National Artist for Music (1997)

(January 31, 1917 – May 5, 2004)

Jose Maceda, composer, musicologist, teacher and
performer, explored the musicality of the Filipino deeply.
Maceda embarked on a life-long dedication to the
understanding and popularization of Filipino traditional
music. Maceda’s researches and fieldwork have resulted
in the collection of an immense number of recorded music
taken from the remotest mountain villages and farthest
island communities. He wrote papers that enlightened
scholars, both Filipino and foreign, about the nature of
Philippine traditional and ethnic music. Maceda’s
experimentation also freed Filipino musical expression
from a strictly Eurocentric mold.

Usually performed as a communal ritual, his compositions

like Ugma-ugma(1963), Pagsamba (1968), and Udlot-
udlot (1975), are monuments to his unflagging
commitment to Philippine music. Other major works
include Agungan, Kubing, Pagsamba, Ugnayan, Ading,
Aroding, Siasid, Suling-suling.
 National Artist for Music (1989)
(August 31, 1918 – August 16, 2008)
Lucrecia R. Kasilag, an educator, composer, performing
artist, administrator and cultural entrepreneur of national
and international caliber, had involved herself wholly in
sharpening the Filipino audience’s appreciation of music.
Kasilag’s pioneering task to discover the Filipino roots
through ethnic music and fusing it with Western influences
has led many Filipino composers to experiment with such
an approach. She dared to incorporate indigenous Filipino
instruments in orchestral productions, such as the prize-
winning “Toccata for Percussions and
Winds, Divertissement and Concertante,” and the
scores of the Filiasiana, Misang Pilipino, and De
Profundis. “Tita King”, as she was fondly called, worked
closely as music director with colleagues Lucresia Reyes-
Urtula, Isabel Santos, Jose Lardizabal and Dr. Leticia P.
de Guzman and made Bayanihan Philippine Dance
Company one of the premier artistic and cultural groups in
the country.
Her orchestral music includes Love Songs, Legend of
the Sarimanok, Ang Pamana, Philippine Scenes, Her
Son, Jose, Sisa and chamber music like Awit ng mga
Awit Psalms, Fantaisie on a 4-Note Theme, and East
Meets Jazz Ethnika.
 National Artist for Music (1973)
(December 26, 1894 – January 29, 1980)
Antonio J. Molina, versatile musician, composer, music
educator was the last of the musical triumvirate, two of
whom were Nicanor Abelardo and Francisco Santiago,
who elevated music beyond the realm of folk music. At an
early age, he took to playing the violoncello and played it
so well it did not take long before he was playing as
orchestra soloist for the Manila Grand Opera House.
Molina is credited with introducing such innovations as the
whole tone scale, pentatonic scale, exuberance of
dominant ninths and eleventh cords, and linear
counterpoints. As a member of the faculty of the UP
Conservatory, he had taught many of the country’s leading
musical personalities and educators like Lucresia Kasilag
and Felipe de Leon.
Molina’s most familiar composition is Hatinggabi, a
serenade for solo violin and piano accompaniment. Other
works are (orchestral music) Misa Antoniana Grand
Festival Mass, Ang Batingaw, Kundiman- Kundangan;
(chamber music) Hating Gabi, String Quartet, Kung sa
Iyong Gunita, Pandangguhan; (vocal
music) Amihan, Awit ni Maria Clara, Larawan Nitong
Pilipinas, among others.