"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 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.
