*This article is written for Ripples: Celebrating 24 Years of the UPCE

1953. Dr. Jose Maceda embarked on his first fieldwork alone to several ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines. This experience opened his eyes to the need to explore the musics of the Philippines. Evolving into a full-scale research project, it funded by the National Research Council of the Philippines from 1970 to 1974, opening positions for research assistants, students, and fellow academics to document the different musical practices from the indigenous groups of the Philippines. It was continued under funding from the University of the Philippines and later many other grant-giving foundations, both local and international. This monumental task is known as An Ethnomusicological Survey of the Philippines.

A core objective of the project was to collect tapes of music, music instruments, photos, data, from the different ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines. The need to organize this collection into an archive was clear. In addition to these, it was important to situate music in its cultural context and to finally relate Philippine music cultures to its neighboring cultures in Southeast Asia.

This interest that sparked from Dr. Maceda’s initial research, was the impetus behind three important phenomena: 1) the creation of the Department of Asian Music in 1966, later on named as the Department of Music Research; 2) the identification of the entire output of the research as the UP Ethnomusicology Archives in 1991, the core of the UP Center of Ethnomusicology Archives; and 3) the publishing of the landmark work, Gongs & Bamboo: A Panorama of Philippine Music Instruments in 1999, a combined effort from the research teams of the first surveys, with contributions from different researchers, both foreign and local, who generously shared their materials for the book. Gongs and Bamboo was a culmination of the decades of hard work, covering 63 ethnolinguistic groups, generously providing insight into their cultures, music practices, instruments, and songs. This is a valuable resource for all musicians and researchers in the field.

Today, this spirit of research powered by a desire to elevate our indigenous brothers, is continued within the physical and virtual walls of the UP Center for Ethnomusicology. The ongoing ReCollection Project revisits and repatriates the recordings gathered from indigenous groups. This strengthens UPCE’s commitment and resolve to continually serve the Philippines through research, music, and community.

References:

Dioquino, Corazon C. 1982. “Musicology in the Philippines.” Acta Musicologica (International Musicological Society) 54: pp. 124-147.

Maceda, Jose. 1999. Gongs & Bamboo: A Panorama of Philippine Music Instruments. Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press.