FILIPINO AMERICAN LIBRARY TO SPONSOR LECTURE-DEMONSTRATION ON MUSIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
The Filipino American Library will hold its fourth Public Lecture Series Program on Wednesday, April 11, from 7:00 - 9:00 in the evening. The program will feature three accomplished Filipino American ethnomusicologists from UCLA who will share their knowledge, their insights, and their personal perspectives on the music of the Philippines.
The panelists are Christi-Anne Castro, Mary Gamalinda Talusan and Eleanor T. Lipat. Castro is a PhD candidate in the Ethnomusicology Department of UCLA. She is currently in the process of taming her dissertation on musical politics at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. She enjoys playing, arranging and composing music for the rondalla. She is the musical director of the Iskwelahang Pilipino Rondalla in Boston. This group has performed in many places on the East Coast. It has also toured the Philippines and Europe.
Mary Talusan is doctoral student in the same department at UCLA. She has an M.A. in Music Composition from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD. Her works were performed at the 18th Annual Conference and Festival of Asian Composers, which was held in the Philippines. She spent last year in the Philippines as a Fulbright Fellow conducting research for her dissertation on the musical activities of Muslim Filipinos who migrated to Metro Manila from Mindanao.
Eleanor Lipat is an M.A. student in the Department of Ethnomusicology. She has a B.A. in vocal performance from Barnard College at Columbia University. She has performed as a musician, actress and dancer with various theater companies in New York, the Balkans and Siberia. Her masters thesis focuses on gender issues in kulintang performance in the Philippines and in the United States. Her involvement with Philippine music and dance began in 1992 when she participated in a workshop conducted by Danongan Kalanduyan. She later joined the Kinding Sindaw in New York City.
Besides speaking on the rondalla and the kulintang, the panelists will talk about popular music in the Philippines today. They will demonstrate how indigenous music finds its way in contemporary Filipino music, particularly how it has been used in the commercial music industry.
As in all previous lectures, Sony Pictures Columbia Tri-StarŐs Senior Vice-President Fritz Friedman, who is also the chair of the Filipino American Heritage Institute, will moderate the panel.
RSVP to Cisa Payuyo at the Filipino American Library at
(213) 382 0488 or filamlibrary@earthlink.net
Leadership Development Program
Music of the Philippines
