Baleleng is one of the famous

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

folk song which is Sama Dilaut and/or Tausug in origin that has been passed through generations. The composer or the writer of the song was not credited and was unknown. The tune was passed by mouth from province to province and the original lyrics of the song was altered. Versions of Filipino local artists have made the song popular both in

Visayan Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group ...

and Tagalog languages. Leleng was the original title of the song which means ''Darling'', ''Sweetheart'', ''my lady'' or ''my dear'' in Sama Dilaut language. In

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languag ...

such as

and Tagalog, the enclitic "ba" is used as a question marker. Example: (Tagalog) Aalis ka na ''ba''? (English) ɑre you leaving now? Since the song was passed from tongue to tongue, the lyrics was wrongly interpreted as Baleleng. The story of the song was about a man bidding goodbye to a lady called Leleng as he was going to war. Like other Sama Dilaut songs, it is sang with the accompaniment of a string instrument like gitgit and biula,

gabbang The gabbang, also known as bamboo xylophone, is a musical instrument made of bamboo widely used in southern Philippines. Among the Tausugs and Samas, it is commonly played to accompany songs and dances as a solo instrument or accompanied by the ...

and the kulintangan.

In popular culture

The folk song was used as an ending theme in the

Philippine television drama Philippine television drama, also known as ''teleserye'', Filipino telenovelas or P-drama, is a form of melodramatic, serialized, televised fiction in the Philippines. ''Teleserye'' is derived from two Filipino words: "tele", short for "''telebi ...

Sahaya ''Sahaya'' is a 2019 Philippine television drama fantasy series broadcast by GMA Network. Directed by Zig Dulay, it stars Bianca Umali in the title role. It premiered on March 18, 2019 on the network's Telebabad line up replacing ''Onanay''. The ...

'' broadcast by

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

starring

Bianca Umali Maria Isadora Bianca Soler Umali (; born March 2, 2000), professionally known as Bianca Umali, is a Filipino actress, television host, singer, dancer, and endorser. Early and personal life Maria Isadora Bianca Soler Umali was born on March ...

in the title role, a Badjao from Zamboanga who despite her struggles in life stay true to her identity.

References

{{reflist Philippine folk songs