The ReCollection Project: Connecting the Past with the Present
When the digitization of the reel tapes from the Jose Maceda Collection of the UP Center for Ethnomusicology (UPCE) were finished in 2012, the next logical step taken by then UPCE Executive Director Dr. Ramon P. Santos was to provide digital copies to the communities where these recordings came from. The opportunity came during a Field Exchange Project (FieldEx) between the UPCE and Laon-Laon Dialogue Partner National Taiwan Normal University. While Dr. Santos led the Philippines delegation, Dr. George Chien led his team of researchers from NTNU. Digital copies of music materials from as early as 1953 were repatriated in DVD format to the Sagada and Mountain Province Local Government Unit (LGU) in March 2013.
This act of repatriating the copies struck FieldEx Head Researcher Dr. LaVerne de la Peña that 5 years after, as the new UPCE Director, he conceived the ReCollection Project as a flagship program of the UPCE. Comprised of three components, ReVisit, Repatriation, and ReCollection, the project seeks to go back to the research areas of UPCE Founder and National Artist Dr. Jose Maceda. Each field ReVisit will look into the existing music practices and musical expressions of the community. While there, a ceremonial turn-over of the digital works will be made. Copies of these recordings will be Repatriated to the public library, schools, LGU, and next-of-kin of those who participated in the recordings. Finally, the ReCollection component attempts to find out if the music recorded are still being practiced or if these audio recordings are familiar to the elders and older members of the community.
This program was tested in 2017 during the Bendian Festival in Kabayan, Benguet. Recordings made in 1987 by Dr. Ramon P. Santos were Repatriated during the program and while his book The Vocal Repertoire from Kabayan was launched. As excerpts of the recordings were played over the loudspeaker, the elderly members of the community recognized the voices chanting and singing. Some shed tears as memories overcame them.
Just before strict quarantine was imposed in 2020, Dr. de la Peña, Project Leader, was able to visit Sagada and met with the new administration headed by Mayor James B. Pooten, Jr. Fresh copies of the recordings were given again but this time in USB thumb drives. While there, he also met Alma Louise Bagano, a retiree who actively engages with the youth and St. Mary’s School. Ms. Bagano readily took on the task of transcribing and translating the text from the recordings.
As a local who knew the language, Ms. Bagano’s transcriptions provided valuable contextual information on the recordings. The text then allowed us to to work in transcribing the music. Despite travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the enthusiastic involvement of Ms. Bagano provided a close research collaboration between the UPCE and the community.
The UPCE had already been planning on implementing the ReCollection Project in other parts of the Philippines prior to the quarantine. Sites have been identified and materials are being prepared so that once travel may be freely done, the ReCollection Project may once again take flight.
