Baleleng is one of the famous

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

which is

Sama Dilaut The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...

and/or Tausug in origin that has been passed through generations. The composer or the writer of the song was not credited and was unknown. The tune was passed by mouth from province to province and the original lyrics of the song was altered. Versions of Filipino local artists have made the song popular both in

Visayan Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...

and

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

languages. Leleng was the original title of the song which means ''Darling'', ''Sweetheart'', ''my lady'' or ''my dear'' in

language. In

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

such as

and

, the enclitic "ba" is used as a question marker. Example: (Tagalog) Aalis ka na ''ba''? (English) ɑre you leaving now? Since the song was passed from tongue to tongue, the lyrics was wrongly interpreted as Baleleng. The story of the song was about a man bidding goodbye to a lady called Leleng as he was going to war. Like other

songs, it is sang with the accompaniment of a string instrument like gitgit and biula,

gabbang The gabbang, also known as bamboo xylophone, is a musical instrument made of bamboo widely used in southern Philippines. Among the Tausugs and Samas, it is commonly played to accompany songs and dances as a solo instrument or accompanied by the ...

and the

kulintangan Kulintang ( id, kolintang, ms, kulintangan) is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. As part of ...

In popular culture

The folk song was used as an ending theme in the

Philippine television drama Philippine television drama, also known as ''teleserye'', Filipino telenovelas or P-drama, is a form of melodramatic, serialized, televised fiction in the Philippines. ''Teleserye'' is derived from two Filipino words: "tele", short for "''telebi ...

Sahaya ''Sahaya'' is a 2019 Philippine television drama fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. Directed by Zig Dulay, it stars Bianca Umali in the title role. It premiered on March 18, 2019 on the network's Telebabad line up replacing ''Onanay''. The ...

'' broadcast by

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network ( ...

starring

Bianca Umali Maria Isadora Bianca Soler Umali (; born March 2, 2000), professionally known as Bianca Umali, is a Filipino actress, television host, singer, dancer, and endorser. Early and personal life Maria Isadora Bianca Soler Umali was born on March ...

in the title role, a

Badjao The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are ...

from Zamboanga who despite her struggles in life stay true to her identity.

References

{{reflist Philippine folk songs