Love Music

I've been playing the banduria for the last 20 years. It's the most colorful experience in my life. I've been to places all because I could play music.

But little do I know about the history of this instrument, so I googled it and this is what I found out. See, I have to google it to find out. When I was learning to play the banduria, history wasn't included in the package. I was only ten. I could've cared less.

A 14 string banduria used in many Philippine folkloric songs, with 16 frets and shorter neck than the 18 string bandurria. This instrument probably evolved in the Philippines while the Spanish occupation occurred, from 1555 to 1898.

Although Hispanic in origin, the rondalla remains a distinctly Filipino medium in the performing arts. The rondalla shares common roots with various musical traditions in other parts of the world, particularly in the Meditarranean, the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and other parts of Asia.

An ensemble of plectrum instruments, the early Philippine rondalla repertoire consisted primarily of Western European symphonic overtures and arias from operas. Its compatibility with native Philippine music allowed the rondalla to figure prominently in Filipino rural community life, providing accompaniment to folk dancing and singing as well as the featured ensemble.

The standard Philippine rondalla consists of the pear-shaped piccolo bandurria, bandurria, and la-ud, and the guitar-shaped octavina and mandola, guitarra, and bajo de unas (which has been supplanted by the double bass). Fashioned from common Philippine wood such as langka,pine,molave,cypress, narra, kamagong, and mahogany,yakal,acacia, the instruments are played with a plectrum of turtle shell. The fourteen strings of the rondalla instruments, except for the guitarra, are grouped into six tuning units – viz., F#, B, E, A, D, G. The doubling or tripling of strings produces better sound quality and volume.

banduria, double bass, laud/octavina, guitar etc. are examples of rondalla

However, the rondalla is perceived to be exclusive only for cultural music. Thus, giving the younger market a reason not to appreciate such "traditonal tunes".

"The Philippine banduria is unique because one can actually arrange a musical score for it, whether for solo or orchestra. Abroad, the counterparts of the banduria are mostly used for mere accompaniment or background for songs,"

Sources:

http://www.asianjournal.com/print.php?a=24485

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2004/02/01/SCTY20040201990.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_Philippines

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Learning to be still.

Un deprimente le jour de Noël

I am extremely introvert. Sometimes I make up stories to express what I feel. Kind-of like parables but in a crappy state. I made this one on Christmas for someone I used to hate. In case you're wondering what the title is all about, please excuse my french. I was there for only 3 days. I never got around to speaking the language fluently.

Un deprimente le jour de Noël

(In tradition with the Classic Brothers’ Grimm telling.)

Once upon a time, in a not so distant present, there were two underprivileged friends, The One and The Friend. They counted each other as the best of friends and the worst of enemies. They believe in the saying that goes, thus, “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.” They live differently different happy lives but close to close enough. They have the same passions. Passions for ventures, so different from the rest of their other friends, that they talk about it all the time. That sets them above their friends. But let’s not go into that for we may never get to Christmas in time.

A couple of months before the Holiday season, they were talking about the next escapade they would be in.

The Friend said to The One, “Our lives seem flat out boring this part of the year. Do you have something in mind for us to do? Something to look forward to in this dry spell of a living?” The One answered, “When the world seems flat, head to where it’s not. Let’s go to The Mountain.” With eyes glittering, they said all at once, “Never stop exploring.” Their motto.

On and on they went with their plans with music in their ears. Then, the music stopped.

“I better ask My One first,” said The One.

“Yeah, I think you should.” My One is The One’s heart’s half. (It needs a lot of sinking in.) So, The One asks My One about the friends’ plans to head out to where it’s not flat. But My One doesn’t agree, and so, The One pouted. He remembers that he shouldn’t pout because of the fast approaching season. He decided to depart from the pouting and scratch the outing.

Little time past and a little and little...until the living in a flat world seemed unbearable for the two friends. But still they can’t go behind The One’s My One’s back or she might get angry at them. They wouldn’t hurt her feelings. Better hurt their hearts than hers.

The One just watched My One go out with her friends in hopes that she might one day permit him to go. But it never came with a smile.

“It doesn’t matter,” The One told himself. It was all good watching her enjoy her friends. She asked him to come with them a few times but he thought he would only get in the way of their pleasure. So, he never did come with them.

He just waits. He waits for her every time she goes out with different sets of her friends. She has different sets of friends.

He has only one set of friends! The Friend and their friends!

“Oh my god, I’ve only one set of friends.”

“It doesn’t matter; they are the best set of friends in the whole wide world.” He thought to himself, “They’d never ask me to do a stupid thing. What’s more, she’ll hate it if I have other sets of friends. She’ll accuse me of not spending enough time with her.”

A couple of weeks before Christmas, My One and her friends from a different set decided and planned to go to some island paradise. One of her friends from that set of friends ask My One to go with them because her friend’s guardian won’t let her come if no other specie of the female variety would come. My One’s friend’s boyfriend is going. My One’s friend thought time alone with her beau on Christmas would be great. It would be a thrilling time alone with her beau on a beach.

At that same moment, on another side of the stage, The Friend asked The One to play a music accompaniment during the Christmas midnight mass and to save some money because they were going island hopping.

“My band heads for the islands a few days before Christmas, do you want to join us?” ask The Friend.

“It’s not just that I can’t come up with that kind of money on such short notice but it is also The Christmas season. I wouldn’t want to leave My One during the preparations for the time of year. She would be buying gifts for the family for Christmas Eve.”

“I guess your right. Besides, with my crazy schedule right now, I doubt if I could go myself,” The Friend saddened. Poor as they were, he realized he also couldn’t raise the money for the fare.

The One reassured his friend, The Friend, “It’s Christmas, guy, we would be very busy on the midnight mass preps plus we have our cajoling caroling. Besides, you wouldn’t want to cut me away from my family on Christmas, right? We will be together as always with our family and friends.”

“The more, the merrier,” The Friend cheered up.

That night, My One told The One about their planned trip. She wasn’t asking or something. She told him. She told The One she was going because her friend asked her and that she, My One, doesn’t have a choice.

The One said, “...” Exactly! Nothing.

Her friend asked her. What could The One, possibly do?

Exactly! Nothing.

What could he possibly say?

Exactly! Nothing.

And, he felt,

Exactly! Nothing.

And so, she went that Christmas to that island paradise feeling happier than the usual with her friends.

“It doesn’t matter,” The One told himself. It was all good watching her enjoy her friends. This will be a new experience for her. She will be energized with her friends. Then, why does he felt confused?

He doesn’t understand why he feels that way. He doesn’t grasp why there is such pain in it. He wished he would learn how not to feel.

The Friend just watched what he felt he would never understand. Why is there much pain in it? He wished he could teach him how not to feel.

The One, left with nothing else to do, tried to clean her room. He cleaned and cleaned. Until something broke:

“Crack!” he thought it was just his heart. Then, he went unconscious. The moment he was aware of his surroundings, he saw that the chair he was using as a high step broke.

Then, he saw the blood! He was bleeding. His feet landed on glass picture frames that broke when he fell. He stood up, never caring about the blood and the hurting, and finished up the cleaning.

In a few days, The One experienced spasms and stiffening of his face. The Friend was beside him all the time not knowing what to do. He always doesn’t know what to do.

He doesn’t understand why he feels that way. He doesn’t grasp why there is such pain in it. He wished he would learn how not to feel.

The Friend just watched what he felt he would never understand. Why is there much pain in it? He wished he could teach him how not to feel.

The Friend said to The One, “Our lives seem flat out boring this part of the year. Do you have something in mind for us to do? Something to look forward to in this dry spell of a living?” The One answered, “When the world seems flat, head to where it’s not. Let’s go to The Mountains.” With eyes glittering, they said all at once, “Never stop exploring.”

They laughed until they cried not knowing it will be there last laugh and last cry together. The very next morning, The Friend carried The One high up to The Mountain. The One’s condition isn’t getting any better.

At last they arrived at the peak. The One is coming in and out of feverish consciousness. He is somewhat aware of his state. In his mind were calculations.

Tetanus --- serious infectious disease of the nervous system, in which a bacterial toxin causes severe muscle spasm. Also called lockjaw, the bacterial infection occurs when wounds are contaminated with a bacillus, Clostridium tetani, which is found everywhere but which is especially likely to be present in street dirt. It is an anaerobic bacillus --- that is, one that lives without oxygen, and thus when introduced into human tissue, usually at the time of an injury, it can multiply where the oxygen is deficient. This occurs both in deep, penetrating wounds and in crushing wounds with extensive tissue destruction. As the bacillus multiplies, large amounts of exotoxin, a highly potent soluble toxin produced by a bacterium, are released into the surrounding tissues.

He is going to die and he knows it.

The Friend just stared at The One. He thought that The One’s facial expression is one of a peculiar, sardonic grin.

Spasm after spasm, the paroxysm is spreading to other muscles of The One’s body.

“Any minute now,” said The One. But The Friend couldn’t understand anything he has said. The Friend thought that those are just murmurs of a very sick man.

“My One...My One...My One...” The One kept calling. All The Friend could take hold of was “Mhaa...Ahnn...”

All night long, The One kept murmuring that word and when Christmas Eve came, He passed away with those words on his lips.

The Friend buried The One on a deep grave on Christmas Day.

A week has passed and it was New Year’s Day. Many of The One’s friends, including The Friend came to visit his grave.

They were amazed by a tiny yellow flower growing at the top of The One’s grave. They have never seen that kind of flower anywhere. So, they decided to name it themselves.

On the process of naming that flower, they pitched in stories about The One’s hard-knock life and how he crazily got out of different situations, as he would fondly put it, God had put him into.

And so, in the memory of his passing, they named the flower Mha-ahn Noël. This, eventually, as the story-telling continues into the night, evolved into Ma Noël, His last words and last day here on Earth.

The End.

There is no moral lesson in the story because no one believes that moralities exist anymore.

This wasn’t meant to upset. This was simply meant to seek what should be appropriately felt.

Noël! I hope you’re happier than the usual with your friends this Christmas.

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Learning to be still.

Globul Merket

During college, I have written essays on just about everything. I've entered competitions and won but only in the campus level because I can't stand the pressure of competing outside the school. The outside world is too violent a place. Here's a shorter version of an essay I wrote for one of my exams. I used myself as a subject in some of my writings. Like a self-portrait of some kind.

Globul Merket

The everyday things that we take for granted often connect us to faraway people and places. Consider, for example, the typical routine of a very old student in Davao City on a Wednesday afternoon. After waking up too late in the day and showering, he puts on an Abercrombie shirt and a pair of khaki cargo pants. He drinks a cup of coffee and eats a banana before heading off to school. Each of these products followed a complex path from a different part of the world to take its place in this young man’s typical routine.

Let's start with the shirt. Its story begins with the cotton crop growing on the plains of Cai Lay, Vietnam. There, cotton farm workers chop or shred the stalks with machines. At a Vietnamese factory, workers loads cotton into a processing machine, spin the wool into yarn and dye it and then use the yarn for cloth. However, before cotton can be spun, mill workers must dry it, fluff it, blend it into an even mixture, and clean it. The yarn traveled to another factory in Northern Mariana Islands (U.S.A.), where workers sewed the shirt according to a pattern produced by an American fashion designer. From, the Mariana Islands the shirt traveled to a warehouse in Manila, then to the mall in Gen. Santos City, where this young man bought it.

The khaki cargo pants began as cotton in a field in Korangi, Pakistan. The cotton was harvested and ginned in a nearby town and then transported to Karachi, where workers at a factory spun, wove, and finished the khaki cloth. In an Indonesian factory operating under contract with an Filipino retailer, a woman sewed this cloth into pants, which then traveled first to the retailer’s Manila warehouse and then to another store at the mall in Davao, where they caught this young man’s eye.

The coffee beans grew on a plant in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Brazilian farm workers harvested the coffee “cherries” and then dried and hulled them to produce raw coffee beans for shipment to the warehouse of an importer in Virginia. From there they traveled to a plant in the Philippines, where workers roasted the beans and packed them which then traveled for delivery to a retailer and then to sari-sari store from which this young man bought them.

The banana that this young man ate…grew in a tree in their backyard (I think this one doesn’t count).

Before he has even left his house, this young man has used products that tie him to hundreds of workers on six different continents. Although he may not be aware of it, (of course, he is aware of it!) the jeepney he rides and his activities at school during the day will link him to hundreds of other people working in different parts of the world—people he may never meet but whose lives are tied to his own in the complex web that is our global economy. Yeah…

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Learning to be still.

Sports attract

I competed in an essay-writing contest during my college days as a favor to my professor. I didn't exactly understood her reason for asking me but I did it anyway. I won and still didn't exactly knew why. Here is the short version of that essay.

Sports attract. They attract young and old, educated or unschooled, rich and poor, white and black and even people with colored skins. Sports become objects of interest by almost everybody, though with varied motives. Many are into sports in groups. We can see sports fests and sports tournaments being held here and there. We even envy their beautiful uniforms as they parade or motorcade with pride in streets.

But, why? Some got interested in sports for good health, some for pay, few for leisure, and for so many other reasons.

Do you believe that sports are attracting not only individuals or persons but also juridical entities as well? Sports nowadays have attracted even big corporations like San Miguel, Smart, Air 21, Purefoods, etc. You can see how they venture into sports to advertise their products. Sports are channels of promotion and advertisement.

But there are noble benefits that sports have gifted society. Sports build and develop friendship among peoples, thus eliminating the walls that divide them because of difference in principles, beliefs, languages and cultures.

When the seed of friendship is planted, constant contact leads to cooperation in future endeavors, not only in sports, but in other fields as well.

The Blacks or non-Caucasians used to be discriminated, but when Muhammad Ali rose to become a world heavy weight champion, the Blacks and the Whites cheered for him. When Bata Reyes, an Asian, started playing billiards, many Filipinos and foreigners alike were skeptical that he would hit it big in the international arena. When he surprised the Whites by his skillful plays, they admiringly call him the “magician.” Sports equalize.

Sports can unite a nation, even one divided by political conflict. When Manny Pacquiao fought Erik Morales in their first and second encounters, the Filipino people, friends and foes alike, rally behind the boxing hero, win or lose.

Sports is not always about winning. Freddie Roach, the coach of Manny Paquiao, did not even become a great boxing champion in his time, but he is one of the most popular and highly paid boxing coach in the world today. As Grantland Rice once said, “It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”

Therefore, indulge in sports and advance plurality, diversity and equality among peoples!

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Learning to be still.

starting to blog

I was so engrossed in coming up with my first blog greeting for about an hour and this is what I ended up with...

hello everyone!

I never blogged anything in my life (never even tried) so please bear the inconvenience of its simplicity. I assure you it comes from the bottom of my heart (lolz).

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Learning to be still.