Via Prosy Delacruz
I was leisurely reading the New Yorker Magazine, as I was feeling under the weather, from 96F weather. I was looking forward to be at my handsome godson’s birthday, but I could not.
Feeling down, I was lifted up upon reading ‘The Pyramid of Sound’ by Alex Ross in New Yorker, April 18, 2022 about the L.A. Master Chorale and its conductor Grant Gershon, a masterful genius and an inclusive conductor.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Nilo Alcala mentioned, but not really as I witnessed his talents unfolding from a church choir, to stages of ABS-CBN as back up singers to celebrities, to his Disney Hall composed music sung by LA Master Chorale.
Nilo engaged in extensive research and conducted interviews with Master (Guru) Danongan “Danny” Kalanduyan – a legendary kulintang artist and National Endowment for the Arts awardee. After four interviews and intense studying of reading materials and CD’s with kulintang repertoires provided by the Guru, Nilo conceived Manga Pakalagian.
“The piece drew from the kulintang aesthetic of having multi-layers of rhythmic motifs that serve various functions — as main melodic rhythm, middle ground rhythm [and] background rhythm. As traditional kulintang ‘rules’ of playing give leeway to improvisation, so do segments of this choral work to the kulintang player,” Nilo explained.
If you want to read more, get my book, Even The Rainbow Has A Body from Philippine Expressions Bookshop or East West Bookshop in Berkeley.
And, wanting to read more, I remembered I wrote about Nilo Alcala eight pages about him in 2016 in my book, ‘Even The Rainbow Has A Body’, edited by Nickee de Leon-Huld Nikasha Huld, and a foreword by Christina Oriel.
I am buoyed that my fellow Filipinos are visibly seen now in mainstream venues. I am excerpting a few pages here. Vibrant photo taken by Hydee Pichai, formerly Hydee Ursolino.