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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-17/levi-celerio.webp" alt="Levi Celerio" loading="lazy" />
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(Levi Celerio playing music using a leaf)
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Celerio known for using the leaf as a musical instrument which led him to being recognized as the "only man who could play music using a leaf" by the Guinness Book of Records. This also led to him making guest appearances on television shows recorded outside the Philippines
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Celerio's affinity for music was a result of influence from his mother who was a harpist and a member of a church choir. His mother encouraged him to be involved in music as a distraction from the squalid conditions of their neighborhood. Despite this, Celerio became a close acquaintance of gang leader Asiong Salonga. 
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At his mother's encouragement, Celerio started playing the violin at age 11 taking lessons from a member of the Philippine Constabulary Band. Celerio later performed with the band as its member while simultaneously attending Torres High School. 
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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-17/levi-celerio-doogle.webp" alt="Levi Celerio Google Doodle" loading="lazy" />
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(Google Doodle of Levi Celerio on April 30, 2018)
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He also attended the Academy of Music Manila Conservatory of Music to study violin for two semesters. Then director Alexander Lippay recommended him for a scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila. He received scholarship and became the youngest member of the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
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Among Original Pilipino Music songs he composed are "Ikaw", "Kahit Konting Pagtingin", "Saan Ka Man Naroroon? (1968)". He wrote the lyrics of the Filipino lullaby "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan". He also composed folk songs including "Ako ay May Singsing", "Ang Pipit", "Dungawin Mo Hirang", "Itik-Itik", "Pitong Gatang", and "Waray-Waray". "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan", in particular, was a collaboration with Lucio San Pedro, a fellow National Artist.
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"Ang Pasko ay Sumapit", officially titled "Maligayang Pasko at Masaganang Bagong Taon" is a well-known Christmas song by Celerio, which was the Tagalog version from the original Cebuano song, "Kasadya Ning Taknaa" by Vicente Rubi and Mariano Vestil. He also wrote the Christmas carols "Pasko Na Naman" and "Noche Buena" with composer Felipe Padilla de León in 1965.
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Today in Filipino History, April 30, 1910, Levi Celerio, a composer and lyricist was born in Tondo, Manila