Biag ni Lam-ang is an epic poem of the Ilokano people from the Ilocos

Ilocos

Ilocos collectively refers to two provinces in the Philippines: Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. Inhabitants are called Ilocanos and they speak the language Iloko, also called Ilocano.The Ilocos Region, containing four provinces, is named after Ilocos...

 region of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. Recited and written in its original Iloko

Ilokano language

Ilokano or Ilocano is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines....

, the poem is believed to be a composite work of various poets who passed it on through the generations, and was first transcribed around 1640 by a blind Ilokano bard

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

 named Pedro Bucaneg

Pedro Bucaneg

Pedro Bucaneg was a Filipino poet. Blind since birth, he is the acknowledged author of the Ilokano epic Biag ni Lam-ang...

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Lam-ang was an extraordinary being, manifesting in his early years when he started to speak, thus enabling him to choose his own name.