MINIATURES

I have always associated Taiwan with its old colonial name, Formosa, and with the 17th-century Chinese general, Koxinga. In the early 1600s, Koxinga captured Formosa from the Dutch and used it as a base to challenge Spanish Manila. Meanwhile, the island is also known as the first settlement of Austronesian peoples, who began migrating southward around 3000 BC, eventually reaching the Philippines and spreading across the Pacific. These layers of history—military, colonial, and ancestral—have long shaped my imagination of Formosa, and they set the backdrop for my own journey there. I finally experienced the “Formosa” of my imagination when I was chosen to present my paper the IASPM-SEA - International Association for the Study of Popular Music conference, August 6 to 8, 2025, at National Taiwan University in Taipei, themed “Peripheries, Margins, and Ambiguities Across Borders in Southeast Asia.” My paper discusses on the social realities and struggles of Filipino musicians in the local g...

" Palengke ng mga Musiko" - Located in the busy section of Rizal Avenue (Avenida Rizal) corner Raon St. (now Gonzalo Puyat St.)  It is one of the most colorful episodes in Manila’s music scene, and yet it remains largely undiscussed—hidden, perhaps, due to the informal nature of how it came to be. In a time before technology could be employed to book artists for performances, there existed a place aptly referred to as the palengke —a Tagalog term derived from the Mexican Spanish palengke , meaning marketplace. However, in this particular “market,” one did not purchase goods. Instead, it served as a one-stop venue where one could hire musicians for various engagements. In essence, it was a place where one “bought” talent. The story of Manila’s palengke is arguably one of the most unique narratives in the city’s cultural history. The palengke no longer exists. It was once located on the second floor of a building at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Raon Street (now Gonzalo Puy...