The Life & Culture of Filipino

Theater & Fine Arts

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There are no trusted sources regarding the existence of theater in the Philippines during the prehistoric time, but we can presume that during those time principles of theater already existed and it was sprouted in a form of drama like Greek that were presented in popular celebration wherein the singers and dancers in the altar were surrounded by gods. The art of drama were founded by Aeschylus 5 century before the time of Christ.

In the Philippines, the ceremonies after and associated with the celebrations of wedding has societal an public characteristics. According to the writers, the said ceremonies are solemn and luxurious. In the wedding that lasted for days, there is an immediate expression of speech, dancing, and singing accompanied by the ancient musical instruments.

Oftentimes, these kind of celebration and feast were conducted in public places such as park or plaza. Depicted on these events are the Suluan dance coming from the region of Visayas. The dance that were adapted from Sulu is called Sinulog and is also called Sulog which means stream (agos in their language) because a strong stream of water is always experienced in the said island.

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During the time of the Spaniards, whenever there is a local celebration in towns, they build a theater and the presentation is open to the public. Comedy is the usual theme that were presented in this theater. Depicted on those presentation usually are the original creation of the ancient writers. There are also translation created by the Spaniards which were corrido. Eventually, Spanish Vaudeville were introduced in Manila and its neighboring provinces. Vaudeville is the generic name given to those light and dramatic presentation.

One of the modern Filipino playwrighter is G. Severino de los Reyes. He became famous because his literative presentation that were patronized by many. There are lots of Filipinos until now who studied literature and cultivated the arts of writing drama in both English and Spanish.

Fine Arts
Painting, sculpture, architecture, and music that seems to be a part of a broad talks of arts is called fine arts. We also found out that the mentality of Filipinos has huge potential in arts. People who expressed their thoughts and feelings and give more values to its beauty than practical and personal benefits, are born to be fond of arts. When we say arts, I am referring to the expression of beauty which were not base on the norms and taste of West but according to the concept of the East.

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We could not strongly prove with certainty that the Filipino arts were fully develop. This is due oftentimes to the changes of endeavors of the Filipino people, the development and improvement of creative ideas were threatened, which is most of the time, natural in us Filipinos. Some of these were inherited from the early civilizations of India and most of them were form in the special environment of the islands in the country.

At present, the Filipino arts were patterned after the looks of the West, but the traces of our culture that is hard to set aside and needed to be cultivated, take care of, and refine are not totally gone.

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Source:
Buhay at Kulturang Pinoy
By: Norberto Romualdez