Message from the Philippines

Editor's note: In the following Chorus reflection Maria Victoria Pineda charts the historical and cultural context in which she has entered the Gogol Project (See Article 3 by Bjurstrom). For Pineda her inspiration and determination both lie in the place story and culture has in Filipino culture. Her deep memory brings an added awareness of the cultural imperative to use story and play to reclaim agency in a world in which some stories count more than others. In the following the Gogol project is situated as a cultural extension of the Filipino love of drama and also as a contemporary response to historical wrongs in which a hierarchy of cultures were imposed on the Filipino cultural landscape.1.As early as the sixteenth century, the Filipinos had taken drama as a form of entertainment in their lives. Drama was encapsulated by the zarzuela, locally known as sarswela, typically with fighting and conflict, introduced to the Filipinos during Spanish rule (sixteenth to nineteenth century). Eventually, drama became part of the everyday consciousness of Filipinos who listened to and watched different heroic and love stories.During the American period (late nineteenth to early twentieth century), use of the radio and later the television was introduced. Radio dramas became popular during the 1950s. The very first radio drama was 'Culong ng Palad" the 'Wheel of the Palm' or 'Wheel of Fate' in 1949 (DZRH interactive, 2009). Once the busy time in the morning was over, radio drama would fill the air and become the daily dose during coffee breaks. Other similar shows were introduced in the afternoon during lull hours. Life was slow during this time, stories were told using different voiceovers and sound effects that created strong imaginative innerscapes among the listeners. The radio drama became a motion picture in the minds as it was heard by many Filipinos.At present, radio dramas are still heard by many rural folks. Most of them had advanced to television as soap operas. But the formula is the same with the story having different episodes and unfolding over months. Soap operas are called teleserye, tele for television, serye is the Tagalog for series. The term has other synonyms like telenovela or teledrama. These teledramas are shown at prime time, five days a week.The subjective delivery and meanings of the story is evident, but that did not matter. For most Pinoys, aka Filipinos, the teleserye drama brings a gratifying moment that offers them an escape from the tiring pressure of work. The Filipino attitude also exhibits great interest in social realities. The drama happens to be the small box of secrets that holds all the emotions of the viewer - passion, sympathy, misery, determination, empathy, ambition, anger, and love. The feelings become the connection to the drama and the shared experience of the Filipino audience.Hence drama as a medium to impart stories is a strong cultural artefact in the life of the Filipinos. It reminds people how lives are very much interlinked even though they are diverse. The Filipino love of life dramas hopefully inspires the extraordinary Gogol Interplayground project.2.Around fifty countries participated in what may be considered as the first human exhibit in the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. One of the participating countries was the Philippines occupying around twenty hectares of the exhibit area to accommodate approximately one thousand two hundred Filipinos and their dwelling places. These were men, women and their children representing some of the dominant and indigenous Filipino groups such as the Igorots, Visayan, Bagobo, Maranao, and the Moro (Fermin, 2004: 128-140).Many Americans had compared our local indigenous Igorots to their American Indians as "savages, headhunters and dog-eaters" (ibid: 27-28). Little did they know that these Igorots were highly knowledgeable of plants and animals (ibid: 152), that they were the most resilient among our aborigines with highly developed agricultural and foraging skills (Seitz, 2004). …