Photo reblogged from life and randomness with 6 notes
The most popular, the most colorful, and the most annoying (for me, at least) means of transportation in the Philippines. Also a symbol of Filipino creativity.
They make the streets here in Manila so full… of life. — Jeepneys.
Manila, Philippines, February 2012
Photoset reblogged from Ma Chérie Palace - A Site for Artists! with 8 notes
Hyper-Realism art by Ju-Vi
Fantastic art done by Filipino artist Ju-Vi. His paintings are so precise, they look like a photo, very intriguing.
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Celebration of Filipino culture at the Pistahan Parade & Festival in San Francisco.
Photo reblogged from Pinoy-Culture ~ A Filipino Cultural & History Blog with 62 notes
![pinoy-culture:
Traditional Musical Instruments from the PhilippinesThis article focuses on those from the Visaya’s but they are also found in other parts of the Philippines with their own varied local names, (in some cases the same name).
There were basically eight kinds of Visayan musical instruments. Four were very quiet instruments and so were played indoors at night time: a small lute, bamboo zither, nose floot, and reed jew’s harp. The other four were very loud, and therefore suitable for war, dancing, and public gatherings: bamboo or seashell bugle, metals gongs, skin-headed drums, and bamboo resonators.
The kudyapi was a kind of small lute carved out of a single piece of wood with a belly of a half a coconut shell added for resonance, with two or three wire strings plucked with a quill plectrum, and three of four frets, often of metal. The body was called sungar-sungar or burbuwaya; the neck, burubunkun; the strings, dulos; the fretboard, pidya; and the tuning pegs, birik-birik. The scroll was called apil-apil or sayong, the same as the hornlike protrusions at the ends of the ridgepole of a house. The kudyapi was only played by men, mainly to accompany their own love songs. The female equivalent was the korlong, a kind of zither made of a single node of bamboo with strings cut from the skin of the bamboo itself, each raised and tuned on two little bridges, and played with both hands like a harp. A variant form had a row of thinner canes with a string cut from each one.
Tolali or lantuy was a nose flute with three or four finger holes, and was played in imitation of a mournful human voice with shakes and trills though appropriate to wakes and funerals. Subing was a Jew’s harp—a twanging reed plucked between the lips or teeth with the open mouth as a variable resonating chamber, and since its sound could be shaped into a kind of code words understood only by the player and his sweetheart, it was considered the courting instrument part excellence. Bodyong was a conch shell or section of bamboo played against the lips like a bugle, used as a signal in war or as part of a babaylan’s paraphernalia during a paganito. Babaylan also kept time with tambourines called kalatong, a term which included war drums (gadang or gimbal), with the huge ones that were carried on mangayaw cruisers being fashioned out of hollow tree trunks with a deerskin head. Tibongbong was a node of bamboo pounded on the floor as a rhythm instrument.
The most important instrument was the agong, a bronze gong Spanish explorers encountered wherever they went ashore. Pigafetta noted an ensemble in Cebu—a pair suspended and struck alternately, another large one, and two small ones played like cymbals—and in Quipit, three different sizes hanging in the queens quarters. The natives of Sarangani buried theirs in a vain attempt to avoid looting by Villalobos; and thirty Samerenos boarded Legazpi’s flagship in Oras Bay and danced to the rhythm of one, after his blood compact with their chief. Mindanao epics provide a few details of their use. Agong were played either on the edge or on the navel (that is, the center boss or knob), slowly to announce bad news, faster (by the ruling Datu himself) to summon the people. Warships approached the enemy with all gongs sounding.
Gongs were given a larger vocabulary than any other instrument. Alcina (1668a, 4:129) considered it an evidence of the elegance of the Visayan language that there were special terms “even for the cord with which they fasten and hang it, which it would be improper to apply to anything else.” Munginungan was the boss or teat. A flat gong, or one from which the boss had been worn off by long use, was panas, including the plate like Chinese ones (mangmang). The largest one in an ensemble was ganding. Hototok was to play them on the edge with a simple stick, or sarawisaw if more than one player alternated strokes. Pagdanaw or pagbasal was to strike them on the boss with a padded drumstick called basal. (A governor or chief was also called basal, presumably because of his prerogative of sounding a gong to assemble his people.) Actual bells from Spain or Asia were linganay, and little jingle bells—like those the epic hero Bantungan had on the handle of his kampilan—were golong-golong.
Chinese gongs were little valued: ones from Sangir were worth three or four times as much, and those from Borneo three or four times that—4 or 5 pesos in 1616. Huge ones said to reach a meter and a half in diameter could fetch one or two slaves. The Bornean gong was a standard of value when bargaining for expensive goods—for example, “Pakaagongonta ining katana [Let’s price this Japanese sword] (Sanchez 1617, 9v). Indeed, assessments like pinipito or pinakapito (both referring to the number seven) were understood by themselves to mean seven gongs.
Gongs were one of four items—along with gold, porcelain, and slaves—required for any Datu-class dowry, or bride-price, and men mortgaged themselves to borrow one for this purpose. The bargaining between the two families was done with little wooden counters placed on top of a gong turned boss-up on the floor, and the gong itself became the property of the mediating go-between upon the conclusion of a successful settlement.
Source: Barangay: 16th Century Philippine Culture and Society by William Henry Scott, pages 108-109.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8ppjecAi11rsqusgo1_500.jpg)
Traditional Musical Instruments from the Philippines
This article focuses on those from the Visaya’s but they are also found in other parts of the Philippines with their own varied local names, (in some cases the same name).There were basically eight kinds of Visayan musical instruments. Four were very quiet instruments and so were played indoors at night time: a small lute, bamboo zither, nose floot, and reed jew’s harp. The other four were very loud, and therefore suitable for war, dancing, and public gatherings: bamboo or seashell bugle, metals gongs, skin-headed drums, and bamboo resonators.
The kudyapi was a kind of small lute carved out of a single piece of wood with a belly of a half a coconut shell added for resonance, with two or three wire strings plucked with a quill plectrum, and three of four frets, often of metal. The body was called sungar-sungar or burbuwaya; the neck, burubunkun; the strings, dulos; the fretboard, pidya; and the tuning pegs, birik-birik. The scroll was called apil-apil or sayong, the same as the hornlike protrusions at the ends of the ridgepole of a house. The kudyapi was only played by men, mainly to accompany their own love songs. The female equivalent was the korlong, a kind of zither made of a single node of bamboo with strings cut from the skin of the bamboo itself, each raised and tuned on two little bridges, and played with both hands like a harp. A variant form had a row of thinner canes with a string cut from each one.
Tolali or lantuy was a nose flute with three or four finger holes, and was played in imitation of a mournful human voice with shakes and trills though appropriate to wakes and funerals. Subing was a Jew’s harp—a twanging reed plucked between the lips or teeth with the open mouth as a variable resonating chamber, and since its sound could be shaped into a kind of code words understood only by the player and his sweetheart, it was considered the courting instrument part excellence. Bodyong was a conch shell or section of bamboo played against the lips like a bugle, used as a signal in war or as part of a babaylan’s paraphernalia during a paganito. Babaylan also kept time with tambourines called kalatong, a term which included war drums (gadang or gimbal), with the huge ones that were carried on mangayaw cruisers being fashioned out of hollow tree trunks with a deerskin head. Tibongbong was a node of bamboo pounded on the floor as a rhythm instrument.
The most important instrument was the agong, a bronze gong Spanish explorers encountered wherever they went ashore. Pigafetta noted an ensemble in Cebu—a pair suspended and struck alternately, another large one, and two small ones played like cymbals—and in Quipit, three different sizes hanging in the queens quarters. The natives of Sarangani buried theirs in a vain attempt to avoid looting by Villalobos; and thirty Samerenos boarded Legazpi’s flagship in Oras Bay and danced to the rhythm of one, after his blood compact with their chief. Mindanao epics provide a few details of their use. Agong were played either on the edge or on the navel (that is, the center boss or knob), slowly to announce bad news, faster (by the ruling Datu himself) to summon the people. Warships approached the enemy with all gongs sounding.
Gongs were given a larger vocabulary than any other instrument. Alcina (1668a, 4:129) considered it an evidence of the elegance of the Visayan language that there were special terms “even for the cord with which they fasten and hang it, which it would be improper to apply to anything else.” Munginungan was the boss or teat. A flat gong, or one from which the boss had been worn off by long use, was panas, including the plate like Chinese ones (mangmang). The largest one in an ensemble was ganding. Hototok was to play them on the edge with a simple stick, or sarawisaw if more than one player alternated strokes. Pagdanaw or pagbasal was to strike them on the boss with a padded drumstick called basal. (A governor or chief was also called basal, presumably because of his prerogative of sounding a gong to assemble his people.) Actual bells from Spain or Asia were linganay, and little jingle bells—like those the epic hero Bantungan had on the handle of his kampilan—were golong-golong.
Chinese gongs were little valued: ones from Sangir were worth three or four times as much, and those from Borneo three or four times that—4 or 5 pesos in 1616. Huge ones said to reach a meter and a half in diameter could fetch one or two slaves. The Bornean gong was a standard of value when bargaining for expensive goods—for example, “Pakaagongonta ining katana [Let’s price this Japanese sword] (Sanchez 1617, 9v). Indeed, assessments like pinipito or pinakapito (both referring to the number seven) were understood by themselves to mean seven gongs.
Gongs were one of four items—along with gold, porcelain, and slaves—required for any Datu-class dowry, or bride-price, and men mortgaged themselves to borrow one for this purpose. The bargaining between the two families was done with little wooden counters placed on top of a gong turned boss-up on the floor, and the gong itself became the property of the mediating go-between upon the conclusion of a successful settlement.
Source: Barangay: 16th Century Philippine Culture and Society by William Henry Scott, pages 108-109.
Photo reblogged from RAPPLER with 227 notes
If you were an Ivy League scholar, MENSA qualifier, Triple Degree scholar and NASA employee, would you leave that all to “rediscover” your roots?
This guy did. Read more about him on Rappler.
Photo reblogged from THE COBRABIRD with 840 notes
Dolphy’s Life Lessons: 10 Wise Moves From the Comedy King
Words by Faye Valencia
Art by War Espejo
It’s been said that he who laughs last, laughs the loudest. Dolphy, who reigned as the country’s King of Comedy for decades, is most probably having a good chuckle right now. He has checked out while we’re all scrambling like mad to deal with his sudden exit. Imagine an impish little boy who has suddenly found the best hiding place ever just feeling amused that nobody can find him. Then again, at 83, the veteran comedian deserved to finally bow out and rest. As a tribute to his larger-than-life existence, we list the lessons we learned from the way he lived.
Photo reblogged from Mister Avid Draws with 555 notes
The colored tiles of QC Circle’s fountain area actually forms a compass! What a pleasant surprise. I was pretending to be Superman by Googlemaps-ing when I noticed this : )
(Top photo lifted from The Daily Panda)
Link reblogged from Pinoy-Culture ~ A Filipino Cultural & History Blog with 36 notes
New Found Historical Artifacts Found in Iloilo, Philippines →
Workers digging a drainage canal in Iloilo City’s business district have found artifacts which historians believe may offer fresh insights into the locality’s rich heritage.
Among the treasures is a small porcelain bowl with a blue-and-white design, which may date back to the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), according to Armand Mijares, director of the Archaeological Studies Program (ASP) of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City.
Some 30 pieces of coins, porcelain ware, bottles, jugs, wooden planks, pieces of iron ore and suspected animal bone fragments were also recovered in several layers at a depth of 1.2 meters.
Many of the artifacts were fragmented because the workers had used a jackhammer in digging a 60-meter-long canal along Arroyo Street.
James Mozart Amsua, curator of Museo Iloilo who also teaches anthropology at the University of San Agustin, described the find as significant because there had been no such major archaeological discovery in Iloilo in the past 30 years.
Neil Loyola, a researcher of the Cultural Properties Division of the National Museum, said the age of the artifacts could be determined through visual inspection.
The discovery has spurred renewed interest in its history and Iloilo’s economic, political and cultural prominence before the Spanish colonizers arrived in 1521 up to the early 19th century. Amsua said the artifacts reflected settlements that existed even before the Spaniards came. The area could have been an entrepot or a workshop for boat or ship repair based on fragments of iron ore found, Mijares said. It is near the Muelle Loney Street and around 150 m from the Iloilo River.
It is also along Iznart and J.M. Basa Streets, which are portions of an 800-m winding stretch known during the Spanish period as Calle Real (Royal Street).
The area is now part of the city proper described as a “swampy jungle” in a study titled “Historical Sites and Structures in Iloilo: A Focus on Industrial, Commercial and Related Institutions” and written by the late Western Visayas historian Henry Funtecha and Melanie Padilla of UP Visayas.
It was considered a fishing village of the then Jaro town, which was the commercial center of Iloilo province until the mid-19th century. Jaro rapidly developed and its population grew, especially along Calle Real after the port of Iloilo was formally opened to foreign trade in 1855.
It hosted large residential houses of Filipinos, Europeans, Chinese and Americans, Funtecha wrote in an article titled “Calle Real Through the Years,” which was published in the Iloilo Yearbook 2007.
Jaro became the seat of the government when the Spaniards moved the capitol from Arevalo town due to frequent attacks by Dutch and Moro pirates in the southern part of Iloilo, according to the study.
Iloilo rose to become a commercial center and most important port in the country next to Manila, mainly due to its strategic location, deep water channel and natural harbor protected from typhoons and strong winds.
In 1899, the Spaniards made Iloilo into a city, which earned the sobriquet “Queen City of the South” at the close of the 19th century.
Site inspection and further excavations are necessary to determine the age of the digging area and the condition when the artifacts were found, Mijares said.
Pieces and photographs of the find were brought to the ASP office, while the rest of the artifacts were kept at Museo Iloilo pending inspection by experts from the National Museum.
Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog has ordered a stop to the digging activities. He directed the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council to supervise the verification of the artifacts through the National Museum.
“There could be more of these cultural treasures buried somewhere in the city,” Amsua surmised.
Photoset reblogged from ASEAN Community with 314 notes
ASEAN Community
Filipino spirit of Bayanihan
Bayanihan is a Filipino term taken from the word bayan, referring to a nation, country, town or community. The whole term bayanihan refers to a spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular objective.
The origin of the term bayanihan can be traced from a common tradition in Philippine towns where community members volunteer to help a family move to a new place by volunteering to transport the house to a specific location. The process involves literally carrying the house to its new location. This is done by putting bamboo poles forming a strong frame to lift the stilts from the ground and carrying the whole house with the men positioned at the ends of each pole.
Photoset reblogged from lightning strikes with 12 notes
Poverty alleviation takes time and effort and it’s a multifaceted endeavor which your government can’t do alone. That aside, the PPP isn’t around to alleviate poverty. It’s a human development program aiming to aid the poorest of the poor.
The question now is, what are you doing to help solve this problem?
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