Florante de Leon, popularly known simply as Florante, is a Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 singer-songwriter. He was a pioneer and leading exponent of Pinoy

Pinoy

Pinoy is an informal demonym referring to the Filipino people in the Philippines and overseas Filipinos around the world. Filipinos usually refer to themselves as Pinoy or sometimes the feminine Pinay...

 folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 during the DZRJ-AM

DZRJ-AM

DZRJ-AM , also known by its tagline The Voice of the Philippines, is an AM radio station of the Rajah Broadcasting Network, Inc. in the Philippines. The station was located on the roofdeck and tower of the J&T Building along Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard...

 radio boom in Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 during the 1970s. His more popular singles include the hit ballad, "Handog" (Offering) and other songs, such as "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" (I Am A Filipino), "Abakada" (A-B-C-D), "Digmaan" (War) and "Pinay" (Filipino Woman), which form part of the musical genre called Manila sound

Manila sound

Manila Sound is a musical genre in the Philippines that begun in the early 1970s in Manila, flourished and peaked in the mid to late 1970s, and waned in popularity by the early 1980s...

. He influenced other singer-songwriters that followed, particularly during the emergence of OPM; these artists include Joey Ayala

Joey Ayala

Joey Ayala is a contemporary pop music artist in the Philippines. He is well known for his style of music that combines the sounds of Filipino ethnic instruments with modern pop music. His professional music career started when he released an album recorded in a makeshift-studio in 1982...

, Freddie Aguilar

Freddie Aguilar

Ferdinand Pascual Aguilar , better known as Freddie Aguilar, is a folk musician from the Philippines. He is best known for his rendition of "Bayan Ko", which became the anthem for the opposition to the Marcos regime during the 1986 People Power Revolution, and for his song "Anak", the best-selling...

 and Heber Bartolome

Heber Bartolome

Heber Gonzalez Bartolome is a Filipino folk and folk rock singer, songwriter, composer, poet, guitarist, bandurria player, bluesman, and painter. His music was influenced by the “stylistic tradition” of Philippine folk and religious melodies...

.

Manila sound

Even though a folk singer, Florante also became a part of the 1970s Manila sound

Manila sound

Manila Sound is a musical genre in the Philippines that begun in the early 1970s in Manila, flourished and peaked in the mid to late 1970s, and waned in popularity by the early 1980s...

. Manila sound also gave birth to songs which give pride to Filipinos. Heber Bartolome's "Tayo'y mga Pinoy" is an example. In 2006, Join the Club's hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 revival of "Handog" was included in Hopia Mani Popcorn

The Best of Manila Sound: Hopia Mani Popcorn

The Best of Manila Sound: Hopia Mani Popcorn is a compilation album of Manila sound hit songs that gained popularity in the Philippines during the 1970s...

revival album.