This book is an exposition of indigenous music instruments of the Philippines, which are still being played in rituals, feasts and in secular living among about ten percent of the Philippine population, now more than sixty million people. The text explains the music, while the pictures exhibit the instruments in panoramic detail.

The first part of the book is a general introduction to Philippine culture, the place of music in various rituals as well as in daily life, and a description of the music, the musical ensembles and individual music instruments. The greater part is a depiction of instruments arranged as gongs, bamboo instruments and instruments of varied materials, first in the North and then in the South. A map for each type of instruments lists the language groupings as represented in these maps.

There are nearly 500 photographs in the book-most of them taken in the field, some with instamatic or inexpensive cameras yielding different qualities and perspectives. The photographs show details of making and playing bamboo buzzers, jaw harps, zithers, percussion tubes, flutes and other instruments.

Jose Maceda is Professor Emeritus at the University of the Philippines, having had decades of field experience and studies in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, with visits to Yunnan, East and West Africa and Brazil. He received the National Artist Award for Music in 1997.

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