Title 開発途上国の建築生産における現代建築の適応に関する研究( Chapter 4 )

Author(s) 小倉, 暢之; ディヴィッド・レオニデス・T・ヤップ; 田上,健一

Citation

Issue Date 2002-03

URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12000/11027

Rights

Chapter 4 Cultural Background

4-1 Introduction

The Philippines was subjected to over 400 years of colonial rule by Spain and

America. Because of this domination, it was inevitable that some of the local practices

would change and be largely influenced by the West. This is evident in many aspects of

Philippine life -- the form of government, medium of instruction, manner of dressing,

among others. One area that was heavily influenced by Western values is the arts.

Art is the expression of a people of their world, of their reality. When Philippine

arts was influenced and somewhat transformed by the West, the result was that the

Filipinos could no longer see themselves clearly. The lens they used to express

themselves was adulterated by foreign values. The Philippine art scene was dominated

by Western genres forcing the Filipino people to fit their experiences into foreign

frameworks.

Recently, however, the Philippines has begun to slowly shake off the vestiges of

colonialism. In the various spheres of human activity, Filipinos have begun to reclaim

that which was lost when they were conquered. Included here is the reclamation of their

arts. By strongly asserting their independence through art, the Philippines is now ready

to defme its identity.

Below is a capsule of the history ofPhilippine art, the various influences that have

shaped it and its present status.

4-2 Music

The Philippine musical tradition richly extends before the coming of the

Spaniards. Unfortunately, there are not many written records of the indigenous musical

tradition. This can be pieced together primarily from the accounts of the early Spanish

settlers. Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, recorded that upon their arrival to the

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islands in 1521, there was a fiesta where four young women were playing a drum fixed

on the ground (timpanos), cymbals (platillos), and bamboo instruments. The fact that

this was going on when the Spaniards came indicates that it is a practice that bas long

been entrenched in Philippine native culture.

The instruments that Pigafetta noted represent just a few of those that were

existing at that time. Modem scholars have demonstrated that the Philippines had a wide

assortment of instruments mostly of Eastern origin like the Jew's harp, gongs called

kulintang, a local version of the Indian kudyapi, a 3-stringed violin, and metal

drums/gongs called gamelan. Other instruments are: the colit-teng, a five string coconut

guitar; the galibao, a large and narrow drum; the ganza, a brass gong; the cala-ling, a

flute with 3 holes and sounded with the nose or 6 holes by the mouth.

The evidence reveals an interesting fact. The local instruments during the pre­

Spanish era were, in a sense, universal. That is to say that some instruments were not

necessarily restricted to one geographical location. An example of this is a two-stringed

guitar called kuglung by the Bagobos and aetas (ethnic groups in Luzon), aidluting by

the Mamanua, kidlong by the Manobo, tampipi by the Subanons (an ethnic group in

Mindanao). This indicates that the rich musical heritage of the Filipinos was not only

well-entrenched, but was also widespread throughout the archipelago.

Although the local instruments were varied, these did not make up the Philippine

musical heritage by themselves. An important aspect of the native music is vocal.

However, unlike the Western vocal music, the Filipino native tradition has several

elements that are very different from the norm of their colonizers. These are: 1)

monotone singing wherein rhythm and speed are governed by language; 2) a large

number of reiterated and marked accents on one vowel; 3) tremolos and long-held notes

forming a free rhythm; 4) monodic introductory intonation instead of harmonic chords

to start group singing; 5) a wide variety of scales to break away from the limitations of

the major, minor, and pentatonic types; 6) different songs for different social purposes;

and, 7) a low and limited range of notes. This is very different from Western music, as

is known in the Philippines, which has melodies using a wide range of notes and where

singing is as melodious as the notes used.

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These indicate the presence of an established musical tradition in the Philippines

long before the arrival of colonizers. However, the coming of the Spaniards in 1521

greatly changed the face of Philippine music. To clear the way for Catholicism,

missionaries sought to eradicate the old rituals. They taught European religious music to

converts and introduced instruments like the flute, the harp and the guitar. They

performed Gregorian chants and harmonic music during high masses and festival days.

By 1601, the Augustinians, a Spanish Catholic order, had organized the first orchestra

in the town of Guadalupe and in 1606, the first school was set up where boys were

trained to sing, play and manufacture musical instruments. This turned the attention of

many - especially those in the urban areas where the Spaniards settled - to European

music. Soon, it became a status symbol to be better versed in the European tradition

than in the local music.

However, the Spaniards were not able to totally eradicate indigenous music. In

some places untouched by Spanish rule, such as places in Mindanao and the Luzon

highlands, native music exists intact. The most common reaction of local people to

Western music was to blend it with indigenous traditions. While this was not

encouraged by the Catholic Church, it was tolerated. One example is the Pastores ofthe

province of Bicol where people would sing Spanish songs but change the phrasing or

rhythm to suit local taste.

Another example of this blending of traditional and European would be secular

ballads that talk about historical events, heroic deeds and humorous anecdotes. In this

case, the content of the music is local but the form in which it is delivered is Western,

characterized primarily by the use of chordal accompaniments which is not present in

indigenous melodies. Protest music was written in this form, but the most popular type

of music making use of this blend was the Kumintang of the province of Batangas. This

kind of songs was most popular in the 19th century and eventually evolved into the

kundiman, a more universally known Filipino ballad.

The fusion of the Western and indigenous did not only happen with natives

adopting European forms. The reverse is also present. The Philippines has musical

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fonns that are indigenous yet the content is foreign. The best examples of this are the

pasyon (after the Passion of Christ) and pabasa (meaning reading, a tenn probably

derived from the Catholic tradition of Gospel readings during mass). They speak about

the life and death of Christ - the narrative itself was brought over by the Spanish. The

pasyon and pabasa are sung during Lent - a season that is also not indigenous. Yet,

despite the numerous foreign elements in them, their fonn follows that of native

Philippine music. The pasyon and pabasa are more chanted than sung. They are

monotone and do not encompass a wide range of notes. In fact, their rendition follows

qualities very similar to the characteristics of indigenous vocal music enumerated

earlier.

The coming of the Americans in the early 1900s brought another face introducing

us to more upbeat secular musical fonns like jazz. These quickly became very popular

in the Philippines because they were fun, appealing to the young people and were

widely played. Dances like the Foxtrot and the Charleston were hits during the 1930s

and 40s. Around the 1950s, another fonn ofmusic was introduced by the Americans and

the British through artists like Elvis Presley and the Beatles. This was Rock and Roll,

the forerunner of almost all popular music heard nowadays. These musical genres

brought with them instruments like the electric guitar and drums. Modern music, as is

popular in the Philippines now, is largely patterned after the rock of America and

Britain.

It is evident through this history that the colonizers made use of music to infiltrate

Philippine culture and destroy a part of the Filipino identity. By making their music

dominant, Filipinos were thus more inclined to identify with foreign culture instead of

their own. But despite the many influences that have come and transformed Philippine

music, that of the ethnic minorities is still intact. The authochthonous, original and

primitive music is found preserved even to this day among the groups of Philippine

population that did not entirely yield to foreign domination.

However, more telling than the existence of intact tribal music, is the fact that

today there is a music genre that is growing in popularity. This is music that blends

indigenous and Western instruments. Such art is a clear and noteworthy attempt to

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regain the Philippines' past heritage and make it popular among contemporary listeners.

One such artist is Joey Ayala and his group Ang Bagong Lumad. Ayala sings about

contemporary issues like poverty, government, street children, etc. His instruments are a

combination of the ethnic, like the kudyapi and gamelan and the Western acoustic guitar.

Another local singer/songwriter, Grace Nono has made recordings of ethnic chants as

they are originally sung so urban audiences may hear them. She has also retrieved old

folk songs and set them to more modem Western rhythms to give them a more popular

flavor. University of the Philippines professor Edru Abraham has a group called the

Kontra Gapi, which is a small orchestra performing gamelan music. They too have been

contributing largely to the popularization of ethnic music.

These and other artists have made bold attempts to return to the Philippine

original musical tradition and to appropriate the Western influence to create a new kind

of music, which distinctively carries the true Filipino sound.

4-3 Theater

Theater in the Philippines has its origins in religion. Drama then was not a distinct

art form but was part of a body of indigenous performances that were rendered as

religious ceremonies. These ceremonies, performed in many places in the Philippines

before the coming of the Spaniards, were a blend of music, poetry and dancing. Filipino

drama developed from a loose fusion of these other arts.

The fundamental concept of drama is mnneSlS. That is, the imitation in a

performance of a real situation. The first trace of drama as being imitative was found in

the bay/an or the shaman/priest/priestess who officiated over the religious rituals. These

were rampant around the 10th to 14th centuries, before the coming of the Spaniards

While conducting the ritual, the bay/an was identified with, and therefore would act out,

the role of the gods. This is the first evidence of Philippine theater having the notion of

character or one person portraying somebody else.

Early theater, before the arrival of the Spaniards, was largely religious, far from

the modem concept of theater as entertainment. The introduction of theater apart from

religious purposes was made by the Europeans. The first signs of secular theater was a

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body of songs that were accompanied by semi-orchestrated mUSiC and gestured

movements. This form of art was present long before the 16th century arrival of the

Spanish. The early theater entertainment of the Philippines therefore did not pattern

itself into Western forms. Early entertainment theater depicted folk epics in dance; they

did not turn to Western themes.

Early forms of local theater were the duplo and karagatan, popular in the late 18th

to early 19th century. These are games of wit played between prayers of the nine-day

wake for the dead. They are similar to the Western whodunit in that the participants of

the play were always presented with a crime they had to solve. The karagatan was more

informal because here, the audience could participate.

The Spaniards did not encourage local theater and that is why many fonns

retained their local flavor. The most noticeable of the Spanish dramas was the moro­

mora whose theme was the war between the Christians and Muslims. These plays would

always depict the Muslims as evil people whom the good Christians had to fight. The

mora-mora, popularized during the 18th and 19th centuries was a clear tool for the

inculcation of Spanish beliefs in the people. Another local theater form that was

influenced by Europe was the linambay of the Visayas which was popular during the

19th to early 20th century. This was usually performed during special occasions and

could go on for days on end. The themes would usually be about kings and queens and

other royal characters that were European. The cast and crew would mostly be

composed of the elite of the village and thus this art form was not very accessible to the

greater majority of the people. This was of little consequence, though, because the

people would engage in their own play-acting.

Because the colonizers did not really bother much with this art form, it strongly

served to enact the plight of the Filipinos. In the 1960s until today, some theater

companies would go around in a van, stop in a town and stage a performance on the

spot. The interactive format of the karagatan still remains in some performance venues

where the actors are not on a stage but sitting among the audience.

Today, in many parts of the Philippines, ethnic theater exists in its original fonn.

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Many tribes still hold their dance epics, but sometimes in front of a tourist audience. It

is true that modem theater has had wide support. Academic theater directors like

University of the Philippines professor Anton Juan try to adopt Greek and Roman

aesthetics while some professionals, such as Repertory Philippines, have also ventured

into musical theater. But these forms coexist with the indigenous geme and have not

really altered native theater. And like music, there is now a celebration of this traditional

Filipino theater with some performers bringing these indigenous forms to urban areas.

4-4 Painting

Painting is an art form that does not seem to have had a thriving indigenous

tradition. The only artistic evidence found that are related to painting are the bark­

clothes of tribal people and body painting.

Painting as seen in the Philippines today was originally introduced by the

Spaniards. The first Filipino painters were unknown artists hired by Spanish

missionaries who provided Western models to copy and until the 1800s, the Church was

the sole patron of the arts. Paintings would be of saints in churches and figures

illuminating manuscripts. After 1785, after the secularization of painting, the elite class

dominated - primarily demanding portraits of themselves and their families and

thematic paintings. By 1821, the Philippines had its first academy of drawing in Manila.

But as the Philippine revolutionary forces grew in strength, so painting was used

as their medium. Artists like Juan Luna(Fig.4-1) and Felix Hidalgo(FigA-2), who were

at their peaks in the late 19th century, depicted local realities in art. Luna, driven by his

nationalistic fervor, was hardly influenced by the French Impressionists who were in

vogue when he was studying in Europe. Instead, he and Hidalgo opted for a more

academic style in order to best express social reality. Later, Amorsolo(Fig.4-3) would

follow in their steps - opting for a more academic style than the popular movements in

Europe.

Modem painters working in the early and mid 20th century, showed influence

from foreign art while dabbling in what is now known as proletariat art. Carlos

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Francisco(Fig.4-4) emulated Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. His paintings were very

colorful, featuring figures that covered the entire canvas. Vicente Manansala(Fig.4-5)

carries a touch of Braque and Picasso. Manansala had for his subject matter objects like

jeepneys, Quiapo vendors, and the shanties of Manila. His style could be called a

transparent cubism, which is an indigenization of the Paris style. While they brought in

some traces of Europe, no major philosophy, movement or local painting idea

developed dominance in the Philippines.

HR Ocampo(Fig.4-6) was a champion of proletariat art. He depicted the starving

poor and the social contrasts in the urban setting. Later, he stopped doing social themes

and developed Filipino abstract from traditional designs similar to traditional weaving

patterns. Anita Magsaysay-Ho(Fig.4-7), one of the earlier woman painters who mostly

depicted working women, was a student in New York and initially brought with her

American influences. She later shifted to a more subdued Oriental style.

Modernism, mostly in the form of abstraction was highly popular in the 1950s. In

the 1960s, works focused on Philippine society as it confronted the economic and

political issues of the Marcos regime. These were more expressionistic. The more

prominent artists of this time were Ang Kiukok and Danny Dalena. Later, in the 1970s,

the painters dabbled in surrealism, which showed an interest in probing a person's inner

self This form also managed to symbolically depict the themes and images that were

suppressed in public due to Martial Law.

Today, painters are more experimental. They are starting to move away from

canvas, painting on floors or on objects on the ceiling. There is also a move toward the

figure, the three-dimensional, making paintings resemble sculpture or even theater. Also

active are action painters who use mostly drips and splashes rather than brush strokes.

Also, artists like Lamarrossa and Isidro incorporate metal on canvas or use thin metal

sheets as canvas. There is also the use of indigenous material, such as pieces of sawali

used as part of the canvas.

Although painting was a European art form, it has been successfully appropriated

by local artists since the 19th century and used to depict Philippine social reality. It can

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be said, then, that Filipinos have indeed developed a native aesthetic quality in painting.

4-5 Literature

Philippine literature has its roots in the oral folklore of the tribal groups. If one

were to trace the origins of Filipino literature, it would be composed of legends, myths

and riddles told by village elders. However, literature as it is known today stemmed

largely from the Western genres. The novel and short story are not indigenous nor is

there any strict local equivalent of them. Philippine traditional poetry does not resemble

the Western forms of the sonnet, epic verse, etc. One reason for this is that indigenous

literature, by and large, is not written but instead handed down orally from generation to

generation. Therefore, as time passes, the number of people who know the folklore

dwindle. Thus, this truly ethnic literature is becoming lost.

Today, Philippine literature can be divided into two main branches: those written

in English and those written in the local languages like Tagalog, Ilocano, Hiligaynon,

Waray and Cebuano. The literature written in English has largely followed the Western

formats but the vernacular literature, particularly poetry, has kept a flavor of the

indigenous forms and rhythms.

This is not to say though that vernacular literature remained untouched by

Western influence. It, too, was affected by European culture. One of the best examples

of this was Francisco Balagtas' "Florante at Laura" which, though written in Tagalog in

the 18th century, follows the European mode of verse and also has a touch of Europe in

its theme of princes and princesses. However, it has been more difficult for literature

written in English to be faithful to indigenous literature because: 1) literature in English

sprung from the Western mold; and, 2) English often does not have the words to capture

indigenous realities and experiences.

Although the more dominant forms of literature today are Western, Filipino

writing has been used to celebrate, expose and retrieve local culture and society. The

first well-known case where literature was used to show the condition of Filipino

society was the "Noli Me Tangere" by Jose Rizal written in 1888.

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"Dead Stars," written by paz Marquez Benitez in 1925, is acknowledged to be the

first Philippine short story. In the early decades, the 20s and 30s, the wide debate was

whether art should be for art's sake - meaning it must be rendered beautiful if nothing

else - or if art should serve some social purpose. Jose Garcia Villa was an advocate of

the former philosophy while Salvador Lopez, argued for the latter in his famous essay

on proletariat literature.

In the years right after the war, literature was largely used as propaganda to

expose the cruelty of war. Included here are novels such as Stevan Javellana's "Without

Seeing the Dawn." Social classes was another popular literary theme as seen in Kerima

Polotan's "The Hand of the Enemy." In 1958, NVM Gonzales published "A Season of

Grace" which, according to critics, was the first post-war novel to blend artistic style

with social content. Writers of the 1960s like Edilberto and Edith Tiempo, Nick Joaquin

and Bienvenido Santos tackled themes of the Filipino search for identity.

The Martial Law years brought protest literature. Notable among these is Lualhati

Bautista's "Dekada 70." These were largely written in Tagalog so as to be better

understood by the masses. A number of writers were jailed during this time and were

only able to write about their experiences in the safety of another country. Examples are

Ninotchka Rosca who produced "State of War" in 1983, Eric Gamalinda and "Empire

of Memory" in 1992, and Jose Dalisay who published "Killing Time in a Warm Place"

also in 1992.

The late 1980s to the present have seen the rise of focused types of literature. The

stories of Charlson Ong and Jaime An Lim focus on the Filipino-Chinese experience,

while works like those of Lakambini Sitoy focus on women. Gay writing also started to

gain ground during this time. There are also experiments with the literary form.

Included here are novels that deviate from the traditional concept of a novel which has a

beginning, a climax and an end. Such works are "The Great Philippine Jungle Energy

Cafe" by Alfred Yuson, "Dogeaters" by Jessica Hagedorn, " and "Rolling the Rs" by R

Zamora Linmark.

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These breaks in the traditional Western mode of literature are indications that

Filipino writers are now able to relate their experience as it is lived and do not have to

force themselves into the rubric of Western format. It is a realization and creation of a

literature that is truly Filipino.

4-6 Film

Film is the newest art form in the Philippines. It was introduced only in 1895 and

was fully operational in 1897. When film was new in the country, only the Spaniards

could afford admission. The early films lasted one minute each and were in Spanish.

This established the medium early on as for the elite.

The Americans used a different colonial style from the Spanish. Instead of

excluding the local people from education and their culture, what the Americans did was

to make it more accessible. Thus they made heavy use of film and, in the early 1900s,

even produced films with local historical themes -- some about Rizal and Gomburza. By

opening up the medium, they exposed the local people to the allure of film.

The first Filipino film was Dalagang Bukid by Jose Nepomuceno in 1919. As

more Filipinos tried their hands at the craft, so the stories became more accessible to the

people. By the 1920s, film had become the most popular art form in the land. And,

making use of this popularity, the Americans began the Hollywood invasion in the

Philippines.

By the 1950s, many Filipino films were patterned after the Western mode and

many local artists gained fame as Filipino counterparts of American stars: thus there

was an "Elvis Presley of the Philippines," the "Frank Sinatra of the Philippines," and so

on. With this phenomena, Philippine culture became closely affiliated with America and

since film was extremely popular, the values permeating the viewers were Western.

This trend of American-dominated cinema continued strongly way into the 1970s and

1980s.

The primary difference between film and the other art forms in the Philippines is

that film, from the very beginning, was foreign. The current artists of the Philippines

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now have nothing to look back to as an indigenous fonn of the art. It is up to them now

to reinvent film according to Philippine aesthetics. Breakthroughs have been made with

local short film directors who have learned to "Filipinize" the medium by using light

and sound techniques that bring out a truly local color to film. One way this is

accomplished is by not completely polishing the film and allowing many background

sounds - like cackling chickens, passing jeepneys - to capture a more authentic

environment.

Filipinos have been very successful in claiming this art fonn for local use.

Directors like Kidlat Tahimik and Raymond Red have won the top prize in the

prestigious Cannes Film Festival in the last two decades ofthe 20th century.

Philippine art, as can be seen from this capsule, was one site of struggle for

domination and independence. Through the arts, the colonizers established footholds in

Philippine culture, and by reclaiming these arts, the Filipino people are reclaiming their

identity.

In music, Filipinos are reviving ethnic beats, melodies and instruments. In

theater, they have preserved indigenous drama. In painting, they are using local

materials to depict local realities. In literature, they are reclaiming the orality of native

folklore. In film, they are discovering ways of using the medium to present Philippine

reality. All this is a reassertion of who they are as a people through their own eyes, and

not through the perspective of Western colonizers.

References:

1) DADID, Eric, "The Roots ofPhilippine Theater in the Pre-Spanish Period in A Short

History of Theater in the Philippines", edited by Isagani R. Cruz. Cultural Center of the

Philippines, 1971

2) MACEDA, Jose, "Philippine Music and Contemporary Aesthetics", Philippine

Women's University

3) MURANO, Elena Rivera, "An Essay on the Spanish Influence on Philippine Music",

Sentrong Pangkulturang Pilipinas, 1992

4) MOJARES, Resil, "Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel", UP Press

5) OCAMPO, Galo, "Contemporary Painting of the Philippines", National Museum of

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the Philippines, 1968

6) RIVERA, Cenon, " Art in Philippine Perspective: Past and Present", Unitas

7) SANTIAGO, Francisco, "The Development of music in the Philippines", University

of the Philippines, 1957

8) SOTTO, Agustin L. Pelikula, "An Essay on the Filipino Film", Sentrong Pangkultura

ng Pilipinas, 1992

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Fig. 4-1 Juan Luna Spoliarium 1884

Fig. 4-3 Fernando C. Amorsolo

Plantin Rice 1924

Fig. 4-5 Vicente Manansala

Cat's Dream 1950

Fig. 4-6 Hernando R. Ocampo

Backdrop 1958

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Fig. 4-2 Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo

El Decierto c. 1888

Fig. 4-4 Carlos V Francisco

Progress through Education 1964

Fig. 4-7 Anita Magsaysay-Ho

Catching Chikens 1951

( Fig. 4-1 -7 cit. The birth of Modern Art

in Southeast Asia: Artists and Movements)