterparts and gave them slimmer bodies and additional strings.
Sir Anthony Ryan Cruz, a music teacher of Philippine Science High School–Main Campus (PSHS–MC), explained how local guitar-making has a “bright future” because of research and developments in design, especially in Pampanga, which has been referred to as the center of this industry. According to Sir Cruz, the guitars made in the Philippines have evolved from following standard specifications to varying their thickness, size, and design to produce a unique quality of sound.
He also mentioned how guitars have developed with regard to their type of material: “There are locally-procured materials. [Then, there are also woods] being imported from other places because [one of the factors of] good quality of sound is the wood that they use.”
The Philippine guitar-making industry has since attracted musicians from all over the world. Despite the wide availability of mass-produced Chinese and Japanese guitars, many customers seek the authentic handmade guitars made by Filipino luthiers.
The art of guitar-making
San Anton is famous all over the country for its guitars and considers itself the guitar capital of the Philippines. It dates the start of its guitar-making back to as early as the 1900s, thus preceding other areas billed as the country’s guitar capital.
String instrument–making has been the main source of livelihood for about 85% of the residents in San Antonio over the past century. During this time, it has also served as an inspiration to guitar-makers and customers alike.
Melvin Baul, the owner of the San Anton music store Chestone Guitars Little Indians’ Camp, shared in an interview his experiences as a guitar-maker, such as how he learned guitar-making as a family tradition like many other luthiers in San Anton.
“‘Yung tatay ko ang nagsimula [sa aking pagkatuto ng paggawa ng gitara]. Natuto siya doon sa tito niya na gumagawa rin ng gitara. Bali ako, third generation na siguro na gumagawa ng gitara,” said Baul.
(My father started [my career in guitar-making]. He learned from his uncle, who also makes guitars. Overall, I’m probably in the third generation of guitar-makers.)
When asked what inspires luthiers to continue guitar-making, Baul expressed the satisfaction in using a bare piece of wood to create a musical instrument that can be both played and displayed as a work of art.
He said that this perception was an important source of inspiration, especially during the beginning of the pandemic, when even guitar-makers had to work from home to prevent infection. Baul explained that they assembled the guitars at home with hand tools and the pieces of wood they had cut in the production base.
Besides the additional challenges brought by the pandemic, guitar-makers face difficulties everyday in making the guitars themselves. Baul stressed the importance of patience in the craft because the wood does not always bend the way they want it to. He added how attention to detail is a necessary skill as different types of wood, such as mahogany and gmelina, respond differently.
In this modern time of hustle culture, a craft where patience and attention to detail are essential skills and attitudes does not generate as much interest from the youth. Guitar-making is one; as a consequence, it is at risk of disappearing. Baul compared the present generation’s lack of interest in guitar-making to the growing disinterest in similar traditional crafts, such as farming and Marikina shoe-making.
“Kaunti nalang ‘yung nagta-take up ng craft, o kaunti nalang ‘yung meron [ng] skill [for guitar-making] sa mga bagong generation. So in effect, mawawala siya kung hindi maa-address ‘yun,” he said.
(Less people today take up the craft. Only a few left have the skill [for guitar-making] in the new generations. In effect, it may disappear if this is not addressed.)
A cultural symbol for the nation
Guitar-making is inextricably linked with the musical history of the Philippines during colonial times. The disappearance of the craft would be a great loss to the Filipino cultural identity. The rondalla, as a European musical tradition introduced to the Philippines by the Spanish, was initially reserved for people in authority and inaccessible to the native “indio” populations. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was adapted by Filipino musicians and incorporated into the existing pre-colonial musical tradition. The ensemble has since taken on a decidedly nationalist role within Filipino music, becoming a cultural symbol for the nation.
In the 1930s, a project by the University of the Philippines produced anthologies of 138 folk songs and 238 folk dances throughout the islands, supplying the rondalla with a core repertoire. Various schools in the country today teach students how to play the native instruments of the rondalla as a way to preserve Philippine folk music and instill a sense of nationalism.
PSHS–MC formed a rondalla group as part of Bravura, the school’s official music ensemble club, in the recent school year. Sir Cruz, the moderator of the group, said that the campus decided to do so “simply because this is our own,” citing the developments made by Filipinos to the rondalla that was introduced by the Spaniards.
“It’s really hard to set up or start a rondalla group, and it’s very, very costly also to maintain one. One, because of the instruments that you need to buy, and number two, because of the equipment that you need to have,” Sir Cruz added. Despite these challenges, the school established the rondalla group as part of the advocacy to propagate Filipino music and culture. “By doing so, we’re letting the people of Pisay, here in Main Campus, know what the music of a Filipino group can do.”
The rondalla group has allowed students to learn or develop their skills in instruments that are more in touch with Filipino culture, as Anika Beatrize Panopio, the rondalla vice president of Bravura, pointed out when asked about her thoughts on the new rondalla group of the campus.
“I, personally, am very happy that Pisay has started its own rondalla club. It is a science high school, yes, but this club gives the opportunity to students who like playing instruments to further enhance their skills, or for those interested, to learn how to play,” Panopio said.
She also expressed her excitement in being a member of the club. “I used to play rondalla in my former school, and I would love to play once more,” she said. “I want to see people grow from amateurs to actual players. It feels very fulfilling for me.”
Another member of the rondalla group expressed how she joined the club because she wanted to try something new and have a musical hobby. “I mainly look forward to learning a new instrument that I’d possibly take a liking to, as well as participating in performances and concerts with the rest of the group while taking my time to know and befriend them as well,” she said.
She also shared her experiences in learning how to play the octavina: “I was concerned at first that it would require strenuous practice, but despite the fact that it does take a lot of practice, especially the ‘tremolo’ [which is the sustained trembling sound produced by rapid downward and upward stroke of the pick], I eventually got into it. Overall, I look forward to playing this instrument and also improving my skills in playing it.”
A valued legacy
Celso Espejo, one of the most influential figures in the development of the rondalla tradition and performance, once said, “The bandurria is a valued legacy of our forefathers. It is a mark of Filipino ingenuity and an emblem of the musical culture of the nation.” This statement extends to the Philippine rondalla.
From the rondalla to locally-made guitars, it is not hard to witness the unmatched talent of Filipinos. Still, many fail to recognize even Filipino musical culture itself. Guitars and other string instruments made in the Philippines are highly sought after by those from other countries while most Filipinos look outwards for theirs.
Filipino artisans and musicians are a significant part of the musical setting of the Philippines. They pass on the country’s cultural music to the future generations and strive to improve it to represent the nation’s soul, making the music — and the artists’ legacies themselves — irreplaceable.
