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Metro Manila, City of Man: Fifty Years of Grandeur, Excess, and the Forging of Arts and Culture

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Conference: Metropolitan Manila @50: Narratives, Connections, Relevance UP Manila CAS Manila Studies Program November 7, 2025 - GSIS Building Pasay City INTRODUCTION The formation of Metro Manila as a consolidated urban region in the 1970s was both a political maneuver and a cultural aspiration. Before metropolitan reorganization, the Greater Manila Area was defined among multiple cities and municipalities. The move established a central metropolitan authority that became a vehicle not only for administrative coordination but also for ambitious urban planning and cultural endeavors. The newly formed region became the stage for a vision christened by Imelda Marcos as “Metro Manila: City of Man,” a concept that incorporated ideas of order, progress, and beauty. Public spending in monumental buildings, reclaimed land, park beautification, and major cultural venues was promoted as a means to uplift national pride, modernize the city, and present the Philippines as culturally sophisticated,...
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Vallejo and Lippay: The Roots of the Filipino Orchestral Tradition

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  Bridging Continents If one were to name a partnership that decisively raised the rostrum of musical performance in the Philippines, it would be that of two unlikely individuals—each classically trained in traditions shaped by different hemispheres. One emerged from the long artistic influence of America carried across the Pacific, a current that had quietly matured before returning to these shores with renewed force. The other stood firmly within the solid lineage of European musical discipline, an Austro-Hungarian musician whose presence would precipitate a remarkable influx of Viennese artists into Manila. In the convergence of these two trajectories—American and European, Pacific and Continental—was forged a partnership that redefined standards of performance and pedagogy in the country. At the center of this encounter stood Ernesto Vallejo and Alexander Lippay, whose collaboration would leave a lasting imprint on Philippine musical life. Alexander Lippay, of Hungarian descent...
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The Music Played After Rizal's Execution

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La Banda del Batallón de Voluntarios—1896 After a Spanish officer delivered the tiro de gracia, a final inspection confirmed that José Rizal lay lifeless. At that moment, the Spanish regimental band—the Banda del Batallón de Voluntarios—struck up the Marcha de Cádiz, also known as the Himno de Cádiz. León Ma. Guerrero, in The First Filipino, records the scene with piercing irony: "But as the last Spaniards gave their ragged cheer, and the band of the battalion of volunteers struck up, with unconscious irony, that hymn to human rights and constitutional liberties, the Marcha de Cádiz, the quiet Filipinos broke through the square, to make sure, said the Spanish correspondent, that the mythical, the godlike Rizal was really dead, or, according to others, to snatch a relic and keepsake and dip their handkerchiefs in a hero’s blood." MARCHA DE CADIZ The Marcha de Cádiz is deeply rooted in Spain’s historical memory, drawing inspiration from the Peninsular War, when Spain resiste...
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Translating Rebellion: European Anarchists’ Veneration of José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere

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After the execution of José Rizal, the anarchists of Barcelona found a new figure to expound their struggle against the Spanish crown. They included Rizal's writings in their literature, mentioned him in their articles, and reported on him in their press, honoring him and his cause. The very first translation of Noli Me Tangere into French was done collaboratively by two leading anarchists—Henri Lucas and Ramon Sempau. Among the Barcelona anarchists, Ramon Sempau (1868–1910) cuts a colorful figure. He was a lawyer and correspondent for some leading newspapers in Spain and part of a larger circle of intellectuals associated with the emerging anarchist movement in Spain and France. Sempau had to flee Spain after the Corpus Christi Barcelona bomb attack in June 1896, which was blamed on the anarchists. He first went to France and then to Belgium, constantly under the surveillance of local police due to his known revolutionary activities. In Brussels, it was reported that his hotel roo...
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A Glimpse of Pasig’s 1875 Feast of the Immaculate Conception

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  In the 19th century, Pasig was renowned for its lavish and artistically elaborate celebration of its town fiesta—the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Every December, the town would come alive with a vibrant mixture of faith, music, theatre, and spectacle, as residents and visitors alike joined in the festivities. Streets would be illuminated with lanterns and Bengal lights, music bands paraded through the town playing cheerful marches, and fireworks lit the night sky in dazzling displays. One contemporary account from December 1875 offers a remarkable glimpse into the scale and creativity of these celebrations. From high Masses accompanied by full orchestras to acrobatic gymnastics, comedic farces, and operatic performances, the festivities combined solemn religious devotion with theatrical flair and public entertainment. The residents of Pasig, particularly Gremio de Naturales under the stewardship of Gobernadorcillo Don Apolonio Santiago, spared no effort in preparing both p...
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