Musicians

ELISEO PAJARO  (1915 - 1984)

Composer.  He started his musical career by playing in town and school bands.  He directed
zarzuelas in his home province of Ilocos Norte during summers.  At the University of the Philippines, he obtained his formal education in the conservatory of music.  Later, he was awarded a music scholarship for graduate study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he received his master's and doctorate degrees.  He composed operas on a popular Ilocano folk epic "Life of Lam-ang" and the life of the national hero Jose Rizal for which he was honored with the
Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1964 and the Presidential Merit Award in 1966.  He wrote
"Mir-i-nisa," a full length ballet, which was performed at the inauguration of the Cultural Center of the Philipines (CCP) in 1969.

NICANOR ABELARDO (1893 - 1934)

Musician and composer.  A native of Bulacan, he learned to play the guitar at six and wrote his first composition at eight.  He moved to Manila to live with an uncle who taught him to play the piano.  While a music student at the University of the Philippines, Abelardo won first prize for his "U.P. Beloved" song, and he was appointed head of the conservatory's department of music.  During his lifetime, he composed 149 love songs called kundimans, which have become classics in Filipino
music and have earned him the title of "father of kundiman."  He died at the age of 41.  The main
theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines is named after him.

LUCRECIA KASILAG (1918 -          )

A leader in music education.  Kasilag obtained her music education from Philippine and American institutions of higher learning.  Her career has been distinguished by 200 original compositions that range from folk songs, art songs, and choral numbers to orchestral works, which have been
published and performed in the Philippines and abroad.  For years, she led Philippine cultural
delegations to Asian and European countries.  In October 1975, she was voted chairperson of the Asian Composers' League, and in 1989, the Philippine government honored her with the prestigious
National Artist Award.  Her alma matter, the Philippine Women's University, conferred on her a
doctor of laws honoris causa for her meritorious work in music education.

FRANCISCA REYES AQUINO (1899 - 1984)

Leader in folk dancing.  The president of the University of the Philippines (Jorge Bocobo)
recognized her talent in folk dancing and sent her to provinces to study and collect the native folk dances, songs, and other forms of music.  Her work made her an authority on the subject and an
important resource for school folk dances.  Her students at the university accepted her research with enthusiasm and became her strong supporters in the spread of the art of folk dancing.  She became a consultant to the world famous Bayanihan Folk Dance Troupe, which performs its popular folk dance repertoire in the major cultural capitals of the world.  Thus, folk dance instruction has been included in many private and public schools.  In 1973, President Marcos gave her the National Artist Award for her contribution to the preservation and propagation of the folk dances of the Philippines.