"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.
Monday, February 23, 2004
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)
