Trancending all the bounderies into infinite possibilities..
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
YOYOY VILLAME" FILIPINO NOVELTY GENIUS!
Born on November 18, 1932 in Calape, Bohol, Yoyoy barged into the music scene in 1977 during the Martial Law years. He became a national figure in 1977 with his near anthemic “Mag-exercise Tayo,” which has been adopted by government agencies and public schools as the official music for their Monday morning exercise after the flag ceremony.
He blended Filipino folk melodies, popular tunes and nursery rhymes for his music and then added witty lyrics that mixed Tagalog, Cebuano and English in a form of grammar that he concocted.
Roman Villame in real life, the Bohol-raised Yoyoy experimented and recorded many songs in the Bisayan dialect.
known for his humorous take on the Filipino way of life & Famous for his Novelty classic Abuchikik, a unique song driven by a catchy melody and seemingly unintelligible words he allegedly came up by writing down the names of Chinese stores while waiting for a mechanic to fix his broken-down jeepney in Manila's Chinatown .he also wrote a dusty pinoy funk gem song called trapik' with its heavy drum breaks & killer conga grooves that is absolutely amazing!
The youngest among ten children of a fisherman father and fishseller mother, Villame started composing songs for the Boy Scouts in his elementary days. Dropping out after his second year in high school, he enlisted to become a soldier-trainee of the Philippine Army. Being unhappy in his post in Pampanga, he asked for a discharge after the surrender of rebel leader. Villame would become a passenger jeepney driver plying the Baclaran-Pasay Taft-Santa Cruz-Dimasalang route. During the ten years of driving jeeps, he would compete in amateur nights held at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo but only to lose because of his strong Visayan accent.
In 1965, Villame went back to Bohol to become a bus driver of the MB (Meneses-Butalid) Liner fleet, He could compose and sing the names of different towns of Bohol in an instant! There is no need for a ball pen or paper, right there he could compose the lyrics and give the melody!Yoyoy admitted that his life was mean in the province. He even confessed that most of the people are poor and they look for a job in another place or join the guerilla rebel army. He could be the best guide in Bohol where he had a bus numbered 13 that plied the Tagbilaran-Ubay-Talibon route. At the bus company, he formed with some fellow drivers the MBs Combo, a rondalla band where he sang and played the mandolin. He was soon invited to parties and eventually as an entertainer in fiestas, baptism, weddings, funerals and special events. The owner of the bus company took notice of Villame’s efforts and set up a music studio named Kinampay Records, after a local dish, just for him. Villame's first recording was in 1972 and entitled Magellan, a parody of historicism of Ferdinand Magellan's failed conquest of the Philippines. This became the top-selling record in the Visayas-Mindanao region. Comedian Chiquito recognized his potential and brought Villame to Manila to be signed to Vicor Records, which re-issued most of the Kinampay catalogue. Touring Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and other parts of Luzon helped Villame establish his name in the country.We Celebrate Yoyoy's contribution as a great novelty singer-composer & a true filipino genius. he touches the depths of the true filipino soul & spirit . Perhaps nobody has done more to carve the date of the “discovery” of the Philippines in the minds of the populace than a comedy singer, former public utility driver, and incumbent elected councilor of one of the boroughs of Metro Manila.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
NOW BATUCADA" AND THE BEAT GOES ON
Started out independently & sprung from a group called Bato-Balani (circa 1972), that played at the U.P. Los Baños auditorium and the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center. also a back up band of bong penera, the batucada meaning (the beat) produced 3 albums, one of them is a record collectors goldmine called "A Samba Song", under the defunkt Penny Rose label & was released in 1976 for distribution by Vicor Records to an enthusiastic record-buying crowd. The spare but inspired effort, featuring Peñera's compositions and arrangements, reflected the influences of Luis Bonfa, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Walter Wanderley and other stalwarts of Samba. They performed regularly in a restaurant/inn called Pension Filipina, situated along the bohemian scene of Jorge Bocobo Street in Ermita, the gathering place for both the art crowd and the young social set.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
SUSIE IBARRA" THE ELECTRIC KULINTANG
Susie Ibarra is a Filipino American Percussionist, composer, and improviser of jazz, opera, experimental, and avant-garde music. She is probably best known for her work as a free jazz drummer, and is noted for her dynamic range and expressive technique, as well as her incorporation of diverse styles and influences, such as kulintang, gamelan, spoken word and electronica. She was voted "Rising Star" in the 57th Annual Critics Poll (2009) of DownBeat Magazine in the Percussion category.
She learned to play piano as a child, and played drums for a punk rock band while in high school. While at Sarah Lawrence College in the late 1980s, Ibarra attended a Sun Ra performance which she has credited with kindling her interest in jazZ.
SPEED GLUE & SHINKI" Heavy Freak Fuzz from the far east..
"Speed, Glue & Shinki" is a psychedelic rock power trio formed in 1970 by guitarist Shinki Chen, and Ikuzo Orita, the president of Polydor Records. with former Golden Cups bassist Masayoshi Kabe, and Filipino singer-drummer Joey Smith, whom Shinki had discovered performing at a shopping centre in Yokohama. The band took their name from Smith's use of amphetamines, and Kabe's interest of sniffing Pro-Bond glue during the 1960s. Speed, Glue and Shinki released their debut album Eve in 1971, but immediately split up as Shinki and Kabe couldn't tolerate Smith's personal life. After they disbanded, a large double-LP was independently released by Smith, titled Speed, Glue & Shinki, which was mostly the work of Joey Smith; sampling guitar recordings of Shinki from previous studio work. However, it also featured two unreleased songs titled Sniffin & Snortin, and Run & Hide which had been recorded for Eve but cut from the final release, as they did not fit the album's overall sound. Thereafter, Shinki took a disliking to recording music, and decided to become a live musician only; which he continues to present day. Kabe continued his own successful music career, while Smith reinvented his stage persona as "Pepe Smith" and returned to the Philippines, where he has become something of a phenomenon with his Pinoy Rock group, Juan Dela Cruz Band. [3]
BALAHIBO ELECTRONIC BAND
Started out as a garage band in manila during the early 70's & a mainstay act at rino's bar balahibo electronic band is a freak out psyche group composed of rey manansala on guitars, edgar manansala on organ tony rodriguez on bass , manny salvador on drums dani boogie on percussions. they also performed as a rock act in musical plays such as jesus christ superstar with boy camara & maya valdez. recorded a rare pinoy 45s psyche gem on villar records in 1974 titled Death Without Fear and JC Will Come. which resulted into a cosmic bubble of fuzz out driven guitar! an Out-bloody- rageously amazing band.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The bagobo: Beauty & the lost art..
The Bagobo is a tribe that traces its origin from the people who brought Hinduism to Mindanao during the Sri Vijayan and Majapahit invasion. When the people inter-married with the locals, they formed a new society and came up with the name Bagobo.
The word “Bagobo” is derived from the root word “bago,” which means “new” or “recent” while the “obo” suffix means “grow” in the tribe’s dialect.
The Bagobo are proud people with proto Malayan features. A strong social structure has enabled the group to blend well with the main body politic while retaining their indigenous customs, music, beliefs and cultural values. While most of them now are in economically depressed circumstances, a great number have attained a considerable degree of self-sufficiency. Most of the Bagobo have suffered dislocation from the loss of their ancestral lands and the effects of modern day insurgency.
Bagobo have ornate traditions in weaponry and other metal arts. They are noted for their skill in producing brass articles through the ancient lost-wax process. They also weave abacca cloths of earth tones and make baskets that are trimmed with beads, fibers and horse's hair.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Nick joaquin aka Quijano de manila'
Philippine novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist writing in English, the National Artist for Literature. Joaquin is widely considered the best postwar author in his country.Born in Paco on Calle Herran, as the the son of Leocadio Y. Joaquin, a lawyer and a colonel of the Philippine Revolution, and Salome Marquez, a schoolteacher. After three years of secondary education at the Mapa High School, Joaquin dropped out of school to work on Manila’s waterfront and in odd jobs. On his spare time he read widely at the National Library and on his father's library. English had became the official medium of instruction in 1898 after the Spanish-American war. Especially through the work of short story writers English became the most developed literary genre and virtually all Spanish literature ceased.
He has written largely about the Spanish colonial period and the diverse heritage of the Filipino people. Often he deals with the coexistence of 'primitive' and 'civilized' dimensions inside the human psyche. In his short story 'The Summer Solstice,' set in the 1850s, Joaquin portrayed the collision between instincts and refined culture. Doña Lupeng first rejects ancient beliefs, but under the spell of the moon, she becomes possessed by the spirit of the Tadtarin cult - she does not want to be loved and respected anymore but adored as the embodiment of the matriarchal powers.
"He lifted his dripping face and touched his bruised lips to her toes; lifted his hands and grasped the white foot and kissed it savagely - kissed the step, the sole, the frail ankle - while she bit her lips and clutched in pain at the windowsill, her body distended and wracked by horrible shivers, her head flung back and her loose hair streaming out of the window - streaming fluid and black in the white night where the huge moon glowed like a sun and the dry air flamed into lightning and the pure heat burned with the immense intense fever of noon." (from 'The Summer Solstice' in Tropical Gothic, 1972)
He has influenced and inspired generations of both Filipino & foreign writers . We celebrate & embrace this mans works, poems & literary works that embodies the true filipino spirit.
check out some of his works:
- A Question of Heroes, 1977
- Stories for Groovy Kids, 1979
- Manila, My Manila, 1990
- Tropical Baroque, 1979
- Manila: Sin City and Other Chronicles, 1980
- Anatomy of anti -hero jose rizal
dr. jose maceda
Jose Maceda (1917 -2004)
, Dr. Jose Monserrat Maceda was named a National artist composer, musicologist, teacher & performer. hes ideas reach the early begginings of concrete music in paris & by his contemporaries like john cage stockhausen & pierre henry, he explored the musicality of the filipino deeply. maceda embarked on a life long dedication to understanding & popularization of filipino traditional music, maceda researches & field work have resulted on an immense number of recorded music taken from the remotest mountain villages & farthest island communities. he wrote papers that enlightened scholars . both filipino & foreign about the nature of philippine traditional music expression from a strictly eurocentric mold.
Usually performed as a communal ritual , his compositions like ugma - ugma 1963 pagsamba 1968 udlot udlot 1975 & 100 transistor radios are monuments to his unflagging commitments to philippine music. other major works including agungan , kubing , aroding siasid suling -suling.
His profession and his research took him many places in the Philippines, Sarawak, Thailand, Kalimantan, Africa and Brazil. Moreover, we celebrate & share with you jose Macedas amazing contribution as a pioneer ethnomusicologist & experimental sound artist whos works trancended both music & culture into the next level..
check out:
Gongs and Bamboo: A Panorama of Philippine Musical Instruments
Jose Maceda
Winner, National Book Award, Music, 1998
This panorama of music instruments starts with older bamboo and other instruments of undetermined age, going on to two types of gongs—flat in Northern Luzon and bossed in the South. These two areas may be viewed as pocket cultures comparable to other pockets in Borneo, Sumatra, other islands in Southeast Asia, and the mountain regions south of, and including, Yunnan province of China, thus placing the music of Luzon and Mindanao in a larger geographical context.
Talaandig bukidnon mindanao Philippines
The Talaandig are one of the indigenous groups in the province of Bukidnon, Mindanao Philippines who has continued to preserve and promote its indigenous customs, beliefs and practices despite the strong influx of modernization and change. The Talaandig population is roughly estimated to be at about 100,000 people or more. The members of the group are found in barangays and municipalities surrounding the mountain of Kitanglad, the historic domain of the Talaandig people.
The Talaandig has two methods of healing illness. One is through a religious ceremony. Another is through the application of traditional herbal medicine. Illness is treated by means of a religious ritual when the Mananambal (healer) who is usually a Baylan, a prophet or medium believes that the illness is inflicted by spirits. Traditional herbal medicine, on the other hand, is applied when the cause of the illness is natural. In most cases, ritual is prescribed only when the natural healing power of herbal medicine fails to cure the sick
The Annapurna Experience
There isn't much cultural roots music you can hear in the Philippine airwaves these days or as many people labeled it ethnic music, as musicians & bands here are more concerned & focused with Western styles & pop cover songs, but we are proud to bring you these groups achievement & contribution to the global music scene" started out as Waling-Waling during the early 90s as they were hailed as one of Philippine music cultural bearers, composed of Nonoy & Pinky alcalde Jun claudio Rosa maninantan. They released 3 albums during a span of a few years playing & weaving music together Dakilang Layunin (Noble Purpose) is one of them, released in 1993. The band combines various philippine indigenous instruments with electric guitar and drums, which results in a truly engaging & uplifting brilliant sound. The group's name, Waling-Waling, is a significant choice, as it is the name of an endangered Philippine orchid, and is indicative of the band's concern for the environment. The album's lyrics deal with a concern for humankind and nature, and the need to treat one another with respec." Now started playing with there new group ANNAPURNA EXPERIENCE, Two Bacolod-born musicians, Nonoy Alcalde of Waling-Waling and Dyotay Soluta collaborating using electric and acoustic guitars, Asian and African percussion, bamboo flutes, faglong, synthesizers ,is an important group that shapes both conciousness & spirit..
Links: http://annapurnaexperience.multiply.com/
EXPANSIONS NOW
Expansions is devoted to all the true lovers of universal music, world cultures & arts that trancends all the bounderies into infinite possibilities..