Bandurya

The bandurya is a 14-string plucked instrument used in many folkloric songs of the Philippines, with 16 frets and a shorter neck compared to the 12-string bandurria instrument of Spanish origin. The bandurya most likely evolved in the Philippines in the course of the country's Spanish colonial period (1521 until 1898), and progressed in size and shape as decades passed. The Filipino bandurya^[1] is the dominant musical instrument in Filipino ensembles of plucked and struck musical instruments called a rondalla.

As early as the 12th century, in his work, Libro De Buen Amor,^[2] the Spanish poet and cleric Juan Ruiz (c. 1283 – c. 1350) ^[3] had mentioned the word "mandurria" for a mandolin-like string instrument that became the Spanish bandurria. Variants of the Spanish bandurria emerged in the Spanish colonies of South America, especially in Peru^[4] where bandurria duos are common to the accompaniment of the country's popular vals peruano (Peruvian waltz), or vals criollo (Creole waltz). Although speculative, the Galleon Trade may have facilitated the instrument's introduction to the Philippines.