VOLUME 104
ISSUE 09
Arts & Entertainment
Daena Holbrook 10.20.23
As you may know, singing is a huge part of Filipino culture. You may have heard the stereotype that every Filipino can sing well: this is probably where it comes from. Singing is pretty much built into every type of social gathering. Karaoke is the main source of Filipino entertainment, everyone is expected to sing in church for special music, and we take caroling at Christmas very seriously. Not only that, but gas station attendants will sometimes sing to you for fun while pumping your gas, live singing is not uncommon in a Filipino airport, and there’s karaoke in about every grocery store. It’s completely natural that singing would become standard in Filipino courting!
Harana, the Filipino serenade, is a dating tradition practiced in Filipino culture (originally influenced by the Spanish). In this tradition, a man will get a group of his friends together to go to the window of the woman he admires. His musician friends accompany him as he sings to the woman. In this special moment, the girl listens and watches as the boy earnestly sings a sweet love song to her. The boy is being very vulnerable in this situation; he is singing for the girl he has a crush on! This typically makes the girl feel very special, maybe even fall in love!
Harana is a very social-oriented event. It takes place when it is dark outside to avoid the heat during the day, and this makes it easier for people to socialize. Not only does the man bring his friends with him, but everyone in the house can hear him, too! A Filipino house is never empty. In the Philippines, extended family will often live under one roof: grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends (considered family also), cousins, etc. Harana is not some secret song a man sings for a woman. He is announcing his admiration to her whole family and all the neighbors! Harana brings excitement and a romantic air to the community as older couples reminisce about falling in love in their younger days, and cousins and siblings watch and prepare to tease the potential couple.
Though this tradition is old and not as standard as it was in the past, people still practice harana today. Filipinos are romantic people, and this tradition reflects that. Recently, I saw an Instagram reel user @aiko.griffin posted, showing her experience with Harana. She watched from her window as he sang: he and his friend sounded so good! In her video, she expressed that she felt very special because of this romantic act.
A current Andrews student, Blaise Datoy (sophom*ore, exercise science), participated in Harana himself! He explained to me how he helped his friend plan and execute it. Blaise helped hold a poster while his friend sang to the girl he admired. Everything went well, and the girl loved it! I asked Blaise what he thought that this practice said about Filipino culture, and he said, “Filipinos are really passionate. If they really want to acquire something or be something, they will give their all for it to happen.”
I also asked my mom if she experienced Harana and she told me all about her experience when she was in university. She explained how early in the morning before the sun rose, the girls in the dorm would hear: “This song is dedicated to room 104, resident Joy Cruz!” A group of boys from their college arrived to do Harana for the girls! All of the girls would get excited when the boys did Harana. After one of them announced who their ‘special mention’ was, they started singing sweetly to them. She mentioned that they were very good singers and they played the guitar very well. You don’t know who is singing because it's so dark outside; you just enjoy the song someone is singing just for you. However, after the day starts, everyone starts talking to each other. That's when you find out who sang to you that morning. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. She said that she still remembers the name of the song that someone sang to her when she was in college: “You’re My Everything.” by Martin Nievera.
My mom told me that she wishes that I would experience Harana because it's really nice to wake up to an admirer singing a sweet song to you outside your window. Maybe I will one day (probably not), but for now, my response to her is the expression “sana ol,” which literally translates to “I wish everyone had that,” but is more sarcastic, so the meaning is closer to “that’s not fair.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.
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