BIRTH OF JAZZ IN THE PHILIPPINES

"There are things that music can do that language could never do,
that painting can never do, or sculpture. Music is capable of
going directly to the source of the mystery. It doesn't have
to explain it. It can simply celebrate it." - Marsha Norman

On August of 1898, as a measure to suppress the brewing discontent of the Filipinos, the U.S. Secretary of War, Elibu Root, ordered the transfer of American military troops to the Philippine archipelago. Part of this contingent who arrived in Manila were four Negroes — David Fagan, Lester Strongman, Paul Broduck and Waller Colts. Subsequently, having had enough of the racial insults constantly thrown at them by their fellow soldiers who were white, they deserted their ranks and sought refuge at Aguinaldo’s camp. These colored soldiers were then made members of the Filipino revolutionary forces as conscripts.

And during times of leisure, they introduced their Filipino counterparts to their own kind of music — blues and gospel — though still taking shape in the States at that time. These early American contemporary music became the backbone to what would eventually transpire as jazz.

This historical piece was part of Artemio Agnes’ story as featured in the book, Pinoy Jazz Traditions by Richie Quirino. I came across it when searching for listings of foreign musicians who performed in the Philippines after WWII; trying to figure out what concert performances my parents might have gone to during that time. My mother is not one to remember every name of foreign musician she saw with my father at Manila Hotel, Manila Opera House, or other clubs in the city from that period up to the sixties so I have to do some digging on my own.

Also mentioned in this book was the development of a particular style of jazz that was becoming popular in America in the early ‘40s, which found its way to Manila during the liberation. It was called bebop.

Supposedly, "bebop is a word which mirrored, onomatopoetically, the vocalization of the then best-loved interval of the music: the flatted fifth. The term ‘bebop’ came into being spontaneously when someone attempted to sing these melodic leaps.” In the next ten years, the flatted fifth had become a blue note, as common as the open thirds and sevenths familiar to the blues.

But Richie Quirino claimed “the characteristic sound of bebop seemed to be racing and full of nervous phrasing, frenzied and angry. Everything that was obvious was excluded. Most if not all the bebop jazz musicians of that era were addicted to alcohol and drugs. This was a way of deadening their senses and shutting out the realities of a world involved in struggles over power and dominance. As musicians are lovers of peace, bebop was an expression of their frustration and inner turmoil.” And there were many Filipino musicians eagerly learning and adopting this new kind of music into their respective jazz repertoire.

The liberation, among other things, brought with it a euphoric sense of festive mood, which made jazz synonymous with a celebration of victory. With thousands of entertainment-hungry GI’s roaming Manila, the local big bands found themselves heavily in demand.

But even before the liberation period, Filipino bands were playing jazz not only locally, but in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, as well as in oceangoing vessels plying the Pacific route. Notably, the '20s were known as the Jazz Age, the '30s and '40s were the Swing era. And just as band leaders Count Basie, Xavier Cougat, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman were stars in America, Pinoy jazz had its own stars like Pete Aristorenas, Tirso Cruz, the Mesio Regalado Orchestra, the Shanghai Swing Masters and the Mabuhay Band.

My mother’s sister’s husband, Simeon de Luna, played clarinet for Tirso Cruz. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a big enough name to make it on Richie Quirino’s book, Pinoy Jazz Tradition, which also contains 100 rare photographs, poems and artworks; a must read for jazz lovers. It is available at all popular bookstores.

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