Archive - Arts & Culture

Text and photos by ELIZABETH LOLARGA
NINEVEH Artspace, the first and only art gallery in the capital town of Santa Cruz, Laguna, and the biggest in the province, comes as a breath of fresh air for the Manila-based visitor, especially on exhibition opening day. There is none of that cocktail-party artifice where one tries valiantly to view the works while maintaining a decent conversation and balancing a small plate of finger food on one hand.

By AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN
HOLY Week, which commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is a sacred tradition for Christians. It takes deeper meaning in a community where majority of the population belong to the Islam faith.

Text, photos and videos by VINCENT GO
BEING at Fred's Revolucion is like going back to a time when the cold war was raging and revolutions were the in thing. It calls to mind a scene from the 1960s movie “M.A.S.H.” whose battle-weary soldiers guzzled up after a hectic day on the war front.

Text and photos by CARLO FIGUEROA
Traffic jams, air pollution from tricycle fumes, restaurants big and small packed to the brim, and the sheer number of visitors jostling for space in a cramped island were definitely not synonymous to rustic images beach life usually conjures. But such was the daily scene in Boracay over the Easter break.

By YOLANDA L. PUNSALAN
POCKETS of spur-of-the moment vacations on a miniscule budget, covering only jeep or bus fare and the occasional street food snacks, can be had by anyone nimble enough to enjoy the Walled City of Intramuros while imbibing history.

By MEI MAGSINO
REMEMBER Fernando Amorsolo’s painting depicting an important page of our history of three women sewing the first Philippine flag? That was Marcela Agoncillo with her daughter and a friend.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
IT is the island fortress where the blood of Filipino, American and Japanese soldiers was spilled, all of them convinced it was for a cause bigger than them.

By HAZEL P. VILLA
ILOILO CITY – The misery of typhoon victims has encouraged a Filipino development worker to share a stove innovation that can be built in less than two hours with minimal skills and tools and uses twigs and branches which the affected families can collect from debris.

By PATRICK KING PASCUAL
LESBIAN, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons with disabilities (LGBT PWDs) experience double discrimination in their daily life.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
LISTENING to a mishmash of operatic arias and Broadway hits, as though an iPod shuffle was being executed as a "sensurround" experience, is a lovely way to spend an evening.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
THE brief transcendent experience of witnessing "The Dying Swan," featuring ballerina Lisa Macuja, cellist Wilfredo Pasamba, especially flown in for this number, and pianist Cecile Licad--all three marking a historic first in the Philippines with live music played to this dance interpretation of Saint-Saens piece from Le Carnaval des Animaux--nearly redeemed Saturday's traffic nightmare.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
WHEN Cecile Licad blows into town for concert engagements, it is not egoism on her part when she asks for a piano that will enable her to give her best on concert night.

By PATRICK KING PASCUAL
CAROL (not her real name), a long-time dialysis patient at the Makati Medical Center (MMC), depends on a wheelchair for mobility.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
IT may come as a surprise to some that seasoned pianist Cecile Licad, ballerina Lisa Macuja and singer Lea Salonga, who continue to light up stages here and abroad, confess to pre-concert jitters.

Text, photos and video by VINCENT GO
THIS Sunday, the world joins Japan in remembering the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern Japan a year ago. Thousands died, and tens of thousands more left homeless when the ground shook and a wall of water fell on Fukushima and surrounding areas on March 11, 2011.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA
TEENS and young adults somersaulting on a field of grass with a view of Manila Bay in the background may not be a special sight, considering how energetic they can be.

By AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN
Maguindanao’s first Sagayan Festival showcased the rich cultural heritage of this conflict-ridden province in southern Philippines, proving that Maguindanaons could extend the hand of peace to their adversaries to do just that.

By LEILANIE ADRIANO
RUBEN Ines Vallejos hardly blinked an eye while staring at the lineup of visitors at the visual arts exhibit he and 16 other artists from indigenous tribes of northern Philippines put up through the help of the Kalinawa Art Foundation (KAF).

By AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN
UPI, a town snuggled in a valley, in the province of Maguindanao, is connected to the rest of the world via the Internet. Initiated by the local government, the Internet has transformed the way of life in Upi.

By HOMER TEODORO
PANIQUI, Tarlac- The stars were the brides and the grooms. They came complete with a supporting cast: their children.

By ERWIN MASCARINAS
EVERY year thousands of Catholic devotees and tourists from all walks of life visit the town of Cabadbaran to light a candle in honor of Nuestra Señora de Candelaria (Our Lady of Candles).

By AMIEL MARK CAGAYAN
BEHIND the horrors of kidnappings that put Tawi-Tawi in the headlines, there’s a lot of beauty to discover in the island province. Nestled in the lush forests with a full view of the endless sea is barangay Batu-Batu, in the municipality of Panglima Sugala.

SCHOLAR Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, a fictionist and essayist in her own right, describes the state of literary biography in the Philippines in her latest book “Six Sketches of Filipino Women Writers” as “a wide, arid stretch, with a few patches of grass, and perhaps a tree or two.”

THERE’S more about indigenous people than just being relegated to the fringes of society and beneficiaries of the kindness of international organizations.