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Friday, March 29, 2024

Banaue Rice Terraces

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For 11 days an international group of music composers from several countries lived in the fabled land of the Banaue rice terraces to eventually share with the world their symphonic works – their tribute to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a call for help to save those stairways to the sky.

Composer-fellows with locals in Banaue during the group's immersion in the province. 

Coming down from the mountains to prepare for the finals of their competition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on July 25, at which the 10 winning works performed, they were one in expressing amazement at a sight that they had only imagined from studying video and other images. 

Equally captivating was their experience living with the farmers and their families, musicians and dancers, whom Caterina Di Cecca of Italy described thus: “You are so kind, full of smiles, so gentle and open. I embrace you.”

Her music, she said, seeks “to re-create feelings of a traveler watching the terraces, not to describe the landscape but to build a memory of looking at them.”

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Alessandra Salvati of Italy observed how the Ifugao “play (their music) with their entire bodies.” She added, “I have never seen anything like this competition in my entire life. The people are very kind, every minute of our daily schedule,” referring not only to the Banaue community but also the staff of Dr. Mila O. How, spearhead and producer of the Banaue International Music Composition Competition (BIMCC).

Eteri Kourbanov of Israel narrated how two other participants from Israel were so gratified by Dr. How’s ability to produce “a ton of kosher food,” have it loaded into a refrigerator and transported the cargo of 10 days’ worth of meals to the mountains. The food had been sourced from a rabbi in Manila. 

Harmony with nature

The music coming from an orchestra of 72 members during rehearsals must have sounded like an unfolding miracle to the Ifugao, for whom the experience was a first. The children mimicked conductor Prof. Chino Toledo’s movements. Ritual dances welcomed the visitors. Avner Finberg of Israel observed how “even the old men looked healthy.”

 Slovenia's Leon First with Universal Harvester's Dr. Milagros O. How.

To Miran Tsalikian of Greece, the inspiration provided by the terraces means composing a symphony-like work “with its root in Ifugao culture, in touch with tradition.” The music is “very tense, like holding your breath until you expel it, then you are liberated.”

Charlie McCarron of Minnesota, USA, traveled 90 minutes on rough mountain roads from their hotel  to the terraces on the roof of a jeepney with a bunch of his male colleagues. His music is based on an Ifugao folk tale about Balituk, the son of a god and a female earthling. After the immersion program, Charlie added percussion and gong to his competition piece.

Blending native with Western music may seem like a tall order, but to these composers the task is nothing more or less than using the language of notes to reach their listeners. As Christian Joshua Ansale, 21, of the Philippines puts it, “How to describe my piece? I’m at the mercy of the performers and the audience, but happy and humbled that my music was able to leap off notation and I’m hearing it (played) on stage.”

Winning tribute 

Out of the ten composer-fellows Leon First of Slovenia was the grand winner for his “The Story of Ifugao” entry and Alessandra Salvati of Italy for “Hudhud” received a runner-up consolation prize.

Dr. Ricardo Lorenz proclaimed the winners of the contest among with the panel of judges Dr. Chinary Ung, National Artist Dr. Ramon Santos and Dr. Isao Matsushita.

The finalists composition-entries covered a total of 150 minutes (Two hours and 30 minutes) of a harmonizing symphony music performed by the 72-piece TOFARM Festival Orchestra that was conducted by BIMCC Artistic Director Maestro Josefino Chino Toledo. 

With the project’s initiative to aid the Banaue Rice Terraces that is at risk for deterioration, the team of Universal Harvester, Inc. (UHI) has already cleared 16 hectares, completely restored and planted on 4 hectares in just one year. Dence Benedito

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