Archive - Arts & Culture

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
LINO Brocka’s 1981 landmark film, “Bona” starring Nora Aunor, has been revived with a theater adaptation featuring Eugene Domingo.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN INDONESIAN music lovers got another taste of Filipino talents when Filipino baritone Noel Azcona and soprano Rachelle Gerodias proved their worth as star soloists in a recent weekend performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Aula Simfonia concert hall in Central Jakarta August 25 and 26.

Text and photos by LEILANIE G. ADRIANO
CATHERINE Pascual Abadilla, 66, exactly knows what she wants and she does it perfectly to preserve her family legacy of producing a stimulating aroma and a very strong taste of a dark liquid Ilocanos are known for ages—Sukang Iloko.

By PHILIP PARAAN
A passion for films and a lot of dreams could sometimes spark a cinematic feat to remake a classic film.

By MARILYN MANA-AY ROBLES
WHAT biting wit! Such is Walang Sugat, a sarswela written by the father of Tagalog sarswela, Severino Reyes, popularly known as Lola Basyang. Walang Sugat was written in 1898 and first staged in 1902. The play was considered subversive during the early years of American colonization.

Text, photos and video by LUIS LIWANAG ISABELA, Basilan—This city became a haven of merry making as residents began the three-day Hari Raya festival marking the end of the monthlong period of fasting and prayer called Ramadan.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
THE Parliament of the Street came alive again through a night of song and poetry performed not atop a flatbed truck but on a traditional stage. The Demetillos, a family of musicians made up of guitarist Lester, his sister Becky Abraham and her daughter Astarte, both vocalists, and some friends (Mario Andres, Lory Paredes and Karina Constantino-David) etched the contours of history and the current state of the nation at the University of the Philippines Abelardo Hall concert "Mga Awit Protesta."

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
After being treated to main characters in distress for close to two hours, you realize this is not a great film but it is largely entertaining and a good production on which Filipinos actors showed their best even if their parts were short and nearly negligible.

COTABATO CITY— A festive atmosphere filled the air here late Saturday night as Muslims marked takbir by riding around the city with roaring car engines, persistent honking and delighted howls.

MALAMAUI, Basilan—Islam sets restrictions on how women conduct their lifestyles and function alongside men in society. But for a group of women residing in the remote community of Carbon in Malamaui in Basilan province, this seems to be a minor setback.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE Filipino actress -- who won three Best Supporting Actress trophies for her role in the indie film, “Nino” from the Cine Malaya, Golden Screen to the 6th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong -- is really no stranger to audience and critics’ acclaim since she started acting professionally in the 80s.

By MARILYN MANA-AY ROBLES
THE week past was very revealing. Filipinos again displayed resilience in the midst of tragedy. As the floods came and swept away treasured material possessions people grinned and bore it out. Some were unable to have food for days and shivered in the cold. Even the untimely death of loved ones buried in mud was taken as mere fate. Could something have been done to prevent or reduce the effect of this calamity?

BY PABLO A. TARIMAN
ONE of the newsmakers in the recently concluded Cinemalaya film fest was musician Diwa de Leon who won the Best Original Music Score citation for Raymund Red’s “Kamera Obscura.”

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
A little over a month before the opening of the season concerts of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), CCP’s resident music director Olivier Ochanine is busy studying scores for Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 2, Nielsen’s Incidental music to Aladdin and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances.

PLACED on red alert by weather and disaster officials since Monday night, Metro Manila turned into a “waterworld” on Tuesday as the southwest monsoon unleashed torrential rains nearly nonstop. A record rainfall of 10 to 30 mm per hour was recorded in the metropolis.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
IF the proliferation of teleseryes in the three leading TV networks is of any indication, they confirm the observation that there is a big market for budding but good, sensitive actors.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE most visible Filipino soprano these days is Rachelle Gerodias and so far, she is one of the few local singers with international exposure.

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA
FOG, chill, almost non-stop rain--it's that time of the year in Baguio City when hotels and inns offer off-season prices. For some it's a good time for an R & R without the lowland crowd of holiday seekers jostling you at the usual tourist spots. For the foodie undaunted by dour weather forecasts, any time is reason for a trip north.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
CONDUCTOR Gerard Salonga was in his usual high spirits when he announced the formation of the ABS CBN Philharmonic Orchestra.

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
Video by MARIO IGNACIO and MARIO ESPINOSA
YOU will know it’s Zumba time at Fitness First Southmall every morning of Monday and Tuesday because women are in their stylish gym attires as if they are going to a party. And, it’s not just any party. Usually it is a themed party.

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA
WHEN one reaches the seventh decade, there is much to look back on but visual artist Junyee would rather look forward and beyond. Born Luis E. Yee Jr. and raised in Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte, he found himself at Grade One with several "Junior" namesakes so to make him stand out from the others, a classmate contracted his nickname to Junyee, and it stuck.

BY PABLO A. TARIMAN
VICE-PRESIDENT Jejomar Binay called for more opera diplomacy to improve and sustain friendly ties between the Philippines and Italy.

By MYLAH R. ROQUE
EVEN as the country reels from the killing of Dutch aid worker Wilhelmus JJ Lutz Geertman, a gSwiss couple who has lived and worked among Manila’s urban slum dwellers for over 10 years returns to share their story.

  Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA “GIFTED” is an understatement in describing the scope of Joy T. Dayrit’s works. She was a writer of short stories and poetry, a painter, a children’s art teacher and friend to many writers and artists. She was an admirable woman for whom a disability was no cause for

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
A full-length Barber of Seville by Rossini opens at the CCP Friday night until Saturday with opera lovers focused on the Count Almaviva of Arthur Espiritu who is the first Filipino tenor to sing at La Scala di Milan.

By YOLANDA L. PUNSALAN
THERE is nothing excessive about Guimaras, except of course the world renowned sweetness of its mangoes. Being one of the Philippines’ smallest island provinces, many things about Guimaras seem to be reduced to bonsai proportions. It has earned the reputation in the Guinness World Record of having the world’s smallest plaza---an area with an elevation of five small steps, a mini monument of Jose Rizal in his boyhood, and a mini stage.

By EIMOR SANTOS
WHILE other consumers haggle for the cheapest veggies in the nearest market, soon-to-be parents Keren and James Chu go the extra mile to bring healthy organic vegetables to their table.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE Ilocos roots of Joyce Vasquez-Kasparian in her native Paoay town played a big part in her present role as wife to American pianist Raffi Kasparian and mother to another budding pianist, Roman Kasparian, 13, who are performing in Laoag City on July 14.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN
THE moribund opera climate in the country brightened up anew with the recent staging of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the CCP with a fairly good international cast.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
CALLED “the heroic generation,” these are baby boomers who forsook their parents’ post-war dreams for them to finish a college education, find a stable job and settle down but instead took tremendous risks in defying the state’s force to fight for seemingly abstract rights that today’s youth take for granted, freedom of expression and being able to vote for the President of one’s choice, among others.