Abstract
Traversing the imperial and the national imaginary, military musicians are the focus of this chapter. Fin-de-siècle Manila was a nexus in modern reimagining of the collapsing archaic Spanish Empire, the US experiment on imperialism, and the embryonic Filipino republic. The chapter investigates how the Filipino military musicians’ performing bodies became sites of simultaneous claims and contestations of national, imperial, and global imaginings of modernity.
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Notes
- 1.
“Letter of Governor General Pedro Acuña to the Spanish Crown”, Manila, 18 December 1603 in Blair and Robertson , Blair, Robertson 1905 – The Philippine Islands 149, vol. 12.
- 2.
Hernando de los Rios Coronel, “Reforms needed in Filipinas” (Madrid, 1619–20) in Ibid., vol. 18.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera , “Revision of pay and rations made 4 September 1635” in Ibid., vol. 26.
- 6.
Ibid., 202–203.
- 7.
“Memorial de D. Juan Grau y Monfalcon Procurador General de las Islas Filipinas”, Docs. Ineditos del Archivo de Indias. From Ibid., vol. 1.
- 8.
Fernando Valdes Tamon “Survey of the Filipinas Islands” (Manila, 1739) in Ibid., vol. 47.
- 9.
Ibid.
- 10.
See: Jacob Adam Kappey, Military Music: A History of Wind-Instrumental Bands (London and New York: Boosey, 1894), 88.
- 11.
Rolando E. Villacorte, “On the Buenaventuras of Baliwag,” in Baliwag: Then and Now (Baliwag: The Author, 1970), 207–211; Helen F. Samson, Contemporary Filipino Composers (Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing Co., 1976), 37–48.
- 12.
From the report of the Manila Superintendent, Juan Manuel de la Matta. (Manila, February 25, 1843) in Blair and Robertson , Blair, Robertson 1905 – The Philippine Islands 149, vol. 52. For those who are fit, re-enlistment is allowed after the eight-year quinta , by which they are transferred to the cuerpo del resguardo. The report also indicated that with the increase in the number of troops, the colonial government also increased the tributes collected from the indio subjects to cover the expenses.
- 13.
The article was reprinted on the Singapore Chronicle on (5 March 1836). The article was prefaced:
‘My Dear Sir—the accompanying remarks, contained in a letter just received from Manila, have pleased me much and I think they will be acceptable to your readers. Old Spain is waking from her slumber, and her government seems disposed to do all it can’t benefit the people of that Kingdom. The government of Laconia, also, seems determined to act in like manner, witness whereof is the following extract. Your’s, Juvenis.’
- 14.
A. Kalkbrenner’s. Die Organisation der Musikchöre aller Länder (1884) quoted in Kappey, Military Music: A History of Wind-Instrumental Bands, 90.
- 15.
Blair and Robertson , Blair, Robertson 1905 – The Philippine Islands 149, vol. 45, 273–274. Quoted and translated from: J. Mallat’s Les Philippines, vol. 2 (Paris, 1846).
- 16.
Henry T. Ellis , Hong Kong to Manilla and the Lakes of Luzon, in the Philippines (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1859), 236.
- 17.
Joseph Earle Stevens, Yesterdays in the Philippines: An Ex-Resident of Manila (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898), 19–20.
- 18.
Ibid., 93–94.
- 19.
Ibid., 94.
- 20.
Irving , D. R. M. Colonial Counterpoint: Music in Early Modern Manila (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 63.
- 21.
Manuel Sastrón, La Insurreccion en Filipinas (Madrid, Spain: Imprenta de la viuda de M. Minueso de los Rios, 1897).
- 22.
Ma. Luisa T. Camagay, Kasaysayang Panlipunan Ng Maynila 1765–1898 (Quezon City: Maria Luisa T. Camagay, 1992), 207. Referring to the 1897 military report in Archives de la Marine BB4 1292.
- 23.
Ibid., 205. Referring to the military reports 1896–1901 in Archives de la Marine BB7 33.
- 24.
Rolando E. Villacorte, “On the Buenaventuras of Baliwag,” in Baliwag: Then and Now (Baliwag: The Author, 1970), 207–211; Helen F. Samson, Contemporary Filipino Composers (Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing Co., 1976), 37–48.
- 25.
Santiago V. Alvarez, The Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General, trans. P.C.S. Malay, Reprint (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992), 59.
- 26.
Malabon was the former name of the municipality of General Trias, Cavite.
- 27.
Teodoro A. Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People (Quezon City: R.P. Garcia Publishing Co., 1990, c. 1977), 226.
- 28.
E. Arsenio Manuel, Dictionary of Philippine Biographies (Quezon City: Filipiniana Publications, 1970), 63.
- 29.
Ibid., 59.
- 30.
Fernando Jr. A Santiago, “Remembering Ladislao Bonus (1854–1908): The Father of Filipino Opera,” in Manila: Selected Papers of the 18th Annual Manila Studies Conference August 23–24, 2009, ed. Lorelei D C De Viana (Quezon City: Manila Studies Association, Inc., 2010), 75.
- 31.
Nineteenth-century Philippine scholar Manuel Sastrón reported in 1897 that in the first phase of the Philippine Revolution , native Filipinos who were fighting in the Spanish order of battle number more than 17,000. See: Manuel Sastrón, La Insurreccion en Filipinas (Madrid, Spain: Imprenta de la viuda de M. Minueso de los Rios, 1897).
- 32.
Brian McAllister Linn. The U.S. Army and Counterinsurgency in the Philippine War, 1899–1902 (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989), 10–14; Robert Cassidy, “The Long Small War: Indigenous Forces for Counterinsurgency,” Parameters 36, no. 2 (Summer 2006), 49.
- 33.
Military historian Victor Hurley detailed that a Philippine constable was paid an average salary of US$250 annually, paid by the colonial government, whereas a regular army trooper in the Philippines received US$1000 per year. See: Victor Hurley, Jungle Patrol: The Story of the Philippine Constabulary (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1938), 53. Margarita R. Cojuangco, et al.’s account also states that Philippine constables had no additional compensations such as pension, relief for widows, or disability pay (Cojuangco et al. 1991, 14). See: Margarita R. Cojuangco et al., Konstable: The Story of the Philippine Constabulary, 1901–1991 (Manila: ABoCan, 1991), 14.
- 34.
At the time, the US Jim Crow racial segregation law extended to the military.
- 35.
Claiborne T. Richardson, “The Filipino-American Phenomenon: The Loving Touch,” Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts 10, no. 1 (1982): 6.
- 36.
Mary Talusan, “Music, Race, and Imperialism: The Philippine Constabulary Band at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair,” Philippine Studies 52, no. 4 (2001): 506; Richardson , “The Filipino-American Phenomenon: The Loving Touch,” 9.
- 37.
Raymundo C Bañas , Filipino Music and Theater (Quezon City: Manlapaz Publishing Co., 1969), 98.
- 38.
Paul Kramer , “Making Concessions: Race and Empire Revisited at the Philippine Exposition, St. Louis, 1901–1905,” Radical History Review, no. 73 (1999): 81.
- 39.
In US President William McKinley’s ‘Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation’, he declared that the USA has ‘come, not as invaders or conquerors, but as friends, to protect the natives in their homes, in their employment, and in their personal and religious rights’. It is therefore in their interest to ‘win the confidence, respect, and affection of the inhabitants of the Philippines by assuring them in every possible way that full measure of individual rights and liberties which is the heritage of free peoples, and by proving to them that the mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation substituting the mild sway of justice and right for arbitrary rule’. See: President McKinley, “Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation” (21 December 1898), announced in the Philippines on 4 January 1899.
- 40.
Ibid., 90.
- 41.
Ibid., 103.
- 42.
Ibid., 104.
- 43.
One of the inducements for the ilustrados was membership to a hypothetical scientific society. The proposal states:
We desire this cooperation from them as future members of an organization that might be in its day, official, titling itself perhaps, Philippine Academy of sciences, arts, commerce, and industries or the Philippine Society of geography, exact and social sciences, or Philippine National Museum of commerce, industry, natural history, ethnography, arts and sciences, with a permanent publication that during the first two years until the close of the St. Louis Exposition , will be sustained by the Philippine Exposition Board . (See: Ibid., 89)
- 44.
Ibid., 80.
- 45.
Ibid., 79.
- 46.
Ibid., 79.
- 47.
Ibid., 91.
- 48.
On the Bulletin of the Exposition, Director of Exhibits F. J. V. Skiff likened the fair to the idea of “World’s University” and “encyclopedia.” See: Frederick J. V. Skiff, “The Universal Exposition: An Encyclopedia of Society,” World’s Fair Bulletin (December 1903), 3.
- 49.
Ibid., 94.
- 50.
Ibid. Cited from “Philippine Exposition,” Guide booklet.
- 51.
The Norfolk News (Friday, 30 September 1904), 7.
- 52.
Laurence W Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1988).
- 53.
Claiborne T. Richardson, “The Filipino-American Phenomenon: The Loving Touch,” Foundation for Research in the Afro-American Creative Arts 10, no. 1 (1982): 10.
- 54.
Ibid.
- 55.
Ibid., 3.
Although written in 1984, for a journal on African -American art, it is noticeable that the language of the article still has resonances of racial paternalism towards Filipinos . Richardson’s account was bent more to emphasise the importance of Walter H. Loving as the black bandmaster who triumphed over his racial marginalisation as a musician. In Mary Talusan’s analysis of the events, Loving’s role as the US conductor further complicates the rigid racial configuration in the US’ imperialism narrative.
- 56.
“Filipinos Going to Louisville: Constabulary band to Boom Fair at K.P. Conclave”, The St. Louis Republic, 15 August 1904, 12.
- 57.
“Constabulary Band Returns: Filipinos Received Enthusiastic Reception at Wisconsin State Fair”, The St. Louis Republic, 8 September 1904, 3.
- 58.
Ibid., 11.
- 59.
Ibid.
- 60.
Ibid.
- 61.
Ibid., 12.
- 62.
Ibid.
- 63.
Ibid., 12–13.
- 64.
Ibid., 13.
- 65.
Ibid.
- 66.
Ibid., 18.
References
Published Sources
Cojuangco, Margarita R., Rene R. Cruz, Guillermo T. Domondon, Ramon E. Montaiio, and Cesar P. Nazareno. 1991. Konstable: The Story of the Phihppine Constabulary, 1901–1991. Manila: ABoCan.
Ellis, Henry Sir. 1859. Hong Kong to Manilla and the Lakes of Luzon, in the Philippines. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Irving, D.R.M. 2010. Colonial Counterpoint: Music Early modern manila, 111–112. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stevens, Joseph Earle. 1898. Yesterdays in the Philippines. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
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yamomo, m. (2018). Chapter 5 Modernities in Conflict: The Military Band Betwixt Empires and Nations. In: Theatre and Music in Manila and the Asia Pacific, 1869-1946. Transnational Theatre Histories. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69176-3_7
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