Yesterday's Roundup: Of Music and Mining
Gans and I attended a professorial lecture by Dr. Jonas Baes of the UP College of Music yesterday. Normally, I don't get to drop by similar events due to our respective schedules at Kalikasan, but this one was different. It was about the life and music of Jonas' elder brother, Dr. Aloysius "Ochie" Baes.
Ochie died last December. We knew him mostly as a scientist (AGHAM founding member!), an environmentalist, and a former member of the Bastes Commission on the Rapu-rapu mine spill. In his youth, Ochie was a former Chairperson of the UP Los Banos Student Council and a political detainee during Martial Law. It was only after he died that we learned that Ochie was also a musician, who helped compose many activist songs of the 1970's. Some of the recollections during Ochie's wake and tribute are documented in this article in Bulatlat.
The activity was held in one of the rooms at the College. The airconditioned space was bare, filled with monoblock chairs and a tarpaulin backdrop where sepia images of Ochie during his student days were projected onscreen. Indigenous musical instruments lay gathering dust inside large glass cabinets, like artifacts in a museum. One can hear the muffled sounds of instruments--stringed, percussion, and whatelse--echoing in the halls outside.
In this room, Jonas presented his lecture entitled "Generationloss: The Political Life of a Cassette Recorder and the Political Songs of Aloysius Baes Through the Early Years of Martial Law in the Philippines " (which hopefully shall be made available online and translated into Tagalog later on). In this paper, Jonas starts off by narrating the history of an object which many now dismiss as an artifact in this era of iPods and MP3 players, and but which was then considered as the cutting-edge in music technology in the rural Philippines of the 1970s: a cassette recorder. Jonas goes on to narrate the history of this recorder and the function of music in the Baes household and, eventually, in the political activities of his brothers in UP Los Banos and, later on, in the dictatorship's prisons. From these recollections, he proceeds to a lot of themes: the economics of cultural technology, the sociology of aesthetics, the politicization of the machine and its capacity for reproduction, the functions of memory and remembering.
Sure, there were welcome interruptions in this two-hour talk (In between segments of Jonas' lecture, Prof. Lester Demetillo rendered his version of Ochie's "top hits" Huwad na Kalayaan, Mutya, and Diwang Walang Takot. By the way, Jonas was lecturing while wearing only socks (his shoes were neatly set aside on the floor). I still can't figure out why.) But the main point of Jonas' lecture on Ochie's life was clear: about how music and its distribution could consciously be wielded as a form of potent political action, how it has the capacity to not just entertain and represent, but to resist and liberate.
It was a good and successful activity, that talk and the lively discussion that followed. Although an ample audience had filled up the room, I wish more people, especially activists involved in music production, could have been there to attend.
Ironically, for someone who just listened to a lecture which partly expounded on the power of technology as a means of memory, I forgot to take pictures and record the beautiful renditions of Ochie's songs.
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The Manila Times today published an article I wrote for their Special Report on mining in the Philippines. The story is an update on the Marcopper mine tragedy in Marinduque: what has happened (or not happened) so far in the pursuit for environmental justice for the affected communities. Also featured in three installments since Sunday was a piece on Defend Patrimony and how community groups have drafted a people's mining plan. Part two came out yesterday and part three today.
On the lighter side, Phil. Entertainment Portal featured our Sinekalikasan environmental film project yesterday in its indie section. The third screening's scheduled later at mag:net's Cinekatipunan, I hope everybody drops by to support the works by our CWTS students and Lomel/Miles/EJ. We will also be sponsoring a forum on climate change at UP later.
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Here's the lyrics of one of Ochie's songs. It was produced in prison during the early years of Martial Law. Rediscovering it thirty-two years later (I first heard the song at Ochie's wake), it struck me how the state of things that the song speaks of hasn't changed, no matter how much we sadly wish they did.
Stockade 4, Camp Crame, June 12, 1975
HUWAD NA KALAYAAN
May kalayaan ba kung bayan
Ay dumaraing sa hirap?
Ochie died last December. We knew him mostly as a scientist (AGHAM founding member!), an environmentalist, and a former member of the Bastes Commission on the Rapu-rapu mine spill. In his youth, Ochie was a former Chairperson of the UP Los Banos Student Council and a political detainee during Martial Law. It was only after he died that we learned that Ochie was also a musician, who helped compose many activist songs of the 1970's. Some of the recollections during Ochie's wake and tribute are documented in this article in Bulatlat.
The activity was held in one of the rooms at the College. The airconditioned space was bare, filled with monoblock chairs and a tarpaulin backdrop where sepia images of Ochie during his student days were projected onscreen. Indigenous musical instruments lay gathering dust inside large glass cabinets, like artifacts in a museum. One can hear the muffled sounds of instruments--stringed, percussion, and whatelse--echoing in the halls outside.
In this room, Jonas presented his lecture entitled "Generationloss: The Political Life of a Cassette Recorder and the Political Songs of Aloysius Baes Through the Early Years of Martial Law in the Philippines " (which hopefully shall be made available online and translated into Tagalog later on). In this paper, Jonas starts off by narrating the history of an object which many now dismiss as an artifact in this era of iPods and MP3 players, and but which was then considered as the cutting-edge in music technology in the rural Philippines of the 1970s: a cassette recorder. Jonas goes on to narrate the history of this recorder and the function of music in the Baes household and, eventually, in the political activities of his brothers in UP Los Banos and, later on, in the dictatorship's prisons. From these recollections, he proceeds to a lot of themes: the economics of cultural technology, the sociology of aesthetics, the politicization of the machine and its capacity for reproduction, the functions of memory and remembering.
Sure, there were welcome interruptions in this two-hour talk (In between segments of Jonas' lecture, Prof. Lester Demetillo rendered his version of Ochie's "top hits" Huwad na Kalayaan, Mutya, and Diwang Walang Takot. By the way, Jonas was lecturing while wearing only socks (his shoes were neatly set aside on the floor). I still can't figure out why.) But the main point of Jonas' lecture on Ochie's life was clear: about how music and its distribution could consciously be wielded as a form of potent political action, how it has the capacity to not just entertain and represent, but to resist and liberate.
It was a good and successful activity, that talk and the lively discussion that followed. Although an ample audience had filled up the room, I wish more people, especially activists involved in music production, could have been there to attend.
Ironically, for someone who just listened to a lecture which partly expounded on the power of technology as a means of memory, I forgot to take pictures and record the beautiful renditions of Ochie's songs.
-------
The Manila Times today published an article I wrote for their Special Report on mining in the Philippines. The story is an update on the Marcopper mine tragedy in Marinduque: what has happened (or not happened) so far in the pursuit for environmental justice for the affected communities. Also featured in three installments since Sunday was a piece on Defend Patrimony and how community groups have drafted a people's mining plan. Part two came out yesterday and part three today.
On the lighter side, Phil. Entertainment Portal featured our Sinekalikasan environmental film project yesterday in its indie section. The third screening's scheduled later at mag:net's Cinekatipunan, I hope everybody drops by to support the works by our CWTS students and Lomel/Miles/EJ. We will also be sponsoring a forum on climate change at UP later.
------
Here's the lyrics of one of Ochie's songs. It was produced in prison during the early years of Martial Law. Rediscovering it thirty-two years later (I first heard the song at Ochie's wake), it struck me how the state of things that the song speaks of hasn't changed, no matter how much we sadly wish they did.
Stockade 4, Camp Crame, June 12, 1975
HUWAD NA KALAYAAN
May kalayaan ba kung bayan
Ay dumaraing sa hirap?
Kung kayamanan ay hawak ng dayuhan
At masa ay salat
Kung manggagawa ay dusta
At magsasaka ay inaapi
Huwad, sadyang huwad ang kalayaan
Kung ang bayan ay ganyan.
May kalayaan ba kung bayan
Ay may gapos sa kamay?
Kung ang katotohanan
At katarunga’y nilulupig
Laksang nagtatanggol
Ay pinarurusahan at inuusig
Huwad, sadyang huwad ang kalayaan
Kung ang bayan ay ganyan.
Gapos ay lagutin, kamao ay itaas
Tumindig ka?t kamtin ang kalayaan
Hirap ay lunasan, pang-aapi ay wakasan
Ang bayan ay ipaglaban
Ang bayan ay ipaglaban.
2 comments:
Hi..this is Patricia, Jonas' daughter and Ochie's niece. Haha..my dad just really enjoys his socks. ^_^
This is Maris.. Ochie's eldest niece. I am really thankful for your article about my Uncle. It really feels good to know that my uncle has touched so many lives. Have a nice day!
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