The National Artists of the Philippines

Jose Maceda, composer, musicologist, teacher and performer, explored the musicality of the Filipino deeply. Maceda embarked on a life-long dedication to the understanding and popularization of Filipino traditional music. Maceda's researches and fieldwork have resulted in the collection of an immense number of recorded music taken from the remotest mountain villages and farthest island communities. He wrote papers that enlightened scholars, both Filipino and foreign, about the nature of Philippine traditional and ethnic music. Maceda's experimentation also freed Filipino musical expression from a strictly Eurocentric mold.

Usually performed as a communal ritual, his compositions like Ugma-ugma (1963), Pagsamba (1968), and Udlot-udlot (1975), are monuments to his unflagging commitment to Philippine music. Other major works include Agungan, Kubing, Pagsamba, Ugnayan, Ading, Aroding, Siasid, Suling-suling.

National Artist Guidelines ׀ List of Awardees