First Asian Gong and Bamboo Music Festival to Highlight Philippine Arts Festival
11.23.2011
This year’s Philippine Arts Festival (PAF) will boom — literally — as the music component of the month-long celebration is set to hold the First Asian Festival of Gongs and Bamboo Music, from February 20 to 24 in Cagayan de Oro City and from February 20 to 25 in Baguio City and Iloilo.
In the wake of the tragedy that ravaged Cagayan de Oro in December last year, the music event aims to promote healing and inspire hope among the Cagayanons through music.
The Baguio and Iloilo events, on the other hand, will be full festivals gathering local and foreign foreign gongs and bamboo ensembles for performances and worshops.
The Musicology Society of the Philippines, the primary proponent of the event, will liewise incorporate a conference that would highlight the social and spiritual significance of the music produced by gongs and bamboo.
With the theme, “Tradisyon at Inobasyon” (Tradition and Innovation), this year’s PAF will highlight both traditional and contemporary art forms.
The PAF is held every February in celebration of the National Arts Month in pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed in 1991. It is spearheaded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), led by Chairman Felipe de Leon, Jr. and OIC Executive Director Adelina Suemith with Marichu Tellano, head of the Planning, Policy Formulation, and Programming Division.
