Mindanao Literature, Arts and Culture

by Karl M. Gaspar CSsR

Years ago (in what seems like another lifetime) I was in a Novitiate in Lipa City (long before Ate Vi became the celebrated Mayor). I was with ten other novices who were years younger than me as I was a “late” vocation (one of the few times in my life I was ever late and that is the truth – go ask the people who were “terrorized” by my being a boss who insisted on being prompt when reporting for work).

Novitiate is not exactly a picnic although one could learn how to levitate or bilocate  if one could discover the secret of mystics like St. Francis of Assisi. Novitiate is a long, long journey into one’s inner self where one wrestles with angels and demons. This should not be understood literally, please.

To break the monotony of Novitiate Life, we the ten novices decided to explore all kinds of songs that resonated with our deep prayerful reflections. You may not believe, but we did not limit ourselves in singing Gounod’s Ave Maria, or the songs of Las Mejores Obras del Canto Gregoriano (that CD of Gregorian chants that hit the top 40 years ago), or the spiritual songs ranging from Amazing Grace to No Mas Amor Que el Tuyo (if you don’t know this song, don’t panic; it just shows I come from another lifetime).

But we did the Top 40 and at the time the Apo Hiking Society was a big hit (now, are they of a different lifetime?) We were very much taken by their songs – Prisoner’s Lament and American Junk.  If memory serves me right, Danny Javier of the Apo sang solo in these two pieces.

You remember the lyrics of American Junk? Oh boy, that song – in a playful manner – was truly anti-imperialist; most certainly, it was anti-American. It was a hit among social activists who were already -  at that time of the late 80s -  sick and tired of the songs popular at the height of martial rule especially the “grim and determined” types.

>> Continue reading "Oh what have they done to our cultural icons!" >>

by Karl M. Gaspar CSsR

Fr. Dong Galenzoga with theater and music artist Geejay Arriola at the Congress of Mindanao theater practitioners in 2004; taken right after the nth performance of the landmark play Maranatha.

To those who thirst for a theatre production that brings all kinds of elements together – the indigenous roots of Mindanawon theatre, the hoi polloi  as theatre artists, the aesthetics of poverty, theatre as radical advocacy, theatre improvisations in a war situation, theatre as prayer and wellspring of spirituality – drop everything on February 27-28, 2010 and head for Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte.

That week-end will see the cultural homecoming of Fr. Dong Galenzoga to Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte where the Galengoza theatre aesthetics was born during the tumultous years of pre-martial law Mindanao when war erupted across Cotabato-Lanao-Zamboanga-Sulu and inaugurated a violent conflict situation that persists until today.

Pukawan ta ang Adlaw! (a very difficult phrase to translate into English, the closest being “Let us awaken the Sun” or “Let us awaken the Day”), a dance-drama written, choreographed and directed by Fr. Dong Galenzoga, will be mounted at the school auditorium of Holy Cross Academy in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte evenings of February 20 and 21, 2010.

>> Continue reading "Fr. Dong Galenzoga on a sentimental theatrical journey back to Kolambugan" >>

Journal of Fe Remotigue – on Mindanao’s version of NCCA-NCDA’s Tanghalan Research Project

Dateline:  Xavier University and Dynasty Court, Cagayan de Oro City, 11-12 December 2009

“Ayaw na pagpa inahan sa kanunayng pangasaba diha,” Nestor Horfilla mildly reminded me over the phone a day before he flew to Cagayan de Oro City on 10 December 2009.  This day is 17 days after the Maguindanao massacre, and the 60^th or more years anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   Earlier, I also asked Ricky de Ungria to fly to Cagayan and calm the atmosphere of a meeting.  The meeting was a validation of the papers generated by the research team for the Tanghalan project of the national committee of dramatic arts – a unit within the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA).  Pangasaba is a monicker referring to direct comments and feedback on papers, works and studies.

The author in the foreground; l-r (back): Errol Linus Miranda, Marili Fernandez-Ilagan, Karl Gaspar, Carlo Ebeo

Filemon Blanco texted everyone on 10^th December everning, “claim your breakfast coupon at the lobby of Dynasty Court, conference starts at 9 AM at the boardroom of Xavier University”.   An earlier text he asked, “Would you prefer a room with window but is looking out to a band therefore noisy or a room without windows and quiet?”  To both texts, I was not able to reply, confident that I will fly from Manila at 6:45 AM and would be at the hotel lobby in time for breakfast and be at the board room on time.

>> Continue reading "Sifting truths from facts of Mindanao People’s Theatre Aesthetics" >>

Journal of Fe Remotigue – an ethno-centric Mindanaon
Dateline:  Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), 18 September 2009

Mindanao artists during Tanghalang Pilipino's "Madonna Brava." L-r (back) Marili Fernandez-Ilagan, Neneng Leoncito, Fe Remotigue, Geejay Arriola; l-r(front): Arnel Mardoquio, Popong Landero. Photo by Willie Apa, Jr.

While driving along Quirino Avenue on the way to CCP and catch the opening of Madonna Brava of Mindanao, I received a text from Nestor Horfilla, “Gud pm.  Ur tket s at d lobby.  C u.”   I felt very important, the director of the play that I was about to watch reserved one of his two complementary tickets for me.  Wow Nestor,  Cool.

At 7:20 PM, some 40 minutes before the play was to start at Tanghalang Huse Batute.  I met Popong Landero at the lobby, he said, “Joey Ayala and Bayang Barrios are in the main theatre.”  I replied, “I will meet them after the show”.   I picked up my ticket and saw that Ricky de Ungria was the second guest of Nestor.  I felt so good, being on the league with Ricky for this event..  I came  with two GTZ colleagues, Florence Morales and Reina Villanueva,  whom I proudly invited to watch this play on Mindanao so that they will further understand the Mindanao reality.  I ushered them to buy their respective tickets.   Just enough time to grab supper at the canteen, we ate one of the best fried galonggong I ever tasted in Metro Manila.  We saw Nestor at the cafeteria, working in his Macbook, he came to me and checked if I took the ticket he reserved for me.   It saved me from paying my supper, because Florence did pay.

>> Continue reading "Mainstreaming Mindanao Theatre" >>

by Karl M. Gaspar CSsR

Very early this morning (7 November), I got this text from a friend: Rey Teves died dis dawn…In ICU ysterday, sever pneumonia…  During the course of the day, there were many texts sent by friends who knew Rey basically repeating the same information.

I had left my youth many years ago. But part of the memory of that period of my life came back after reading the text. That memory is of Rey standing on the stage of the Holy Cross Academy Boys Department, my high school alma mater in Digos City.

He played the guitar and sang Elvis Presley’s Teddy Bear complete with the hip movements and his impromptu variations of the song. We were estatic listening to him who was perhaps one of our first idols.

>> Continue reading "The Rey Teves of my youth and beyond" >>

a workshop on arts and cultural tour management

Initiated by the CCP Outreach and Exchange Division in celebration of its 30 years of actively undertaking cultural exchanges,  the ARTS ON THE ROAD WORKSHOP is a three day specialized course on the organization and management of touring arts and cultural productions facilitated by notable experts, arts managers and cultural administrators.   The workshop is aimed at providing the Filipino artists-managers with the essential knowledge and expertise in managing local and international arts and cultural tours, impart a tour management template and establish an active network of professional tour managers in the country.  The target participants are artists-managers, coordinators of arts groups and producers who wish to professionally engage in touring the arts nationwide and around the world.

New Workshop Schedule & Sites
Mindanao leg /CDO Searsolin / October 6-7, 2009
Sponsor: Bart Savior, Director, Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts

For other inquiries,  contact the CCP Outreach & Exchange Division and look for SONNY CRISTOBAL at tel. nos. 832-3674 or 833-0267 or email at sonnyjcristobal@yahoo.com

This is the last call for submission to the second volume of the anthology of young Moro essays, “Children of the Ever-Changing Moon.”

Writers under 40 must email me (morofilm@yahoo.com) directly their personal essays, minimum of 1000 words, on or before October 20, 2009.

Please include a short bio (4 – 5 sentences) and contact details (email, cellphone/landline number and address).

Works in progress are accepted provided they are submitted them to me as soon as possible. Compensation includes a complimentary copy of the book plus a share in the aggregate royalties.

Thank you very much.

Gutierrez (Teng) Mangansakan II
Editor
“Children of the Ever-Changing Moon”

by Karl M. Gaspar CSsR

What is it about human existence that makes possible the iconic image associated with theatre where the face of jubilant joy can be placed side by side with the face of utter sadness?

Such a philosophical musing struck me early morning of Sunday, September 27 the day after the great flood that rampaged across parts of  Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.  It wasn’t until I finally watched TV footages of the floods that devastated the National Capital Region that I had an idea as to the extent of the tragedy that came with the record-breaking rains and strong winds throughout Saturday, September 26.

As terror struck the people caught in the rampaging waters or stranded on their rooftops, those of us who were inside the gymnasium of Cor Jesu College in Digos City were having a fun-filled night! There was no way for us to find out what was happening up north as we were totally engrossed in having a technical rehearsal of a musical play we mounted on the occasion of the Jubilee celebration of Cor Jesu. And since the rehearsal was going very well, all of us involved in the production (including the college’s theatre group composed of faculty members and students, the chorale group and the brass band as well as the members of the Kaliwat Theatre Collective) were on high as we – literally – got our act together.

>> Continue reading "Jubilee at a time of great tragedy" >>

by Karl M. Gaspar CSsR

Indeed, Ms. Cecile Guidote-Alvarez should have known better that in theatre – as in many other elements in life -  it is all about the right timing.

Cecile has been in the news lately owing to a “little war” among government bureaucrats (with PGMA at the very center of it), theatre artists and practitioners, cultural workers, critics and all other characters who care about who should be given the award as National Artist.

For the reader who has no clue what this whole thing is all about, the President of the Republic of the Philippines confers on her chosen artists the award every now and then. This year’s two  awardees, namely, Cecile  and Carlo J. Caparas, were deemed not worthy of this award for various reasons.  For Cecile, it is a case of delicadeza as she is head of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts (which meant she should not have been considered at all). For Carlo, people wonder if massacre films could provide you a ticket to the awarding ceremony.

>> Continue reading "It’s all about the right timing, Cecile" >>