Archive - Arts & Culture

Text and slideshow by VINCENT GO PAOMBONG, Bulacan—Thousands of tourist and spectators have once again flocked to the quiet village of Kapitangan in this town, 47 kilometers north of Metro Manila, to witness the bloody spectacle of flagellation and crucifixion that plays out here each year. Penitents lashed their backs using whips with wooden flails

By PABLO A. TARIMAN FORMER First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos is turning 84 this year and there is no sign she will ever consider retirement in public life. In the coming May 13 elections, she is seeking second term as congresswoman in the second district of Ilocos Norte after representing her home province, Leyte, some

By PABLO A. TARIMAN FOUNDED by the late Zeneida Amador and Baby Barredo, Repertory Philipines is on its 46th year and going strong on its 77th season. Like it or not, it has  enriched Manila’s theater scene for over three decades  with the world’s classic plays from  Antigone to Lysistrata and pioneering productions of  the

BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS Photos by MARIO IGNACIO IV YOU have your plane tickets. You have made the hotel reservations. You are all set for fun in the beach. But, is your body ready for it? Three physical fitness personal  trainers  – Angie M. Miranda and Jensen G. Centeno of Fitness First, Mall of Asia, and 

  Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA PAINTER Alfonso “Dayong” Mendoza Jr. has a continuing love-hate relationship with the jeepney. He has been a commuter for much of his life. When he looks at jeeps from the point of view of a car owner, he sees how the typical jeepney drivers’ proprietary attitude towards roads

By PABLO A. TARIMAN THE first time former London-based OFW  Esperanza Tresvalles showed up in a Catanduanes  concert was in May 1992 when she graced the concert of  Manila-based soprano Luz Morete and pianist Najib Ismail in a well-received voice recital in a small venue near the historic Bato Church. In her summer rag-tag attire

By PATRICK KING PASCUAL THEY are shapeless in form but they are captivating to one's eye. They are made of intricately structured clay with different colors on its finish.

By PABLO A. TARIMAN THIS year is the 68th anniversary of the heroic rescue of allied prisoners of war and civilians from a Japanese concentration camp near Cabanatuan City on January 30, 1945. The dramatic rescue inspired the Hollywood film, “The Great Raid” starring Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco and our own Cesar Montano

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA IN death Marilyn Monroe, as portrayed by visual artist Tin F. Garcia, is the negation of the desirable Hollywood actress/sex goddess who once said she wanted “to grow old without facelifts, to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.”

By PABLO A. TARIMAN TENOR Arthur Espiritu, the first Filipino tenor to sing at La Scala in Milan,  again made history as the first Filipino to sing Cassio in Otello mounted in Teatro Communale Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy. Espiritu,who sang for the first time in the hometown of  Pavarotti,said the audience was very enthusiastic

By YOLANDA L. PUNSALAN JUANA Change, the heavyweight anti-corruption advocate, has changed. Huge change. From an overwhelming size of 275 lbs., she is now down to a manageable 192 lbs. At her heaviest, Paner needed an extension of an airplane seatbelt to strap her three layers of tummy whenever she flew.  She became alarmed by

Text, photos and video by VINCENT GO VARIOUS activist groups commemorated Women’s Day Friday with an assembly and a program at Plaza Salamanca off Taft Avenue in Manila, before marching to the United States Embassy. The groups called for the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement and demanded the release of two of their companions

Text and photos by NORMAN SISON IT does not have the ambiance of a coffee shop. It has no barista nor brewed coffee. There is no one to serve you because there is nobody around at all — and that’s why it’s a regular stop for tourists.

By ERIN EMOCLING Photos from LUISA MANUEL MANY of today’s famous photographers, like American Terry Richardson, started their photographic pilgrimage early in life. But others take longer to discover their penchant for photography, like Julia Margaret Cameron, a famous British portraitist in the 1800s who began taking sepia-toned Victorian portraits in her late 40s. Twenty-two-year-old

  Text and photos by NORMAN SISON WHEN you touch down in Basco, the provincial capital of the Batanes Islands, the feeling of you being in the northernmost corner of the Philippines is immediate. It’s so quiet. The airport runway is good for small aircraft only. Its terminal, designed to look like a hut, would

  By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Photos by ANNA LEAH SARABIA CHAMBER music that is movingly, and thus successfully, played in a small setting has much to do with subduing the ego. The musician’s instrument engages in friendly banter with the others so they rise together to touch the sublime. Wednesday’s “Turning Point: A Chamber Music Evening”

  By ERIN EMOCLING TWO years ago on March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake followed by a deadly tsunami hit Japan, claiming thousands of lives and destroying homes and other properties. Most affected by the megadisaster  was the Tohoku region in the north-eastern portion of Japan’s largest island of Honshu. The catastrophe caused widespread destruction

By PABLO A. TARIMAN  A glimpse of the glorious past of Catanduanes  is unraveled in the barely two year-old Catanduanes Museum in the old capitol building, one of the historic landmarks of the 12th largest island in the country. On exhibit are the 1895 window panel from the ancestral house of  Don Ariston Sarmiento, including

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Photos by KIMI FERNANDEZ NEWBIE author Baboo Mondoñedo has reason to meet each morning with a full smile on her face these days.  She has lived a colorful, challenging life long enough to see a dream nurtured in her youth realized: the publication by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House of

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN  BEING classical musicians in a country — where noontime shows have more following than decent concerts — is always a struggle. Violinist Gina Medina, for one, isn’t just concertmaster of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. On top of her season orchestral schedule, she has to teach as well and coach young

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN MANILA is extremely lucky with excellent cellists as it is with great artists performing in its leading temple of the arts. In the 70s, Manila’s music lovers heard  the great French cellist Pierre Fournier, the “aristocrat of the cellists”; in the  early 80s, it had the great Russian cello icon

 By ERIN EMOCLING Photos from PUNCHDRUNK PANDA NOWADAYS, a wide range of products are readily available to consumers through the Internet. The real challenge in having an online business is how to make one’s products stand out from the competition. Punchdrunk Panda (PdP), a company engaged in online selling, offers unique and functional “world-class” Pinoy

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN BLUES and country music in Tupelo, Mississippi took a backseat Saturday night last week when world-acclaimed Filipino pianist Cecile Licad performed for the first time with the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra under Steven Byess as soloist in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major and Totentanz: Paraphrase on Dies Irae

  By NORMAN SISON WHEN Brian McAllister Linn went to Ohio State University in 1975, his graduate adviser gave a lecture on the US Army and the Philippine-American War. The topic so fascinated him that he wound up spending 20 years researching for a definitive book on the conflict. Linn pored over US Army records,