Rondalla’s finale concert shines up the new City Hall more exquisite

Feb 17-23,2011

The new City Hall of Tagum City shone the more exquisite, sophisticated and modern as the audience, a mix of the city’s creme dela creme of both the rich and trendy and yano hoi polois, were ecstatically carried away by unified rondalla music of strings plucked by over 300 performers from 15 countries in finale concert to close the great 3rd International Rondalla-Cuerdas sa Pagkakaysa Festival.

The rondalla epic that the city hosted and well accomodated drew to close at the new City Halls’s Atrium activity hall past 7 in the evening Friday, Feb. 20 with the excellent playing of three musical pieces, “Isahan sa Pagkakaysa”, “Vision of Unity” and “Katubo” by the festival’s performers of various colors and races under the baton of the country’s known maestro conductors Josefino Chito Toledo and Dr. Ramon P. Santos.

When their three-piece performance ended, the audience led by Tagum City Mayor Rey Uy and his better half Alma Uy, who is the chair of the city’s tourism council which led the festival preparation, gave a strong applause and standing ovation as paper confettis rained from above the Atrium in great acclaim to the first-of-its kind, historic and grand rondalla performance that capped the musical season of the proud City of Palms.

As confettis continued to rain while performers smiled and reciprocated vows to the audience, Alex Cortes, stage director of the finale concert, had but only let out words, “It’s amazing!” he enthused in an interview with the Valley & City Chronicle.
He is also the vice president of the Dulaang UP and a national officer of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA).

“We sent the three pieces to them in advance and had only rehearsed here for three times. It’s really amazing that they performed as one,” he said.

He said that the ensemble were composed of perfoming groups from 15 countries and 25 delegations from different regions. Also seen onstage in just unified rondalla ensemble were six performers from indigenous people plucking their native musical instruments kudyapi and kudlong whose sound well blended with the other traditional rondalla musical instruments- bandurria, octavina, mandola, guitarra and bajo de unas.

It is what the Mayor Uy stressed time and again and during the festival’s opening that musical notes are universal and the same no matter wherever you are in what part of the world, “music bridges understanding of different peoples, and it’s really our honor and pride to host the international rondalla festival.”

The first piece which had a Beatles medley and the second piece, “Isahan sa Pagkakaysa” played by the ensemble were under the baton of conductor Josefino Chito Toledo.

“Isahan sa Pagkakaysa” was actually a piece commissioned for the 1st International Rondalla in Naga City in 2004 and was played in the closing concerts of the 1st and 2nd festivals.

The last piece “Katubo”, a medley of Visayan folk songs, was played under the baton of Dr. Ramon P. Santos.

City Tourism Council chair and the co-festival director Ms. Alma Uy said that the Cuerdas Festival has indeed demonstrated its strings of unity to promote peace, friendship and solidarity of people.

“We’re engaged in peace-building through music, and the Cuerdas sa Pagkakaysa, the strings of unity is for peace in Mindanao,” she said.

Both the city mayor and his better half Alma were thankful for the confidence and recognition of the NCCA along with the Musicological Society of the Philippines (MSP) and the University of the Philippines College of Music, the rondalla fest movers, as Tagum City has been chosen as the venue of the International Dance Festival April next year. This came after Cuerdas national officials felt the full support and thrust of the city government to musical and cultural endeavors as shown in the just concluded great rondalla festival within the city’s yearly Musikahan sa Tagum, which ended Sunday.

Dr. Santos expressed his gratitude to the city government and the City Tourism Council for the overflowing hospitality and good accommodation the participants received during the entire duration of the historic festival.

“More best things are yet to come for the city,” Mayor Uy said in separate interview. (cha monforte)

Filed under: alma uy, alma uy

NEWS: Gay festival in Tagum, CO has full backing

NEWS

By Cha Monforte

When the city’s air smells durian, Tagum by then is holding what is billed as another’s rare tourism come-on- the Binuhat Festival which recognizes to high heavens the brain, brawn and beauty of the third sex- gays.

In a press conference held Wednesday at the Rotary Park Trade Center, Tagum City Rey Chiong Uy has expressed his active support to first-ever festival of the gays from July 23 to 27, a time inclusive of the larger Durian Festival which runs on July 18 to August 17.

The city mayor said that the gay festival is a “showcase for the gays who are the people behind in our successful endeavors”.

As he has his full backing to the gay festival, Uy urged the gays to unite noting of the division of the gays in the city.

But the mayor evaded answering the question on whether he is in favor for the same-sex marriage, that has become a so controversial item in the United States by just saying that anybody has the right to be happy and that happiness is not necessarily attained only through marriage. “Not all marriage is made in heaven”

On the same press conference, the city’s first lady Alma Uy, chair of the city tourism council, bared that the earlier scheduling of the Durian Festival as compared to last year has a reason and “it is to support the gays”.

She drummed up though that the Durian Festival this time would showcase a “right variety, right taste, right quality plus entertainment” for the exquisite durian fruit that “smells like hell but tastes like heaven”.

She said that the city government is targeting this time for the uniform pricing of the durian during the festival whether the vending comes from small, medium and big durian farmers.

She stressed that in the first place the durian festival is aimed to support the marketing of the produce of the durian farmers.

Ms. Uy said that the city and nearby municipalities and provinces would be having the expected harvest season of durian in time of the festival and when the local harvest would hit an end the harvest season would by then start in Calinan, Davao City.

The durians that come in to the city have become the early supply of the durian traders in Davao City, she noted.

She though observed that the durian traders are the still the ones benefiting in the industry as they buy the farmers’ produce at low prices.

“Now our own durian festival is really for our durian farmers,” said Ms. Uy

LINED UP ACTIVITIES

The five-day Binuhat Festival will have mardi gras during the opening salvo, standup comedy, safe sex forum, hair and make-up and fashion designing forum to be attended by the renowned celebrity hairstylist Rene Salud, fashion designing competition, hair and make-up and haircut competition, broadway gay production (impersonation), libreng gupit sa barangay, Tagum bading basketball, beach volleyball and awarding program.

On the other hand, the month-long Durian Festival will have motorcade, costumer service training, rotary park allied services training, sponsors big night, Emerald durian farm tours, lecture and demo, various culinary competitions, organic farming forum, arts and crafts competition, vermiculture clinic, photo exhibit, farmers technology evaluation and the best durian competition.

Major co-sponsors of the Durian Festival include Pepsi, Phoenix and San Miguel Corp. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News) http://ruralurbanews.blogspot.com

Filed under: alma uy, alma uy, binuhat festival, durian festival, tagum city