PAALAM SA PAGKADALAGA
(Farewell to Maidenhood)
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Arr. Bayani Mendoza de Leon
The second oldest-known kundiman (1870) in Philippine musical history (kundiman is the quintessential Filipino song form), Paalam sa Pagkadalaga is awash with heart-warming tenderness that avoids saccharine sentimentalism and instead promotes a kind of dignified emotionality. The song lays bare the anxieties that a woman confronts as she contemplates settling down, afraid that she may end up with a partner who will not be sensitive to her needs or, conversely, whom she will not be able to please.