The rondalla is an ensemble of

stringed instruments In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play som ...

played with the

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

or pick and generally known as plectrum instruments. It originated in

Medieval Spain Spain in the Middle Ages is a period in the history of Spain that began in the 5th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the early modern period in 1492. The history of Spain is marked by waves o ...

, especially in the ancient

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. The tradition was later taken to

Spanish America Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' Spanish Empire, imperial era between 15th and 19th centur ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The word ''rondalla'' is from the Spanish ronda, meaning "serenade."

History

The ''rondalla'' has its origins in the folk playing bands from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

that were forerunners of the present-day rondalla and included four types: groups of young men who played and sang regularly in front of homes, bands of musicians known as ''murza'' or ''

murga Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed in Argentina, Panama, Spain and Uruguay during the Carnival season. Murga groups also operate in the Buenos Aires Carnival, though to a lesser extent than in Montevideo; the Argentinian murga ...

'' who begged for alms, a group of musicians known as ''comparza'' who played on stage, and groups of university musicians known as ''estudiantina'', dubbed ''“tuna”''. The usual musical instruments used by estudiantina members were

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

es,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

castanet Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...

s, and

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

s. Estudiantina musicians in Spain and Mexico, before and during the age of musical romanticism, wore 16th century attire such as "short velvet breeches, ornate shirts and a short cape with multicolored ribbons".Mexican Rondalla
Inside Mexico

Rondalla instruments in Spain

Some instruments used for the early rondalla were influenced by the

Mozarab The Mozarabs (from ), or more precisely Andalusi Christians, were the Christians of al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from 711 to 1492. Following the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania, the Christian ...

musical instruments of the time, including the

s and

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

Mandolins A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of eight strings. A ...

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...

and

s were also used. Today a full range of instruments can be heard in Spanish rondalla, usually including the

bandurria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a ro ...

laúd Laúd () is a plectrum-plucked chordophone from Spain, played also in diaspora countries such as Cuba and the Philippines. The laúd belongs to the cittern family of instruments. The Spanish and Cuban instruments have six double courses i ...

, and

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

, but sometimes also

Mexican vihuela The Mexican vihuela () is a guitar-like string instrument from 19th-century Mexico with five strings and typically played in mariachi groups. Description Although the Mexican vihuela has the same name as the historical Spanish plucked string ...

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

s, and

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfic ...

Rondallas in Spain, Mexico and the United States

Today, rondallas are more modern and expressive, using lyrics that are vibrant, yet still keep with the traditional theme of melancholy love and evening serenades. Currently, there are many groups in Spain (such as ''La Rondalla Sierra Almijara'' and ''La Rondalla de la Costera''), Mexico (such as ''La Rondalla de Saltillo'' and ''La Rondalla Voces del Corazón de Veracruz'') and the United States (''La Rondalla del Sagrado Corazón de Richmond'') that carry on the tradition, concursosderondallasmexico.org

Rondallas in the Philippines

The ''rondalla'' (also ''rondalya'') was introduced to the Philippines when it was part of the

Spanish East Indies The Spanish East Indies were the colonies of the Spanish Empire in Asia-Pacific, Asia and Oceania from 1565 to 1901, governed through the Captaincy General of the Philippines, captaincy general in Manila for the Monarchy of Spain, Spanish Crown, i ...

. In the early Spanish period, certain styles were adopted by the natives, especially ''guitarra'' and ''bandurria'' used in the ''

pandanggo Pandanggo is a Philippine folk dance which has become popular in the rural areas of the Philippines. The dance evolved from Fandango, a Spanish folk dance, which arrived in the Philippines during the Hispanic period. The dance is accompanied b ...

'', the ''jota'', and the ''

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

''. The use of the term ''comparza'' was common, however, during the American period, the term ''rondalla'' became more used. The introduction of a Filipino ''rondalla'' piece is very similar to the introductory tunes found in

. Presently, the term in Filipino culture refers to any group of stringed instruments that are played using the

or pick.Filipino Arts & Music Ensemble
, Filipino Heritage, The Making of a Nation, Volume 9, 1978, famenyc.org The Filipino instruments are made from indigenous Philippine wood, and the plectrum or picks are traditionally made from

tortoiseshell Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced from the shells of the larger species of tortoise and turtle, mainly the hawksbill sea turtle, which is a critically endangered species according to the IUCN Red List largely because of its ...

. Other stringed instruments composing the standard Filipino rondalla are the ''

'', the ''

octavina The octavina or Ecuadorian-Peruvian octavina is a guitar-shaped Ecuadorian-Peruvian instrument with a tuning similar to the laúd. Originally a Spanish instrument, the octavina was soon incorporated into other cultures, notably including culture ...

'', the

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 string (music), strings in six Course (music), courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lo ...

, the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, the ''bajo de uñas'' or

, the ''

guitarrón mexicano The guitarrón mexicano ( Spanish for "big Mexican guitar", the suffix ''-ón'' being a Spanish augmentative) or Mexican guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican six-string acoustic bass guitar played traditionally in Mariachi groups. ...

'', and other Filipino-made instruments modeled and developed after the violin. The Philippine rondalla's basic repertoire includes folk songs such as the "''Collar de sampaguita''", "''La bella filipina''", and "''No te vayas a Zamboanga''", as well as pieces from the types ''balitaw,'' ''

kundiman Kundiman is a genre of traditional Filipino ballads, predominantly with romantic themes. The lyrics of the kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundima ...

'', and the ''harana'', pieces for the ''

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...

'', and accompaniment for dances such as the ''

subli The ''sublî'' is a religious folk dance mostly practiced in Batangas in the Philippines, originating in Bauan and Alitagtag, Batangas, and practiced in other parts of that province in the southwestern part of Luzon. It is a Catholic devotiona ...

'', ''

tinikling Tinikling (traditionally written tiniclín) is a traditional Philippine folk dance which originated prior to Spanish colonialism in the area. The dance involves at least two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and a ...

'', and ''

cariñosa The ''cariñosa'' (, meaning loving or affectionate) is a Philippine dance of colonial-era origin from the Maria Clara suite of Philippine folk dances, where the fan or handkerchief plays an instrumental role as it places the couple in a ro ...

''.

References

External links