New(ish) Music at UP Diliman

First, my apologies for not managing to let anybody know about the performance of Ugnayan, Dr. Maceda's revolutionary 20-channel piece, played yesterday Feb 1 at the UP Carillion Plaza to a motley collection of radios via a 4-watt FM transmitter set up for the occasion. Only discovered that it was scheduled the day before. It was performed along with Dr. Ramon Santos' Likas-An, a piece that, aside from the usual motif of dropped-bamboo sounds (first used by Maceda and still the sonic signature of much Philippine art music) also included idiophones of found scrapmetal, a screaming, crank-driven iron wheel (shades of Russolo's Intonarumori!) and full-bore radio feedback. Unfortunately, the performance of Ugnayan got screwed by a software glitch and so was inaudible for better than 75% of the duration of the piece. Sigh. Hopefully they do it again some time. And with BETTER PUBLICITY, please! Jesus, it's as if the internet and texting didn't exist! The event wasn't mentioned even on the College of Music's own News and Events webpage. As if the organizers themselves didn't think this stuff would interest anybody.

Anyway. I hereby copy out from the pamphlet passed out yesterday:

2Feb2010 Tuesday
6PM in the garden by the College of Music in UP Diliman will be performed:

Basbasan -- Jonas Baes
N(y)üma -- Verne dela Peña
Uyayi --Trad. Performed by Chin Chin Guttierrez

Yup, Chin Chin "I See Elf People" Guttierrez. Don't ask me. Her presence, and the fact that the performance is preceeded by a Forum (3-5 PM in Abelardo Hall) titled Environment/Nature (in opposition to tomorrow's Forum, titled Technology) leads one to expect a lean towards the new-agey, animistic side of things.

3Feb2010 Wednesday
The 3-5 forum is titled Technology. Might try to make this one. The performances will be at the foot of the Carillion at 6PM. The pieces will be:

Elira --Katherine Tranco
Invention No. 8 --Chris Brown
Prefab # 2 --Nick Quejada
Performance by the UP Kekeli African Drum and Dance Ensemble

Don't know anything about the pieces mentioned, except that the piece by Chris Brown (a pioneering American electronic music composer that some of us performed with last year at Green Papaya and Mogwai ) will be using gangsa and electronics. Chris and his wife Johanna Poethig lived in the Phil in the 70s. He openly acknowledges the influence of Dr. Maceda on his work and was instrumental in getting three albums of Maceda's work released on John Zorn's label Tzadik. (see here)


Daan kayo!