【工学部】 【Faculty of Engineering】

【工学部】
【Faculty of Engineering】
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
URL
Rights
2002-03
http://ir.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/handle/123456789/11027
Chapter 4
4-1
Cultural Background
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 preSpanish 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 of music 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 moromora 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 barkclothes 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 of Philippine 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. 4-2 Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo
El Decierto c. 1888
Fig. 4-3 Fernando C. Amorsolo
Plantin Rice 1924
Fig. 4-4 Carlos V Francisco
Progress through Education 1964
Fig. 4-5 Vicente Manansala
Cat's Dream 1950
Fig. 4-7 Anita Magsaysay-Ho
Catching Chikens 1951
Fig. 4-6 Hernando R. Ocampo
( Fig. 4-1 -7 cit. The birth of Modern Art
Backdrop 1958
in Southeast Asia: Artists and Movements)
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