Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture / Bit from Luzon

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Art and Culture always go together. An artist — whatever he may be: painter, sculptor, writer, musician, singer, film maker is at all times — through his art — the preserver of culture or of the society that he is a part of. Whatever he creates will reflect such culture on the subjects that he chooses. Nemesio Miranda Jr. is one of the Filipino artists who greatly help up to now in preserving the traditions and practices, and cultural legends of his town, Angono in Rizal. Considered an art village, the place breathes art where many known visual artists or musicians lived and continues to produce artists. Angono in fact boasts of two National Artists: Carlos “Botong” Francisco and Lucio San Pedro; both celebrate their Centennial Year this 2013.

Now, let me take you to another part of the country in Bagac, Bataan where Las Casas de Acuzar is located. I have earlier posted some architectural treasures there. Below is a photo that depicts a traditional game called “Luksong-Baka”, literally meaning: “Jumping Over the Cow.”

“Luksong-Baka” [Jumping Over the Cow], a game I used to play immortalized in stone; AJ bullies the player

At about 6 pm., cultural performances were presented through singing of Philippine folk songs and through traditional dances by the enthusiastic youth living in the area.

We went on Black Saturday so rightfully in time for Easter they presented an Easter presentation for us

End part of Singkil, a popular Muslim dance in the Philippines

Note: Both Angono in Rizal, and Bagac in Bataan are located in Luzon, Philippines.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Color / Paseo de la Escolta

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I’m very happy to be back to join the WP Challenges again! Making the AVP for a relative running for mayoral re-election in one of the Philippine provinces took my time away. It was fun anyway, and as always making a documentary always teaches me something new. I’ll post some of the photos taken there in my future posts.

Meanwhile, here’s some photos of “Paseo de la Escolta” taken before sundown in a place called Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar located in Bagac, Bataan. The effect of the setting sun gave the golden color that looked striking at that time, with blue serving as accent to the earth colors dominating the scene. Las Casas… is a heritage park consisting of old, colonial houses and pre-war buildings, or as their website describes: “architectural treasures that have been carefully and painstakingly reconstructed from different parts of the country and rebuilt, “brick by brick” and  “plank by plank” …  against a backdrop of majestic mountains, expansive rice fields and   a running river that flows to the sea. We visited the hotel resort last week with my relatives.

Casa Mexico

The first University of the Philippines building, then located in Padre Faura in Manila can also be found in the resort park. It reminded me of the photo from the collection of Dr. Selma Calmes whose mother graduated in UP Manila in the 30’s. Dr. Calmes is featured in my first documentary “Tiga-Isla,” a film about the socio-cultural life of the civilians who lived there before the War.

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