Harana is a Filipino word meaning ‘to serenade’. However, in this sense, it is not about the form of a piece, but the act of serenading. Harana is an old tradition of courtship in the pre-colonial and colonial days of the Philippines.
From way before the Spanish came to conquer the island nation, the Philippines had been passing down oral traditions and romantic epics through song. And as the conquistadors occupied the nation, they brought in Western music and other customs that bled into the traditional Filipino life. Through the years, Filipinos would continue to celebrate life-cycles, occupational, and social events with a blend of Asian and Western-style music and dance. Life-cycle songs include lullabies, songs of love, nuptial songs, songs of death, and songs of burial. Harana (Spanish ‘jarana’) is an umbrella term for the form of courtship during the Spanish colonial days. The music is rooted in the Mexican-Spanish tradition and is based on the rhythmic pattern of the habanera. It died down around the 1950s – The time when the digital age began, as well as the troubles and the beginnings of revolutions and wars. But in the old days, the way to court a woman was through song.
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