| |

BUY NOW
CD BABY | Amazon.com
KALIBUTAN NAGDUMILI
ANUGON
KUNG IMO AKONG TALIKDAN
DAHONG LAYA
SALA BA DIAY ANG GUGMA
HIMAYANG NAHUNLAK
KAMINGAW SA PAYA
KUNG MAHIMO PA
SAKSI NING KABULAKAN
PANAMILIT

Thank you for listening with your heart.
The ballads in this collection have given voice to generations of Visayan1 speaking folk in central and southern Philippines. With Hispanized2 musical strains and lyrics in the Visayan vernacular, most of these songs have been generally passed on as oral traditions and are referred to by elders in Camiguin3 as “dalit,”4 and by others as “kinaraan” (“of the old”). As living documents of people’s sentiments, these ballads continue to live on to this day through contemporary voices that breathe new life into them. I sing these songs as a native Visayan speaker5, and as one to whom love and loss, anguish and despair are no strangers, but have, time and again, inhabited my heart and soul. The act of singing is in fact one of the few things that generate hope, healing and redemption in the midst of destiny’s misadventures.
– GRACE NONO
Artist and Co-producer
Manila, May 2009
1 Visayan is the primary language spoken in central Philippines. With its many variations (Cebuano-Visayan in which the songs in this collection are sung is just one of many), it is equally widespread in the southern island of Mindanao where many Visayans have migrated to for centuries. It is important to note however that the central, southern and northern languages of the Philippines including Visayan are said to trace back to the same Malayo-Polenesian or Austronesian language family (Scott 1994).
2 The Hispanic influence in Philippine culture was brought about by Spanish colonization from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
3 Camiguin is an island off the northern coast of Mindanao. Originally proto-Manobo, it had long been Visayanized. It is said that the Visayanization of Mindanao predated Spanish colonization.
4 Dalit is a generic term used by some Camiguin elders to refer to the Visayan secular folk song. It is differentiated from the Tagalog poetic form dalit (quatrain of monorhyming eight syllabic lines). Dalit In Visayan may also mean “gift” or “offering.”
5 I was born to a Camiguingnon (proto-Manobo) mother and Ilocano father, but grew up speaking Visayan in Agusan del Sur, Northeastern Mindanao, Southern Philippines where Visayan was lingua franca.

CREDITS
Voice, Concept, Research
GRACE NONO
Arrangements, Octavina and Nylon Guitars, Recording and Mastering
BOB AVES
Compositions
FRED BERAME (KalibutanNagdumili)
GIBBS CABRAL (Kung Imo AkongTakildan)
MANING VILLAREAL (DahongLaya)
JESS SACLO (HimayangNahunlak)
MINGGOY LOPEZ (KamingawsaPayag)
LEONORA PACRES (Anugon)
Information supplied by the Cebuano Studies Center
and the Filipino Association of Composers, Authors, Publishers, Inc.
Nylon Guitars on HimayangNahunlak, SalaBaDiay and Gugma,
NOLI AURILLO
Kung Imo AkongTalikdan
Additional Mixing
ARNOLD JALLORES
English Translations of the Visayan Songs
GEMINO ABAD
Sleeve Design
FELIX MAGO MIGUEL
Photography
DANNY BUENAVENTURA
and TAO NONO AVES
Recorded at SOUNDQUEST STUDIO, Quezon City, Philippines
Produced by
GRACE NONO and BOB AVES
A TAO MUSIC release
KALIBUTAN NAGDUMILI6
|
|
THOUGH THE WORLD HINDER |
Hinigugma, kinipatalinghugi |
Angsalomangaakongipabati. |
Panganti, maoynaghari |
Angmgakitikningakongawit-- |
|
Timan-ilang, pinangga, |
Gihigugmakoikaw, |
Saksianglangit |
Sa tim-oskongpagbati. |
|
Luyosakakulian |
Sa atongmgagugma, |
Pangitaonkoangdalan |
Alangkanatongduha. |
|
Tuuhingaikawakongunungan |
Bisanangkalibutannagdumili. |
Way sapayanngaakoimongsakiton |
Lamang, malipay ka. |
Back to top of page
|
|
Listen, my love |
To this old song, to my heart’s wish
for you, |
A steadfast promise |
Through all my song’s words. |
|
Remember, beloved, |
My hankering for you, |
Heaven my witness |
To the depth of my yearning. |
|
Whatever bar there be |
To our passion, |
I shall beat a path there |
For us to tread. |
|
Believe that I shall be with you |
Though the world hinder. |
I care not if you hurt me |
So long as your cheer endure. |
|
Anugonsaatongmgasaad |
Ngagituuhanako, mabulahanako. |
Napakyasangtanankongpaglaum Kay gilaksiningdughansapinanggako. |
|
Sa dapit, diinkoikawikahibalag, |
Angkatam-is sagugmangagimatutoko, |
Pagkapaitdiay, saakongdarangatan, |
Ngagibilinkokanimo, |
Mamataynalangako. |
Back to top of page
|
|
O such waste the promises we vowed |
That I believed was my good fortune! |
All my hopes were dashed
When my beloved broke my heart. |
|
Where I first met you, |
There I nurtured Love’s sweetness, |
Not knowing how bitter is my fate. |
Now that I am left without you, |
My only recourse is to die. |
|
| KUNG IMO AKONG TALIKDAN8
|
|
IF YOU TURN AWAY FROM ME |
Kung imoakongtalikdan, |
Mag-unsanalangningdughan? |
Way pagkutatangkasubokointawon, |
Ningkasingkasingnganaghilak, masulub-on. |
|
Wanabagayo’ypagbalik |
Angpagpanggakongnausik? |
Pagkapaitsagidangatanko |
Naghilaktungodsagugma mo. |
Back to top of page
|
|
If you turn away from me, |
What shall this heart do? |
My sorrow will know no end, |
In grievous sadness this heart
shall weep. |
|
Is there no hope you would return |
To my lovelorn care for you? |
O how bitter is my destiny |
As I weep yearning for you! |
|
Kaanugonlangsananglabayngpanahon, |
Nalaragnangtanangayud |
Dawdahonglaya. |
|
Angdahonngalaya, napulak, gipadpad, |
Samasadamgulang, sapagmata, nahanaw, |
Nahisama, ay, sagugmakokaron, |
Ngasatanangpaglaumdaw, nawad-an naako. |
|
Mao kinianggugmakokanimo, way palad |
Inayngamagmaya, karonintawonnanghupaw. |
Kaanugonlangsananglabayngpanahon, |
Nalaragnangtanangayud |
Dawdahonglaya. |
Back to top of page
|
|
How past times have gone to waste, |
All things have fallen to the ground |
Like wilted leaves. |
|
The wilting leaf, torn from its bough,
Then whirled away by the wind – |
Just so a dream vanishing upon waking, |
O just so my love now, |
All hopeless, so without hope. |
|
O just so my love for you, without fortune, |
Alive only as memory, without joy. |
How past days have gone to ruin, |
Everything has fallen to the ground, |
Verily like wilted leaves. |
|
| SALA BA DIAY ANG GUGMA10
|
|
IS TO LOVE THEN A SIN? |
Salabadiayanggugma? |
Salabadiayanggugma? |
Pananglit kung sala, |
Ugaling kung sala, |
Kitangtananang may kasal-anan. |
|
Basulan mo raugaling |
Kung ikawmahiadtosa lain |
Tamayon ka unya, |
Pahilakon ka unya, |
Ikawra dong ang may kasal-anan. |
|
Di baikawmisaad |
Ngaakoimonghigugmaon? |
Nganonggipakyas man? |
Nganonggipakyas man? |
Tungodbakaykasal-anan? |
Back to top of page
|
|
Is to love then a sin? |
Is it a sin then to love? |
If it were a sin, |
O, if it were a sin, |
Then have we all sinned! |
|
You may rue it yet |
If you go with someone |
Who may despise you |
Or drive you to tears, |
You’ll have yourself only, boy, to blame. |
|
Didn’t you promise |
To love me? |
Why have you failed? |
O, why have you failed? |
Is it because to love is to sin? |

|
| HIMAYANG NAHUNLAK11
|
|
A GLORY, EXTINGUISHED |
Ingonsagiminokaronkiningkalagko, |
Dawgibilanggointawonsausa ka damgo. |
Walakomasayod kung unsaangangayngbuhaton, |
Handumon ka ba, kasilagan ka ba,
Ugkalimtannalang? |
|
Ingonsagihayakaronkininggalamhan, |
Walayumoybisandyutayningbalatian, |
Ganisaluhaakonahubsan, |
Wala nay umoykiningdughannganagbangutan. |
|
Nahugno, nagun-ob,
nahunlakangakonghimaya, |
Nahugno, nagun-ob,
nahunlaksaimongpagbiya. |
Walakukalooyakongagibudhian, |
Walakukalooyakongagitalikdan. |
Pataynaangkanhingpunosahudyaka. |
| |
Pataynangpagbatingnalumsansamgaluha. |
| |
Kanakowala nay biliningkinabuhi |
Sukad ka nagbudhikanakongakongpinili. |
| |
Busasahilomnangandoynalamang, |
| |
Nangandoymataposnalangangtanan. |
Back to top of page
|
|
Adrift is my spirit now, |
Lost as in a dream. |
I don’t know what apt thing to do, |
Whether to cherish you in memory, or resent
Or forget you altogether. |
|
| |
Enfeebled is any power in me, |
All feeling is without vigor, |
Even my tears have run dry, |
My heart languishes, bereaved. |
|
Fallen, crushed, extinguished
all my glory, |
Fallen, crushed, extinguished,
since you left me. |
Without pity I was betrayed, |
Mercilessly I was forsaken. |
What festivity there was
Now only reeks of death. |
All feeling is dead, drowned
in tears. |
For me life is without meaning |
Ever since you, my chosen one,
betrayed me. |
Now in silence my heart only
dreams, |
Dreaming all will quickly come
to an end. |
|
| KAMINGAW SA PAYAG12
|
|
HOW DESOLATE THIS HUT |
| Kamingawnasapayag |
| Kanhiatonggipuy-an, |
| Sa duruhata ka gugma, ay! |
| Wanangiyangkahayag, |
| Kanhiatongmibanwag |
| Sa gabiingtanan. |
| Mag-unsanaako |
| Kung mawalanaikaw? |
| Unsay puy-an sapayagnga |
| Gibiyaan mo na man? |
| Asakonaikawpangitaakaron |
| Ngawala ka na man |
| Sa atongpayag? |
| Manamilitnalamang-- |
| Manamilitnalamang, |
| Kay lumalangyaw. |
Back to top of page
|
|
| How desolate, this hut |
| Where we used to live, |
| The two of us in love, oh! |
| Its light all gone, |
| Light that so brightly shone on us – |
| Evenings without end! |
| What shall I do |
| When you are gone? |
| What hut to dwell in |
| When you have left? |
| Where shall I look for you |
| Now that you are no longer |
| Here in our hut? |
| I have no recourse but to bid Farewell-- |
| farewell, |
| For you are no more. |

|
| |
|
|
|
KUNG MAHIMO PA13
|
|
IF IT WERE STILL POSSIBLE |
Kun mahimo pa ngaisumbongkokini |
Angtanangpagtamay mo |
Sa langitaronangtananmanagsama |
Ugkanakomalooy ka. |
|
Tungodsakabangissapagsilag mo |
Sikinsa pa unyangsumbunganko? |
Sa langitaronangtananmanagsama |
Ugkanakomalooy ka. |
Back to top of page
|
|
| If it were still possible for me |
| To tell heaven how poorly you treat me |
So all may come to my aid |
| And you take pity on me – |
| In the face of your fierce anger |
| Where else shall I plead my case? – |
| To heaven, so all may come to my aid |
And you take pity on me. |

|
| |
|
|
| SAKSI NING KABULAKAN14
|
|
ALL THE FLOWERS STAND WITNESS |
Saksiningkabulakan, |
Saksiningkalanggaman, |
Ubosniadtongdakongkahoy |
Didtonatawongimongkaluoy. |
|
Unyaningtabonangkangitngit |
Kay gidag-oman man anglangit, |
Unyakalit, mihilak ka, |
Ambotngano, naunsaba, |
Natahap ka saatonggugma. |
|
Tuuhiko, akongpinili, |
Nautlan ka ningkinabuhi, |
Kay didtounyasalangit |
Imongkatawa, akongkasakit. |
Angsugasakapalaran |
Napalunghangtudsalubnganan. |
Ibabawsaakonglubong |
Ayawkalimotpagtanum |
Aronadunakaymahandum. |
Back to top of page
|
|
All the flowers stand witness, |
All the birds stand witness, |
Under that old towering tree |
At last you took pity on me. |
|
Then a darkness descended |
From a sky overcast with storm clouds, |
And on a sudden you wept, |
I cannot tell why, or what mishap, |
But our love then you doubted. |
|
Believe me, my chosen one, |
When you shall have wearied of living, |
There in heaven where you be |
Your laughter shall grieve me, |
The light of my destiny |
Flickering away to death. |
Over my grave then forget not |
To plant a flower |
To remember me by. |
|
Manamilitnaakokanimo, |
Binalonangmatam-is kongdamgo. |
Hinautngaimongbati-on |
Kiningpagsangpitkokanimo. |
Kay saatongpag-inusara |
Hinumdumiangatonggugma, |
Gugmangwa’ypag-balhin |
Gugmangakanimo lang. |
Back to top of page
|
|
Now I bid you farewell, |
Farewell to sweet dreams with you. |
O would that you feel and heed |
My yearning for you |
In our separate solitude. |
Cherish in your memory our love |
That knows not alteration – |
My love only for you. |

|
| |
6 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Song attributed to Fred Berame. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
7 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Song attributed to Leonora Pacres. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
8 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Song attributed to Gibbs Cabral. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
9 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Song attributed to Maning Villareal. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
10 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
11 Taught to Grace Nono by Francisco Awitin. Song attributed to Jess Saclo. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
12 Taught to Grace Nono by Lordina Potenciano and Ralph Valle. Song attributed to Minggoy Lopez. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
13 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
14 Taught to Grace Nono by Ralph Valle. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
15 Taught to Grace Nono by Francisco Awitin. Music arrangement by Bob Aves. English translation by Gemino Abad.
|
Other albums by Grace
Nono:
Dalit | Diwa | Hulagpos | Isang
Buhay | Opo | Tao
Music

|
|