Musical Renderings of the Philippine Nation by Christi-Anne Castro (review)

Christi-Anne Castro’s work is an important and timely study on the creation and mediation of cultural tradition in the twentieth-century Philippines, and should be required reading for students and scholars of the Philippines, greater South-east Asia, and postcolonial cultural expression in general. It is well-researched and includes excellent interviews with people near to the institutions and personalities covered. The work is, according to Castro, ‘a cultural history of the Philippines that outlines the role of music and performance in defining nation and, in its interrelated converse, the influence of national-level politics on shaping musical expression’ (p. 6). This is accomplished through a number of episodic studies on specific cultural objects and institutions, including the national anthem of the Philippines, twentieth-century Filipino composers and composers’ organizations, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, and the songs of the People Power (EDSA) Revolution.

There are three general themes at play in the book, among them ‘a broad concern with modernism as an impulse in the development of Philippine national character in a postcolonial/ neocolonial setting and, more specifically, how modernism becomes apparent in music’ (pp. 6-7), ‘the condition of hybridity that pervades nationalistic expression [and] other aspects of individual, community, and national identity’ (p. 7), as well as ‘who is making these articulations … encompassing the tensions between official statements and … expressions of artists … in compliance with and in contestation against the aims of the state’ (p. 8).

Among the things that I particularly enjoyed is the chapter on the CCP as ‘a prism for the nationalization of culture … serving as venue, moderator, and patron’ (p. 105), along with portions of the chapter on the Philippine Madrigal Singers and their close relationship with the presidential palace during the Marcos regime (pp. 145–57). Each of these sections includes refreshing inside looks at the motivations and political methods of Imelda Marcos from many who knew her well, emphasizing her strong advocacy of the arts and avoiding her already widely publicized avarice and calceamentaphilia. Particularly insightful was the discussion of the CCP, characterized as an institution that was funded by the upper classes (and the US Government) that would in turn largely serve only upper-class and foreign constituencies (p. 111), with the debate on the lavish costs associated with the Center’s construction and subsequent programming argued only among members of the intellectual elite (p. 119). I also appreciated very much Castro’s acknowledgement of a Manila-centric tendency in research on the Philippines and an expressed hope that further work will look outside the capital, while admitting that a book on national institutions will by nature lean towards centres of power (p. 16).

However, there were a few aspects of the book with which I took issue: some conceptual, others purely mechanical. Beginning with the mechanical issues, it took until about chapter 3 for Castro’s three general themes to begin to dialogue with the material; as a thematic thread these themes seemed generally absent in the first part of the book. She also makes it a point to refrain from reflexive writing by putting strictly personal experiences and impressions in short interludes between chapters (p. 20). This was generally studiously done, and though I did not expect a total elimination of the first-person pronoun, Castro does occasionally revert to reflexive statements in the main body of the work, an oversight made more jarring due to foreswearing them earlier.

A valid criticism often placed on historical musicologists (like myself) is a tendency to explain basic musical materials at length in prose. Often the inclusion of an example would be a good adjunct to that discussion or a replacement of some or all of it. While I did like the general juxtaposition of theoretical discussion, biography, and musical analysis in the book, the impact...