Bahaghari

Broadway star Lea Salonga is one of the most famous singers in the Philippines. To showcase the incredible diversity of her home country's three regions and multiple languages, she teamed up with scholar and musician Ryan Cayabyab to perform some of the country's best- loved folk songs. Salonga and Cayabyab have recorded them in new arrangements, and for the most part this works well, with piano and guitar featuring prominently. The excellent liner notes tell us the language of each song, and the translated lyrics highlight the themes of these folk songs – love, infant lullabies (the really beautiful ‘Ili Ili Tulog Anay’), tales of dancing herons, tired dragonflies and happy-go-lucky fishermen.
The tracks include two songs special for Filipinos: ‘Bahay Kubo’, a popular folk song about self-sufficiency; and a terrific version of ‘Waray Waray’, about fearless Waray women that was immortalised internationally by Eartha Kitt. The record label GLP and Salonga are to be congratulated for supporting endangered languages in this recording, giving many minority speakers the opportunity to hear their music and the rest of us to enjoy the diversity of music in the Philippines.