{"id":872,"date":"2015-04-29T19:32:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T02:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.evergreen.edu\/melosmusicalcityfieldstudy\/?p=355"},"modified":"2015-04-29T19:32:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T02:32:56","slug":"april-28-2015-more-into-the-archival-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/april-28-2015-more-into-the-archival-research\/","title":{"rendered":"April 28, 2015: More into the archival research."},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Benches<\/a><\/p>\n

Benches and a tree. Cubao, Manila.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Recording of a Jeepney:<\/p>\n


\nhttp:\/\/blogs.evergreen.edu\/melosmusicalcityfieldstudy\/files\/2015\/04\/Jeepney.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This week I will delve more into the research data I have collected about Jos\u00e9 Mac\u00e9da.<\/p>\n

My research so far has led me to believe that in order to answer the question of how Manila, as a city, causally influenced Mac\u00e9da\u2019s \u201cavant-gardism\u201d, I should consider different broad categories <\/em>or types<\/em> of causal factors. These are, so far, Manila\u2019s colonial history, political discourse, geographic location, intellectual atmosphere, technology, urban environment, and cultural values. All of these greatly overlap. But, Mac\u00e9da himself saw in Southeast Asian indigenous life and music, opposition to a linear notion of logic and causality (Maceda 1986) \u2013 a \u201cWestern idiom\u201d (defined in the next paragraph) of Greco-Roman origin. (This puts into question the nature of this field study itself).<\/p>\n

\"Makati,<\/a><\/p>\n

Makati, Manila.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It is an integral aspect of Mac\u00e9da\u2019s musical life that he was brought up wholly Western, socially subscribed and artistically trained under what he would later call the \u201cWestern idiom\u201d.\u00a0 He defined Western idiom<\/em> as: \u201charmony, counterpoint, orchestration, and other elements in the finished forms of European music\u201d (Mac\u00e9da 1955). He is not necessarily saying that these elements are exclusive to the Western culture, but rather there is something distinct in how European culture has treated sounds. And similarly for Eastern cultures.<\/p>\n

So why is this \u201cintegral\u201d? Well, the westernized culture of modern Manila is not its native culture, contributing the city as cultural set of stark veneers. Ramon Santos, a colleague and friend of Mac\u00e9da\u2019s, wrote \u201cIt is perhaps in the very deprivation of a nativist cultural surrounding that later contributed to a dramatic self-conversion and cataclysmic transformation in Mac\u00e9da\u2019s maturing consciousness\u201d (126). This \u201cdeprivation\u201d is heavily attributed to Manila\u2019s deep and underwritten history as a colonial capital, which officially began 1571 by Spain. I have found that Manila\u2019s colonial history, the institutions that were established here, and the indoctrinations that were injected, reveal casual \u201cbranches\u201d that connect Manila to Mac\u00e9da\u2019s artistic discourse.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20150430_100038\"<\/a><\/p>\n

LRT station, Manila.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"IMG_20150430_100055\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Macabebe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n

I will only bring up two aspects regarding colonialism: geographic location <\/em>and hispanization<\/em>. Spanish control over Manila tied the two hemispheres together for the European empires. D.R.W. Irving writes, \u201cDue to its provision of a reliable maritime connection between Asia and the Americas, and by virtue of its strategic location close to China, early modern Manila attracted a diverse body of migrants seeking to trade, conquer, and proselytize\u201d (Irving 19). In addition, efforts were put forth to suppress and transculturate indigenous culture, especially in the capital. Irving writes, \u201cShaping the culture of the inhabitants seemed as important to Felipe II and his advisors as molding the physical structure of urban space\u201d (104). Music, in the context of religion (Catholicism), was an invaluable tool in evangelical transculturation. European instruments, liturgies, and pedagogues were a constant import, as well as the missions that housed them. And this is only the Spaniard\u2019s control \u2013 I won\u2019t dig into America and Japan\u2019s occupations here. At the same time, many Filipino\u2019s appeared well-receptive, perhaps naively, to the culture of the\u00a0West. Manila proved fruitful for imperial impulses.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20150430_100107\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Colonial processes that initiated in Mac\u00e9da\u2019s native city 346 years before his birth played a dominate factor\u00a0in his insulation of Western culture from the native culture of his own country, one aspect leading to the composer\u2019s defection. Eventually, he took an aggressive turn against the Western idiom of his upbringing and the state of the industrialized Western world in which he lived, seeing modern salvation in pre-colonial indigenous wisdom, demonstrated through their music. Mac\u00e9da said that hearing the kinaban <\/em>(Hanunoo Jews\u2019 harp) for the first time \u201ctransformed his entire outlook on music\u201d (Santos 128). This attitude guided the rest of his career \u2013 as an ethnomusicologist, a composer, and a philosopher, each field informing the other.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

a kinaban being played. (http:\/\/www.bamboomusic.50webs.com)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Throughout his works, he rationalizes a dichotomy between the East and the West. \u201cThe West\u201d appears to be a more homogeneous monolithic culture; whereas with non-western culture, he refers to both \u201cthe East\u201d and \u201cSoutheast Asian\u201d. The dominant subjects of this dichotomy in Mac\u00e9da\u2019s ideologies are the treatment of time<\/em>, hierarchies of sound<\/em>, and the relationship with nature<\/em> and technology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Reflecting its imperial ethos, Western music treats time as linear, finite, and something to control<\/em> (counterpoint, harmony, etc.). Southeast Asian natives, in contrast, treats time as infinite, \u201cmeasured by natural events such as migration of birds, flowering of plants, or sounds of insects in the dry season\u201d rather than \u201cfixed clocks\u201d, and \u201cimmaterial\u201d, \u201cdivided not as a record of man\u2019s achievement\u201d (Mac\u00e9da 1976). These philosophies that Mac\u00e9da proposed the urban person look to for well-being are similar to Baudelaire\u2019s \u201cnature corrective\u201d in de Botton. Unfortunately, I must leave you incoherently. I want to share more details of Mac\u00e9da\u2019s ideas, but as it turns out colonial history has had to occupy most of the space on this post.<\/p>\n

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\"Mataguiti,<\/a><\/p>\n

Mataguiti, Pampanga.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n

Santos, Ramon. Tunugan: Four Essays on Filipino Music<\/span>. 2005.<\/p>\n

Irving, D.R.W. Colonial Counterpoint: Music in Early Modern Manila<\/span>. 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Recording of a Jeepney:   This week I will delve more into the research data I have collected about José Macéda. My research so far has led me to believe that in order to answer the question of how Manila, as a city, causally influenced Macéda’s “avant-gardism”, I should consider different broad categories […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[],"tags":[29,99],"geo":{"latitude":14.6570015,"longitude":121.0652237,"description":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/musicalcities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}