An active musicologist, Santos’ interest in traditional music cultures was heretofore realized in 1976 by embarking on fieldwork to collect and document music from folk religious groups in Quezon. National Artist for Music (2014) Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor and musicologist, is currently the country’s foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino music.
Embedded in the works of this period are the people-specific concepts central to the ethnomusicological discipline, the translation of indigenous musical systems into modern musical discourse, and the marriage of Western and non-Western sound.An intense and avid pedagogue, Santos, as Chair of the Department of Compositiion and Theory (and formerly, as Dean) of the College of Music, UP, has remained instrumental in espousing a modern Philippine music rooted in old Asian practices and life concepts. Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor and musicologist, is currently the country’s foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino music. A prime figure in the second generation of Filipino composers in the modern idiom, Santos has contributed greatly to the quest for new directions in music, taking as basis non-Western traditions in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
Higher studies in the United States under a Fulbright Scholarship at Indiana University (for a Master’s degree, 1968) and at the State University of New York at Buffalo (for a Doctorate, 1972) exposed him to the world of contemporary and avantgarde musical idioms: the rigorous processes of serialism, electronic and contemporary music, indeterminacy, and new vocal and improvisational techniques. Higher studies in the United States under a Fulbright Scholarship at Indiana University (for a Master’s degree, 1968) and at the State University of New York at Buffalo (for a Doctorate, 1972) exposed him to the world of contemporary and avant-garde musical idioms: the rigorous processes of serialism, electronic and contemporary music, indeterminacy, and new vocal and improvisational techniques. Watch Queue Queue D. Contemporary music in the Philippines usually refers to compositions that have adopted ideas and elements from twentieth century art music in the West, as well as the latest trends and musical styles in the entertainment industry. He received further training in New Music in Darmstadt, Germany and in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
He has also done research and fieldwork among the Ibaloi of Northern Luzon. Simultaneous with this was a reverting back to more orthodox performance modes: chamber works and multimedia works for dance and theatre. This brief introduction covers only the works written by the art music composers. His return to the Philippines marked a new path in his style. Panaghoy (1984), for reader, voices, gongs and bass drum, on the poetry of Benigno Aquino, Jr. was a powerful musical discourse on the fallen leader’s assassAn active musicologist, Santos’ interest in traditional music cultures was heretofore realized in 1976 by embarking on fieldwork to collect and document music from folk religious groups in Quezon. An intense and avid pedagogue, Santos, as Chair of the Department of Compositiion and Theory (and formerly, as Dean) of the College of Music, UP, has remained instrumental in espousing a modern Philippine music rooted in old Asian practices and life concepts. His initial interest in Mahler and Debussy while still a student at UP waned as his compositional style shifted to Neo Classicism and finally to a distinct merging of the varied influences that he had assimilated abroad.His return to the Philippines marked a new path in his style. All these would lead to the forging of a new alternative musical language founded on a profound understanding and a thriving and sensitive awareness of Asian music aesthetics and culture. He graduated in 1965 from the UP College of Music with a Teacher’s Diploma and a Bachelor of Music degree in both Composition and Conducting. Embedded in the works of this period are the people-specific concepts central to the ethnomusicological discipline, the translation of indigenous musical systems into modern musical discourse, and the marriage of Western and non-Western sound. Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor and musicologist, is currently the country’s foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino music.
With generation upon generation of students and teachers that have come under his wing, he continues to shape a legacy of modernity anchored on the values of traditional Asian music. National Artist for Music (2014) Ramon Pagayon Santos, composer, conductor and musicologist, is currently the country’s foremost exponent of contemporary Filipino music.