Archive - Arts & Culture

WHERE once there were only cries of anguish and despair, the voices heard from “Balay ni Datu Lubay” these days are expressions of fun and admiration. Balay ni Datu Lubay (House of Datu Lubay) in San Jose, Antique houses Alex de los Santos’ collection of more than 1,000 dolls and figurines, some of them made by potters in the province.

APART from its three leading symphony orchestras and three ballet companies, Manila is potpourri of stage talents with its vibrant theater companies offering assorted theater fare year in and year out. Interestingly, some of the country’s finest artists have passed on their acting genes to their children.

ACTOR-COMEDIAN Dolphy made history by winning two awards from two different film entries in the ongoing Metro Manila Film Festival. He won Best Actor for “Jejemon” and Best Supporting Actor for “Rosario,” which only got the second best picture citation although winning the Antonio Villegas Cultural Award.

SO exciting is this rediscovered dance form pangalay, which translates to "a gift offering," that it is being performed to songs interpreted by Josh Groban, Jacqui Magno, the inimitable Sylvia la Torre, among others.

BLOGGER Danilo Garcia Jacob had lived the most part of his growing up years without a mother who had to leave them when he was young to work abroad as caregiver. The cycle is being repeated today: He works in Kuwait, his younger sister in Dubai and his elder brother in Saudi Arabia.

ALL that gloom and rain for days at Fontana Leisure Park in Clark, Pampanga did not dampen the enthusiasm of child representatives from 10 countries who participated at the recent first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Children’s Forum.

“IF you have a dream, go after it...wrestle with destiny to make it happen.” This advice came from Ella del Rosario who, at the height of her singing career as Manila sound diva of the 1980s, left the country 22 years ago to reinvent herself and pursue the American dream.

MUSIC lovers will have a bonus treat at the concert of Swiss-based tenor Arthur Espiritu with soprano Rachelle Gerodias and the Manila Symphony Orchestra at the Philamlife theater on Dec. 14. They will have U.S.-based baritone Andrew Fernando as special guest.

IF you open your Facebook account and start seeing thumbnail photos of Dragon Ball, Garfield, cartoon characters from Disney or anime as your friends' profile pictures instead of their actual portraits, do not fret. It’s the latest Internet meme that has swept the popular social networking site.

INSPIRED by the success of his first homecoming concert last August, Switzerland-based Filipino tenor Arthur Espiritu will be home before Christmas for a special engagement at the Philamlife Theater with soprano Rachelle Gerodias and the Manila Symphony Orchestra on Dec. 14.

THERE are new figures in pianist Ingrid Santamaria’s Christmas Village in her Binan. Laguna vacation house. They are no less than United States President Barack Obama with wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha.

THE Philippines can take pride in having three active ballet companies that keep the dance scene alive in Metro Manila throughout the year.

COMEDIENNE-SOPRANO Sylvia La Torre and distinguished baritone Andrew Fernando will share the stage with pop idol Sarah Geronimo in a rare musical event that will combine three generations of Filipino artists on Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

WITH upbeat tunes like "Feels So Good" and "What a Wonderful World" played at the launch of Margarita Go-Singco Holmes' Down to 1: Depression Stories, a guest wondered aloud if the condition discussed in the book is being trivialized.

THE country’s three leading orchestras, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the FILharmonika--resume their concert seasons this month with assorted musical menu for music lovers of all ages

THE coming concert of violinist Joseph Esmilla with the Manila Symphony Orchestra in Cebu City on Nov. 12 is as good a time as any to reflect on the golden age of violin music in the country.

FOR Julie Lluch, one of the Philippines’ top sculptors, home truly works as proven by her and her three daughters in their first family exhibition at Alliance Francaise in Makati City.

A partially covered burnay (earthen jar) placed in a corner of the veranda catches the eye while the smell of a decaying chick inside a red plastic hang at the doorway greets visitors at the wake of Concepcion Bag-ayan-Balansi in Barangay Damayco in Peñarrubia, Abra.

HE anchors a weekly radio program, writes a newspaper column, gives regular seminars and has published 16 books on psychic phenomena. He is known as the paranormal researcher, scientific psychic, fortune teller, exorcist and the intuition professo

AS a child growing up in Marikina, Sinag de Leon thrived in an environment strewn with samples of Philipine folk arts and crafts, her parents being avid aficionados and lecturers on the subject.

THE coming of an Italian dance company to Manila to showcase contemporary choreographic works inspired by legendary Italian film-maker Federico Fellini will surely bring back memories of lasting musical ties between the Philippines and Italy.

GERARD Salonga is emerging to be a star all his own. The brother of multi-awarded international singer Lea Salonga, Gerard is carving a place in another musical field: conducting.

RICHARD Merk, jazz singer, comic singing host and owner of Merk’s Bar and Bistro at Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City, regards his diminutive mother,Annie Brazil, as still the undisputed Asian queen of jazz at age 77.

WHEN Manang Bolabola came out, there was a new doll in her secret room, with eyes the color of twilight that had been grazed by the twinkle of the first evening star.

COMPETITION prizewinners are again in the news in Manila’s music scene as Russian pianist Sofia Gulyak debuts in Manila Oct. 14 at the Philamlife Theater.

By ELIZABETH LOLARGA “And in keeping with his oft-repeated philosophical belief that novels should enhance and amplify life, not merely recount it, he has taken some liberties with history. But he quickly adds that ‘with essential facts, I have been loyal.’”–interview with Mario Vargas Llosa in January Magazine, 2002. It is a fact of literary

THERE was one scene in the recently concluded television soap opera Momay that belittled children studying in public schools: Character actress Glydel Mercado, playing the role of a mother, told her nephew, “O ikaw Jay-jay, sa public school ka nalang mag-aral kasi bobo ka naman (You, Jay-jay, will go to public school because you’re dumb).”

By KIM ARVEEN M. PATRIA MUSIC broke the silence of a humid Monday afternoon in a small neighborhood in San Pablo City.  Inside a school gymnasium along a poorly paved road, a rondalla, an ensemble of string instruments, rehearsed melodic pieces for everyone to hear—everyone except those playing them. Those who held the guitars, the