Fraulien De La Cruz,

I hope that this letter finds you very well and that your efforts in getting to know other countries have been succesfull. I am writing to request a small favor of you, it seems as though Elizabeta has discovered your people's music and finds it most delightful, it is very lively, alot like her, but I digress. I was wondering prehaps if you could prehaps help me learn to play some of your Harana and Kundiman songs. I would greatly appreciate it.

Sincerly,

Roderich Edelstien, Austria.

P.S. I beg you pardon if you do not rember, but I was actually a close freind of your father's back when he was adopting his childeren around the world, being ruled by the same family and all and I am still trying to recall if I ever met you than.

Dear Mr. Austria,

Kamusta! Thank you for deciding to write to me! I'm doing very well, thanks for asking, and yes, I have been able to meet a lot of nations from this letter series. By writing letters, I was able to meet some siblings I never knew I had and meet new nations like Antarctica and Slovakia so I'm really happy I decided to do this. :DDD

Oh! I would love to help. I'm glad you and Miss Elizabeta like my traditional music. In this day and age, it seems as though no one does. *sighs* Miss Elizabeta must be a very lucky lady to be able to hear music from someone like you! XD

Well, basically harana and kundiman are genres of songs sung by a man who is serenading to a woman he loves. They're both very romantic and traditional in my country but sadly this tradition is rarely practiced nowadays. :(

Harana is the act of serenading. You can actually sing any love song, even English ones, during the seranade and still call it harana. But if you want it to be truly authentic, the rhythm must be a habanera (a genres of Cuban popular dance music), or danza (which is a variation of habanera) in Filipino, at 2/4 time. Habanera actually came from my Spanish colonizers and was adapted by my people. When listening to harana, there would usually be a danza rhythm with lyrics using archaic Tagalog (one of my languages). In a way, it sort of has a Spanish or Latin American sound to it. If you want you can also ask Spain or the Latin Americans more about the habanera from which my danza is based from. :D

Kundiman is a genres of traditional Filipino love songs that actually originated from the pre-colonial period. It's somewhat similar to harana since it also uses very deep Tagalog but the styles have different subjects. While harana is your standard love song, kundiman has a more I-am-a-poor-man-with-nothing-more-to-offer-you-than-my-undying-love kind of vibe to it. In musical terms, it has a 3/4 time and uses the formula of verse 1 in a minor key then followed by verse 2 on a parallel major key. If you stray from this formula your kundiman would be wrong.

For both genres, the guitar is the most used instrument. Although other instruments like the violin and banduria have been used, I still believe that the guitar is the best. If you need help, I remember my Papa has good guitar skills so try asking him :D

If you need anymore help, feel free to ask me anytime! I don't mind answering any more of your questions :)

I'm sorry, sir, but my memory from before isn't that good so I'm sad to say I don't remember Papa mentioning you and I highly doubt we've met before because I rarely left my house at that time but, of course, I'm very pleased to meet your acquaintance with this letter. :DDD

Sincerely,

Maria

The Philippines

P.S. I've sent a basket of mangoes to you. Hope you and Miss Elizabeta like them ^w^

AN: I actually don't really know much about traditional Filipino music so I had to do a lot of research for this chapter ^_^;;

Most of the info was taken from Wikipedia and this website: http:/florante(dot)org/blog/2010/11/09/harana_kundiman_difference/

If any of the info was wrong please feel free to correct me :D

Thanks again Bradley :DDD

Rewiew~? :3

(5/22/11)