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Philippine Performing Arts
The native dances, songs, and instrumental music of the Philippines are lighthearted and invite participation.
The most popular Philippine folk dance, the tinikling- which suggests the quick, bright movements of ricebirds- seems to be a purely native expression.
Many other Philippine folk dances now taught in Philippine public schools, however blend native materials with Spanish, Malayan, English, French, German, and American elements. Many of the best jazz and pop musicians of Southeast Asia are Filipinos.
Early spanish writers noted the Filipino love of music and dancing. Philippine folk songs in rich variety, some of which still survive, accimpanied virtually every activity, and spontaneous dancing might continue for days. Song and dance show a variety of regional differences but can be classified into three principal groups: those of the lowland rice planters, those of the Moslems, and those of te mountain dwellers.
Much native art changed under Spanish influence. The chief instrumental musical group of the lowlands, for example, became the rondalla, a band using plucked-string instruments. The events leading to the cricifixion of Christ were dramatized in the cenaculo. The tibag enacts St. Helena's search for the cross. The Spanish occupation also led to te development of the oldest extant Philippine folk dramas, the moro-moro, which were based on conflicts between the Christians and the Moslems.
In the second half of the 19th century, Filipino writers and composers began adapting the Spanish zarzuela. Flexible in form and much like musical comedy, the zarzuela was a vehicle for pure entertainment, social satire, and political protest. The zarzuela remains popular today as a kind of operetta and is employed, along with the moro-moro, as the traditional entertainment of rural festivals. The plots and characters of modern Philippine films, most of them in Tagalog, reflect the zarzuela heritage.
In the larger cities, the Philippine performing arts are strongly influenced by the West. The Cultural Center of the Philippines, in Manila, offers symphonies, operas, ballets, and plays. Most of these works originate in others countries while Filipino composers, musicians, and playwrights tend to pattern their efforts on contemporary western models.
Attempts to combine Philippine themes with Western techniques have been made by such troupes as the Bayanihan Dance Comapany, whose repertoire consists of theatricalized versions of folk dance.