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    The Story Behind The Baleleng Song

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    Raymund Montoya
    The song Baleleng originated from the Tausug language of the Sulu province in the Philippines. While most Filipinos are familiar with the melody, few understand the original lyrics as they have been altered as the song spread to other provinces. The song is a bittersweet love story from the perspective of a young man bidding farewell to his beloved "Leleng" as he goes off to war. It expresses his anxiety at the distance that will soon separate them and his pledge to follow her even that far.

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    The Story Behind The Baleleng Song

    Uploaded by

    Raymund Montoya
    1K views2 pages
    The song Baleleng originated from the Tausug language of the Sulu province in the Philippines. While most Filipinos are familiar with the melody, few understand the original lyrics as they have been altered as the song spread to other provinces. The song is a bittersweet love story from the perspective of a young man bidding farewell to his beloved "Leleng" as he goes off to war. It expresses his anxiety at the distance that will soon separate them and his pledge to follow her even that far.

    Original Description:

    a folk song from the Bajaos

    Original Title

    The Story Behind the Baleleng Song

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    The song Baleleng originated from the Tausug language of the Sulu province in the Philippines. While most Filipinos are familiar with the melody, few understand the original lyrics as they have been altered as the song spread to other provinces. The song is a bittersweet love story from the perspective of a young man bidding farewell to his beloved "Leleng" as he goes off to war. It expresses his anxiety at the distance that will soon separate them and his pledge to follow her even that far.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views2 pages

    The Story Behind The Baleleng Song

    Uploaded by

    Raymund Montoya
    The song Baleleng originated from the Tausug language of the Sulu province in the Philippines. While most Filipinos are familiar with the melody, few understand the original lyrics as they have been altered as the song spread to other provinces. The song is a bittersweet love story from the perspective of a young man bidding farewell to his beloved "Leleng" as he goes off to war. It expresses his anxiety at the distance that will soon separate them and his pledge to follow her even that far.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    The Story Behind the Baleleng Song

    The song Baleleng is one of the most famous folk song in the Philippines. Though majority
    or almost all is familiar with the tune of the song, no one exactly knew the message behind
    the lyrics. This is because the original language behind the song is unfamiliar.

    The Baleleng song is Tausug in Origin according to Lolo Mao. The song's original writer and
    composer is unknown since the song has been passed by way of tongue particularly the
    tune from province to province with the original lyrics being altered. Local and national
    artists created a sensible Visayan and Tagalog Lyrics of the song which gained great
    popularity.

    The love song Beleleng is a story on a perspective for a young man bidding goodbye for his
    lovely maiden locally called "Leleng" (my dear) as Frauline in Berlin or Senorita to Mexico.
    The "Ba" was supposed to be a word which is placed after every question phrase in the local
    dialect (eg. Magaling ka ba? or Are you good?; Naintindihan mo ba? or Did you
    understand?) however mistakenly added to Leleng which famously became Baleleng.

    The song is has a bittersweet story of a young male lover describing his anxiety in a poetic
    manner to his girl as he was going to war. There is a huge probability that the man is
    defending his hometown as his lines was that he will follow the girl even that far instead of
    saying I will be back.

    These are the original lines of remorse by the lover (with spacing of the words
    placed sensibly):

    I
    Mutya ka ba Leleng? Sa katahom
    Timgas pa sa puti nga baybayon
    Sa kasingkasing ka panganduyon
    Perlas ka nga angay gyud angkonon

    II
    Pila na ba Leleng? Layu-layu?
    Si Tangkay ba Leleng? Pa Sibutu ?
    Bang 'kaw bunal ba Leleng matuyo
    Urul kaw ba Leleng pama layu

    III
    Kon ikaw ba Leleng ay mawala
    Kon ikaw ba Leleng di ko makita
    Gugma ko ba Leleng magahulat
    Taliwala 'ning lawod sa mga luha

    Transcription in English (line by line):

    I
    Are you a gem of splendor my dear?
    More enduring like the white sand onshore
    You will be yearned in my heart
    And a pearl to be owned

    II
    How far is the distance my dear?
    Sitangkai to Sibutu (and Island distant from Sulu)
    If you my dear insist,
    I'll follow you my my dear even that far...

    III
    If you my dear is gone
    If you my dear I cannot find
    My love my dear will be waiting
    In the middle of these ocean of tears...

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