Archive - Arts & Culture

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN Photos by EDNA VIDA STAGE and film actress  Shamaine Centenera Buencamino is the beleaguered, if, repentant mother of Julia Montes in “Walang Hanggan,” a role that she played with such realism she towered over everybody in the ensemble. Indeed, she has enough resources in her acting arsenal to make the

By PABLO A. TARIMAN THERE is no sign of  the music of Nicanor Abelardo  in this generation of singers rattling their epiglottis away in assorted amateur singing contests mounted by several TV networks. But perhaps ABS-CBN Philharmonic will make a difference by introducing Abelardo’s music in its educational programs. For the new generation of music

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA TO the military, cultural worker Artus Talastas was a terrorist. To his comrades, he was a hero. What cannot be disputed about Talastas, who was killed in an encounter between the military and suspected communist guerrillas last June, is his imperishable Igorot spirit. It lives in works that, in

By PABLO A. TARIMAN LIKE it or not, Giselle is the stuff of present-day teleserye with poignant  dancing scenes portraying pure love, cut short by misconstrued betrayal and then the final act showing  love and death in the graveyard. It is a mere coincidence that two of the country’s top stage and film actors are

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN Photo by Kiko Cabuena WEDNESDAY night at the CCP, violinist Diomedes Saraza, Jr. treated his recital audience to an evening of Bach and Beethoven and with a contemporary piece written by an American pianist thrown in. The first piece is a Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV1005.

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN THE most redeeming feature of the recently concluded Cine Malaya Independent Film Festival is that moviegoers are able to see realistic reflections of Philippine society as seen by independent filmmakers. These films are no doubt a much-needed respite from the so-called “kilig” films that make money for the mainstream film

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN CONDUCTOR Helen Quach, popularly known as “Asia’s Queen of the Baton” and “The Lady Tyrant of the Podium” passed away last Wednesday, July 31 in Canberra, Australia after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 73. For the record, her last engagements with the Manila Symphony Orchestra and the

By PABLO A. TARIMAN THE real-life stories of the country’s leading artists past and present are rich goldmine for cinema materials. It is a sad observation that mixing classical music and cinema – at least in the Philippines – is deemed not a good combination at the box office. In the mid-80s, the late filmmaker

By PABLO A. TARIMAN THERE is no way you can miss the architectural legacy of National Artist for Architecture Pablo Antonio anywhere in Metro Manila. The Ideal Theater which he designed in 1933 was where you saw “The Singing Nun” and “Dr. Zhivago” in the 60s. Most young men growing up in the 60s saw

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA LIPING Zheng is like a mandarin transported from ancient China. His passion for traditional painting and calligraphy matches his commitment to his work as lead urban development specialist and advisor for South Asia at the Asian Development Bank. He finds no contradictions in these pursuits. He’s just following a

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN FILMMAKER Gil Portes tackles a subject that is not likely to enjoy mainstream following. He had offered the script to mainstream producers but as the cliché goes, they wouldn’t touch the subject with a ten-foot pole. But true to himself, he firmly believed the story must be told whatever it

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN ONE wonders how actor-director Behn Cervantes feels about the sudden deluge of recognition coming his way. Last June, the University of the Philippines gave him a Life Achievement Award.  A few years earlier, he got another Aliw Awards life achievement citation. But as he was  wont to say earlier, “I

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA THE season of harvest has arrived for Brenda V. Fajardo. In 2012 and in recent months, she has tucked one award after another under her belt: the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining from the Cultural Center, the Philippine Art Educators Association’s lifetime achievement award, Ateneo’s Outstanding Achievement in the

  By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Photos by DARIO NOCHE Jose Lacaba had a lucky break in journalism in the ’60s when he found himself working with writing icons Quijano de Manila (Nick Joaquin), Kerima Polotan, and Wilfrido Nolledo. Before that happened, editor Gregorio Brillantes sent the lad to interview and write about Jesuit historian Horacio de

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN ONE of the few remaining living icons of Philippine journalism turned 91 last July 19 and she spent it with close friends and relatives who are still in awe of the durable and colorful life she has led. Carmen Guerrero Nakpil is appreciative of the respect and recognition but she

  By ELIZABETH LOLARGA LIKE our very own Cecile Licad, Malaysia’s Claudia Yang puts in from six to eight hours of practice on the piano to get to the heart of a musical composition. It is something she has done since she learned how to play at age five. At age 12, she decided to

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN THERE is no way you can miss Lutgardo Labad’s presence in the cultural scene. He is the man behind the internationally acclaimed Loboc Children’s Choir and he is a consummate theater advocate even before he headed NCCA’s dramatic arts committee. But it is in the film industry that his contribution

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA Photos courtesy of the artists ALL it takes is a heartfelt push, and the Apolinario Mabini Wheelchair Parade will roll along on July 20, a spectacle on The Mind Museum’s canopied section to mark Rehabilitation Month. Its organizers, writer Gilda Cordero-Fernando and Dr. Joven Cuanang, St. Luke’s Medical Center senior vice president