Part 2 Teatro Junquera later Oriente in Cebu

Part 2

� Teatro Junquera (later Oriente) in Cebu City showed Cebuano sarswela and Spanish zarzuelas, Italian opera, and American-style bodabil in the early 1900 s. Plays by Buenaventura Rodriguez and Florentino Borromeo were staged with a complement of as large as a 32 -member orchestra. Then, one must also consider that, beginning with the Spanish period, the social calendar was filled with religious festivities that created occasions for musical performances. In later years, Cebuano movies and radio programs also stimulated the creativity of composers and performers.

� The 20 th century saw the advent of the music recording industry in the Philippines. In the 1920 s and 1930 s, Cebuano songs and singers were recorded on phonograph discs. In 1929 for instance, the premier Cebuano singer of the time, Conception Cananea, had already cut 27 songs for Disko Odeon while her husband, composer Manuel Velez, had 12 songs recorded. (Velez also owned at this time the Santa Cecilia music Store in Cebu City, which sold musical intruments, sheets, and phonographs). In 1931 there was an Odeon Palace in Cebu City selling phonograph records of compositions by Velez, Brigido, Lakandazon, Piux Kabahar, Hermenegildo Solon, Rafael Gandiongco, Ben Zubiri, Domingo Lopez, and Tomas Villaflor.

� Songs composed during this period included "Sa Kabukiran" by M. Velez, with lyrics by Jose Galicano, "Rosas Pandan" and "Kamingaw sa Payag" by Domingo Lopez, "Salilang" and "Dalagang Pilipinhon" by Celestino Rodriguez, "Wasaywasay" by Piux Kabahar, "Aruy-aruy" by Tomas Villaflor, "Garbosong Bukid" by Hermenegildo Solon, and "Mutya sa Buhat" by Rafael Gandiongco. The prolific character of the prewar and immediate postwar period can be inferred from the large number of Cebuano composers: Vicente Rubi, Emiliano Gabuya, S. Alvarez Villarino, Diosdado Alferez, Manual Villareal, Dondoy Villalon, Vicente Kiyamko, Estanislao Tenchavez, Ramon Abellana, and the Cabase brothers (Siux, Sencio, Narding, and Mane). In addition, Cebu produced excellent performers and singers: the couple Manuel and Concepcion Cananea-Velez and their daughter, Lilian Velez, Eulalia Hernandez, Teodora Siloria, Presing Dakoykoy, Pablo Virtuoso, and Pilita Corrales.

� In time, the growing dominance of Western music and the promotion of Tagalog music eclipsed Cebuano music composition. Musical activity, however, has remained active in Cebu through the work of such composers, teachers, and performers as Pilar B. Sala, Rodolfo E. Villanueva, Ingrid Sala. Santamaria, and the Cebu Symphony Orchestra. Promotional activities by such groups as the Cebu Arts Council, Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission, Cebu Arts Foundation, Cebu Popular Music Festival which has done notable work in encouraging Cebuano composition of popular songs, and local music schools and radio stations have encouraged composition and performance in Cebu. There are indications that Cebuano music composition may again be entering a new energetic phase in its history.

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