"Enchanting Melodies on Native Instruments" was the phrase used to introduce the Ne Pomoceno Quartet to mid-western audiences in 1917. Nowadays, those words are ironic, considering that, outside of the International Expositions, Filipinos playing in clubs and chautauquas rarely played native instruments, although they did play Philippine adaptations of European string instruments. This website is dedicated to Filipino musicians in the United States, especially those "old-timers" who performed during the early 20th century. My father was one of them: he played in a band in New Orleans and other cities during the 1930s. My grandfather and granduncle played in the Philippine Constabulary Band in international expositions. Filipinos have been entertaining audiences with their music since at least the early 20th century. Considering that "Manilla Men" first began settling in the Louisiana territory during the 18th century, it's possible that Filipino musicians have been making music in the Americas since the 19th century or earlier. My aim for this website is to post information on these little-known and under-appreciated musicians, and update as often as possible. This is a labor of love. Thanks to the "Redpath Chautauqua Collection and Traveling Culture exhibit, Special Collections, University of Iowa for making some of this material (photographs and documents about Filipino musicians in the Chautauqua) available.
If you have information or photos of Filipino musicians or bands from the early to mid-20th century (1960s) and would like it posted on this site, contact me at okir2k@gmail.com.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Casting my net out on the web for old-time Filipino musicians has given me a new appreciation for the pervasive influence of Hawai'ian/Caribbean/Pacific Islander steel and slack-key sounds in American blues. Even blues artist Taj Mahal has recently come out with a CD celebrating these cross-cultural influences, in Hanapepe Dream.Photo: Cajun-Hawaiian Guitar Player in Louisiana, 1938.
By Russell Lee. Library of Congress.
Monday, February 23, 2004
While I haven't been able to track down an audio file for one of the Filipino bands, below, I did find an Edison 1921 diamond disk recording of the "Myona-Hawaiian Waltz," music by Morgan-Friedland, played by the Waikiki Hawaiian Orchestra. You can clearly hear the steel guitar being played, and this should give you some sense of how Hawaiian music was being interpreted for American popular music tastes at the time. Click here to go to the American Memory site to listen in Real Audio or Wav format.
Louis Biason, director of the Filipino Collegians (see 2/20 below), also led another group called Manila Music, whose members consisted of C. Oliver (vocalist, mandolin, steel guitar, ukelele), M. Bambalon (banjo and violin), J. Sayas (guitar and mandolin), and B. Bandalon (bass guitar). They played "just about everything from the classics to the popular melodies. Of course, Filipino folk songs, enchanting melodies of the South Seas, popular music of the day with a Spanish background, especially..." But Mr. Biason was not only a musician; according to the press release, he also lectured on topics about the Philippines. Read more here.
Note the Resonator guitar on the floor in the foreground. I've also noticed that there was a steel guitar player in nearly every Filipino band, sometimes two or more. Certainly, they were taking advantage of the craze for Hawaiian music at the time; Joseph Kekuku and other musicians had by then introduced Hawaiian style steel guitar to the United States. But I wonder -- located so close to the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, to what extent were these Filipino musicians influenced by African American delta blues? If only I had a recording of their music!
By the way, all the promo I've read so far seems to describe band members as if they were all Filipino. Obviously, however, some of the members were not Filipino. Check out the tall guy in the middle of the picture...(click on the picture to get a larger view)
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Although I've focused this blog on Filipino musicians in the U.S. during the the early 20th century, I'm willing to fudge on the time period a bit. Michelle Bautista points to Sugar Pie de Santo, and says: "One of my favorite musicians that just squeezes into your time frame is Sugar Pie DeSanto...born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton in SF. I saw her a few times at Bindlestiff and another venue and she was AMAZING, her flare, the soul. Her "I want to know" hit No.3 in the Billboard charts in 1959. She toured with James Brown and Etta James." Friday, February 20, 2004
In 1903 a group of 98 Filipino students, or pensionados, first arrived in the United States to attend college. The 1921 promo for the Filipino Collegians proudly notes that the manager of the company, Louis Biason (violinist and tenor banjoist), studied at Crane College in Chicago and at Northwestern University. His brother, "P. Biason," was the first mandolinist, and had studied at the University of Minnesota. E. Tavora, second mandolinist, had studied at the University of California. M. Banbalan on bass guitar and mandolin studied at the University of Minnesota, and pianist "Flo" Suarez studied accounting at Northwestern. Among the pieces they played included "Schubert's Serenade," (a banjo serenade?) "Indian Love Call," "Blue Skies," and "The Philippine Overture." Apparently their summers were spent on the road, for the copy reads that they had "been in practically every state...given hundreds of concerts throughout the middlewest, and on scores of occasions have entertained in Chicago and surrounding territory. Their summer seasons have been filled with Chautauqua tours that have brought added recognition for their musical abilities." Read more of their promo here.Wednesday, February 18, 2004
The Philippine Quartet featured Señora Olivar, a "dramatic soprano of rare quality and a violinist of attainments," and Catalino Olivar, "master of the steel guitar, mandolin and a ukulele soloist." Other members included Alfredo Fernandez on piano, and Marcelino Domingo on flute and guitar. As with the Ne Pomoceno Quartet, the press for the Philippine Quartet highlighted the ethnic novelty of the group, noting that they played "musical instruments peculiar to their native islands and appear in...modest yet attractive gala costume worn by the Filipinos." The group's attire seems, in fact, very urbane and western. Yet the promo risked pushing things too far when, in an apparent attempt to appeal to all interests they billed the group's music as ranging "from the primitive to grand opera." By 1921, the group had already been touring the U.S. professionally for five years, and had been in "great demand." Read more hereMonday, February 16, 2004
One of the early venues for Filipino musicians was the chautauqua, a traveling tent show that featured entertainment and lectures for the edification and moral uplifting of rural and small-town folks in the mid-west. The chautauqua was modeled after the popular lyceum movement developed in Massachusetts during the early 19th century. According to Russell L. Johnson, "the chautauqua movement...traces its origins to 1874, when Protestant ministers John Heyl Vincent and Lewis Miller started a summer training program for Sunday-school teachers at Lake Chautauqua in the state of New York....During the peak years, from 1920 to 1924, chautauquas brought their unique blend of education, inspiration, and entertainment to as many as ten thousand cities each year." President Roosevelt called them "the most American thing in America" ("'Dancing Mothers': The Chautauqua Movement in Twentieth-Century American Popular Culture" 1). Learn more about Chautauquas here.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
From press copy for Ne Pomoceno's Filipino Quartet: "Ne Pomoceno's Filipino Quartet is a most unique, a most picturesque and at the same time a most artistic organization of native musicians. Mr. Pomoceno has chosen a group of artists -- masters of the "bandurias", the "laud", the "octavina", the "guitarra", the "bajo" and the piano. They present a concert program that meets a popular appeal and they feature not only their own beautiful melodies, but also the classical airs, operatic gems and the light, popular numbers of the day." Members of the Ne Pomoceno Quartet included Manager NePomoceno, B. Del Rosario, S. Damalario and Mrs. Damalario. Read more here.
