GLOSSARY
Abaca- Type of plant material used to make instrument strings in the past
Acob- Term used for resonator box of harp
Alfa- Bisayan term for harp, probably from Spanish term arpa
Alpa- Bisayan term for harp, probably from Spanish arpa or harpa
Arpa jarocha- Type of regional Mexican harp
Arpa- Ilocano term for harp, from Spanish
Bajo- Double bass viol, from Spanish term
Balac- Traditional indigenous Bisayan poetry
Balangay - Ancient Filipino ancestral boat
Balitaw- Topical song/dance genre traditionally accompanied by the harp in the Visayas (balitao, alternate spelling)
Bandurya - or bandurria, a short neck lute of Spanish origin with twelve to fourteen strings, the fourteen string bandurya most traditional with three treble courses having three strings each, two lower courses with two strings each, and a single bass string.
Barangay - generic name for a village or town within a municipality, can be used alternately with the term barrio
Bardic - Type of Euopean harp
Barrio- Small village may be used interchangably with barangay
Binisaya or Sugbuanon - Bisayan word for their language
Bolo - Type of machete or long knife
Bombass - Old German instrument using an animal bladder as a bridge
Buad - Salted fish used as a staple in the diet of Cebuanos
Calypso - Type of topical song form from Trinidad in the Carribean
Candlemas - Part of religious calendar on Feb. 2 when Christmas caroling season ends
Cantors - Singers of Church liturgy
Carabao - Filipino term for indigenous water buffalo
Carvata - Spanish term used for hollowed log harp resonator boxes in Mexico
Casko - Bisayan term for harp resonator box, from Spanish casco
Cedulas - Spanish law
Chile - Type of musical instrument which uses an air filled pig's bladder as a bridge between the instrument body and the string.
Clairsach - Old Irish harp
Coriapi - Same as koriapi, Bisayan boat lute like kudyapi
Corlong - Same as korlong, Bamboo tube zither instrument used by Bisayan women in the 17th century and before
Coverta - Bisayan term for soundboard, possibly comes from Spanish word "cobertera" or lid.
Datu- Traditional Filipino name for head man
Daygon - Bisayan term for Christman caroling
Erhu - Chinese fiddle
Fanegas - Measurement for volume of material, such as rice
Fiesta - Party or festival usually associated with a particular saint
Filipiniana - Folklore or culture of the Filipino
Gabbang - Type of xylophone made of bamboo, similar to the Bisayan kulintang
Galleon - Spanish ships used for trade in the 16th through 19th centuries between Mexico and the Philippines
Gamay - Bisayan word for small or little
Gantas - Measurement for grain
Habanera - Type of dance genre popular in the Philippines, believed to have originated in Havana (Habana) Cuba
Hacendero - landed family which originally gained wealth through Spanish colonialism and still wields political power in the Philippines
Harana - Type of love song genre popular in the Bisayas, from a Spanish term
Harpa - Spanish term for harp somtimes used in Ilocano areas
Ilustrado - Upper middle class person of Filipino or mixed Filipino blood during Spanish colonial times
Instrumento Nacional - National Instrument, described for the harp during the 18th and 19th centuries in the Philippines, term from Spanish
Jesuits - Priests from the order of the Society of Jesus
Kabayo - Bisayan term for horse or the neck of the harp, probably from the Spanish term caballo.
Koriapy - Bisayan boat lute documented by Alcina in the 17th century, same as Filipino kudyapi
Koto - Japanese 13 string board zither usually played by women
Kourlong - Bisayan bamboo tube zither used by women in 17th century documented by Alcina
Kudyapi - Gerneric Filipino term for type of boat lute used by indigenous Filipinos
Kugo - Ancient Japanese open angular harp used originally in Gagaku
Kulintang - Floating term used for two different musical instruments in the Philipines, 1) as the metal knobbed gong array seen in Mindanao and Sulu Archipelego 2) at the bamboo xylophone found in the Visayas
Kundiman - Indigenous Tagalog song form similar to the Bisayan harana
Kung hou - Ancient Chinese open angular harp
Lanceros - Popular Spanich dance form
Langking - Silk strings from China
Lanzon - Metal nails, word from Spanish
Laud - Type of rondalla instrument which sounds an octave below the bandurya, has 12 to 14 strings in 6 courses
Liso - Bisayan term used as a verb, to twist, as a noun it can refer to the pegs of a harp or the templador
Litson- Bisayan word for centerstrip on soundboard of the harp
Maestro de Capilla - Spanish term for choral master
Mestizos - People of mixed Spanish blood
Novenas - A nine day ritual for a dead person or may also celebrate a regional saint annually
Oktavina - Rondalla instrument which looks like a small guitar and has fourteen strings in a six course array like the bandurya, sounds an octave lower than the bandurya
Palay - Unhusked rice
Paluchina - Gerneric Filipino term for a coniferous type of lumber
Pastorelas - Spanish secular religious theatrical and musical form depicting the Nativity scene
Pastores - Extant Bisayan form of pastorelas in the vernacular language
Pasuk - Wood nails
Pendulan - Bisayab term for harp forepillar
Pianya - Bisayan term for harp base
Pilipino - National language of the Philippines
Piña - Pineapple
Poblacion - Usually the name of the main barangay of a municipality, often where the church is located
Probinsyanos - Urban term for people who are from rural areas
Pundasyon - Bisayan term used for the harp component that connects the neck with the resonator box, probably from Spanish
Rebab - Refers to the Indonesian fiddle
Ribete - Bisayan word for molding
Reducciones - A settlement usually instituted by the Religious to get natives to move from outlying areas into a central area. The church or was usually the center of the settlement.
Rigodon - Popular Spanish dance genre
Rondalla - String band of Spanish origin sometimes called comparsa made up of bass, guitar, oktavina, laud, bandurya, and pikolo
Sacristans - Church members who sing and perform ritual liturgical service
Sapilla - Spanish term for wood plane
Saung-gauk - Burmese open arched harp
Senit - Coconut fibre string or rope
Sinkil - Popular Muslim dance from Mindanao
Sitio - Refers to a specific location within a barangay
Solfeggio - The use of do-re-mi syllables to sing specific tones of the musical scale
Tabon - Bisayan word for soundboard, from Spanish word for "top"
Tabu - Place where people meet periodically to sell goods, a market
Tagalog - Language
Taglish - Combination of Tagalog and English
Templador - device used to turn pegs to tune strings of the harp, from Spanish; to tune)
Tempos - Bisayan term for harp forepillar
Tinikling - Most popular Filipino cultural dance originally of Waray Bisayan origin which uses bamboo poles as props for dancers
Tiple - Soprano voice, could refer to voices of young boys
Villancicos - Renaissance song genre from Spain which were transferred to Latin America and the Philippines by the 17th century