Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Beyond
Felipe M. de Leon, Jr.
In Philippine culture, there is an underlying belief that everything is alive.
This world view called magical or mythical - assumes a continuity of
consciousness and direct communication, unmediated by symbols, not only
between human beings but between them and Bathala, the spirit world of
deities, departed ancestors and mythical heroes, animals, plants and
minerals. Among indigenous and folk Filipinos belief in spiritual kinship with
animals is widespread, e.g. the lizard or crocodile as totem brother. The fire
dancers of Alfonso Cavite unite with the consciousness of the fire element,
the salamander, to attain immunity from fire
This social sense of the world makes Filipinos harmony-seeking and
unitive. It encourages a devotional attitude towards the highest ranking
being in the cosmic social order for the reason that becoming one with this
figure unites one with the whole world.
Hence, images of divine beings attract so much devotional fervor in all
traditional Filipino towns and villages. A strongly shared devotion, as in the
Penafrancia Festival of Naga, develops an expanded sense of self, an
orientation that is communal rather than individualistic, intuitive and holistic
rather than logical and analytic, and preferring interdependence and
relationships over self-assertion and privacy.
Filipinos are highly relational people. They are hardly alone, quite happy
being together - when they eat, sleep, work, travel, pray, create or
celebrate. Having a minimal sense of privacy, they are open, trusting and
easily accessible socially. Instead of a meticulous concern for
safeguarding their private sphere, as in the case of Western peoples,
many Filipinos actively seek a convergence of their
lives with the lives of others. Thus, they become highly skilled and creative in
interpersonal relations and social interaction. The capacity to integrate
socially
becomes one of the hallmarks of maturity.
A manifestation of this in music is the Filipino tendency to connect notes
to each other, unlike in the West where they are treated as isolated,
discrete entities. Pitches slide toward each other, just like two people
establishing rapport. Pitch slides (hagod) abound in melodies of
everyday Filipino language. For example, a vendor calls out ba-luuut ,
with the last syllable crossing several microtones and ending with a high
note.
The communal orientation is manifested in all aspects of traditional
Filipino village life and, to a great extent, even in urban settings.
integration of artistic sensibilities. This is the reason for the merging of the
aural, visual, kinetic, literary and other art forms in communal or integral
culture.
No one sensory mode and aesthetic intelligence is to be cultivated at the
expense of the others. Although one may be given emphasis - musical,
literary, visual, spatial, kinaesthetic, gustatory and olfactory senses have to
be harnessed and promoted together for maximum aesthetic well-being.
An integration of faculties is definitely a function of intuition, which is a
Filipino genius and often manifests as pakiramdam, hiwatig, damdam or
kutob. Thus, the Filipino is highly capable of subtlety and nuances in
relationships. In music this is expressed in our microtonal propensity.
Microtones are intervals much smaller than the smallest distance between
piano notes. These microtones are like shadings to the tones produced. They
make for more colorful and interesting musical texture.
Music is integrated with everyday life and not regarded as a
separate activity. It does not become a specialism (specialization that is
narrow or at the expense of everything else, as defined by cultural critic
Jacques Barzun). It is not for the specialist alone but for everyone. This
implies that there will be no special venues or spaces for music because it
virtually exists wherever and whenever there is human activity.
The traditional artist himself is not a narrow specialist. His purpose is to
maintain, within his person, the broadest basis for interacting and
communicating with others in everyday life. This is why, for example, an
expert gong player for rituals may be a professional dentist the rest of the
time. A National Living Treasure of the Philippines, Samaon Sulayman, who is
a specialist and master of the kutyapi or two-stringed lute is also the
favorite barber in his home town and a Muslim imam on particular occasions.
To the integral traditional mind, pitting individual against society to raise the
individuals worth simply does not make sense.
Especially among our indigenous peoples, life is an indivisible whole. Art,
myth, ritual, work and activities of everyday life are all integrated into one.
Spirit and matter, God and nature, the visible and invisible worlds are not a
dichotomy but interpenetrate in many ways. Of all Filipino subcultures,
indigenous music is the most integrated with everyday life, multifunctional
and participatory.
Being most sensitive to the life around them the Lumad of the Cordillera,
Mindoro, Palawan and Mindanao highlands regard everything as alive. Rocks,
rivers, the winds, fire and air, are permeated by the same vital energy that
animates biological life. In many of their rituals, a continuity of consciousness
between human beings and animals, plants and minerals is attained,
especially when they are in a shamanic or babaylanic state of consciousness,
a condition correlated with theta brain waves.
drastically reduced to that of the artistic sector within a much larger society
or community. When this happens the inbreeding that results will be
extensive and there is a danger that the whole sector will be thinking alike
and impoverish art in the process.
In the Philippines, manifestations of collective participation in making
artistic decisions abound. Zarzuela rehearsals in the provinces are usually
open to the public, thus inviting criticism from those present. Lantern-making
is open to everybody, regardless of skill or experience. Pasyon-singing is not
limited to the best singers in the community. Carving, pottery-making,
weaving, or making a musical instrument is everybody's concern.
Audience as artist
Another example of popular participation is the traditional awitan of
Quezon and Laguna wherein a man and a woman engage in a poetic debate
in song and dance, with a third person providing the guitar accompaniment.
Apparently there is a separate audience because not everybody is dancing
and singing all at the same time. Many people- seem to be just watching the
couple perform. But soon somebody from the crowd asks permission to offer
his opinion or piece of advice on the debate going on, also through song and
dance. Others may do the same as everybody is really encouraged to join
and share in the activity. And from the crowd rises cheers, exclamations or
spontaneous comments of approval or disapproval for one party or the other,
greatly and directly influencing whatever is happening at the moment. Thus,
the awitan is truly a communal affair and there is no place in it for a
detached spectator such as an art or music critic.
Such a relationship between the artist and his community
characteristic of many Asian societies. According to Koizumi:
is
'The role played by the audience in the musical and theatrical arts
of Asia is far more important than that of its European counterpart.
Asian audiences are not simply the passive recipients of musical
performances, for they have a much more active part in the creation
and performance of music. If, at a concert in the Arab world, no one
encouraged the performer with shouts such as aiwah (just so!) or Allah
akbar (God is great!) he would probably lose the power to go on
creating phrase after new phrase in the fabric of a tagsim or musical
improvisation, as well as losing confidence in his own ability to thrill by
his musical inventiveness.
Unlike in the West, there is no dichotomy of artist and society because
art is not the specialists concern alone. Artistic skill is not cultivated as a
special gift by select individuals but the province of everyone. Everybody is
expected to be an artist and participate in creative, expressive activities. In a
place where the pabasa is being done, anybody who comes is expected to do
the pasyon and not just listen. Musical form is open-ended to provide
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More than 60% of all U.S. Americans are dangerously overweight. In the cities
we tend to overschedule and undersleep. Stress is considered a normal part
of modern life. Depression, heart disease, and cancer are some of the ways
our bodies' use to "pull the emergency brake."
Quite threatening to mental health in consumerist societies are the
following conditions, which are also factors that inhibit musical creativity:
Very few are involved in creative or productive work, the majority
simply buy (or receive passively) the products or decisions of others
Especially in the cities, employees and workers simply obey or
consume instructions from an authority
Mass production, which is indifferent to human creative individuality,
is considered acceptable, even desirable
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