Alitaptap -- Philippine Madrigal Singers 

Lyric: Rolando Tinio
Music: Josefino Toledo
Rehearsal before concert
National Taichung Theater
2024.3.2
Josefino Chino Toledo is a composer-conductor and a full professor of music composition and theory at the University of the Philippines College of Music. His works have been cited for its fusion of contemporary western language and Southeast Asian aesthetics. Alitaptap (Firefly) is based on a poem written by Philippine National Artist for Literature, Rolando Tinio. In the poem, Tinio seems to use the image of the firefly to talk about wisdom in understanding the world or life. One must strive to capture, to gain wisdom, lest be imprisoned by mere knowledge that comes from scientific explorations.