Nicanor Abelardo was born in San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan to Valentin Abelardo and Placida Santa Ana, on February 7, 1893 His mother belonged to a family of artists in Guagua, the Henson. He was introduced to music when he was five years old when his father taught him the solfeggio, the bandurria, and the guitar at 6. His quick mastery of the instruments has made him a prodigy in town. He could play his father's arrangement of Rossini's "William Tell Overture" on the guitar at age 6. He also learned the violin and other string instruments given to him by his father, and learned how to play quickly without much difficulty. In 1901, he wrote his first composition, "Ang Unang Buko" and dedicated it to his grandmother

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