Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Christmas Caroling ala Pinoy (And the collection of Tagalog Christmas Songs)

I noticed that many are landing in my site when they search Google with the phrase "Tagalog Christmas Carol", because of this post I did last year. I am guessing a lot of those "searchers" are Filipinos living abroad like me. Christmas caroling is indeed a great part of the Pinoy Christmas - something that I don't experience here on Maui as much as I would like to. And so I thought I'd write another post on it and provide links to the actual songs (because I do not know how to do the imeem yet;)

Before I provide the link to the songs, here's an excerpt of what "caroling in the Philippines is about" as written by "Filipina Soul":

Here in the Philippines we’ve been hearing Christmas songs over the radios since 1st of September. But at the first strike of December, Christmas Caroling starts. Usually by children (sometimes adults too if for a cause) carrying tin cans made into makeshift drums and tambourines while they try their best to sing along with the most common Christmas carol as they go from house to house every night until Christmas Day in exchange for a few cents. As I child I still remember the feeling of delight when my friends and I would split our “earnings” each night.

Philippines Blog described it this way:

Caroling: Philippine Christmas is not complete without music, and the season is celebrated by Filipinos through caroling. In most urban centers and rural areas in the Philippines, a group of carolers visit houses to sing Christmas songs. Some of these carolers raise funds for less fortunate families through caroling, while others are simply doing it for the joy of singing. Some carolers may be a group of friends, or belong to the same community or civic organization. Others may be family relatives who have made it a tradition to sing together as a family.In the neighborhood, a group of kids may form together as amateur carolers and visit houses every night. They will be more than happy to receive coins or candies as reward for singing Christmas songs. They sing even out of tune, and are creative in using tin cans, plastic containers, and bamboos as their musical instruments. It is the fun of doing it that mattters, out of tune or not!

I found a You Tube video of a group of carolers and even though the quality of the video is not that clear, it was fun to watch and listen to them sing. Click here if you'd like to check it out.

I also found a collection of Christmas Tagalog songs on this Tonet's Blog here and Touched by An Angel blog.

Maligayang Pasko!

4 comments:

noemi said...

Oh I love Christmas carols both in Filipino and english.

krrey_boo17 said...

I like Christmas carols in Filipino too! Do you have any idea where I can download these songs? =)

Anonymous said...

Hi you can listen your favorite tagalog christmass caroling at Free Tagalog Movies

robert said...

Great to hear you love the carols of Christmas.

And if you’ll excuse a brief “commercial:” With the arrival of fall, we begin to think of the Christmas season up ahead. If you do not have a good book on the subject of our Christmas carols, I encourage you to take a look at mine, Discovering the Songs of Christmas. In it, I discuss the history and meaning of 63 carols and Christmas hymns. The book is available through Amazon, or directly from Jebaire Publishing. (Might make a great gift too!)