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CRESCENDO: Healing in Harmony
Crescendo, Healing in Harmony is a project of the University of the Philippines Baguio through the initiative of UP Chancellor Dr. Raymundo Rovillos PhD, together with the City of Baguio, the Council for Baguio Creative City, Baguio Arts and Crafts Collective and our event partners- AMC- Alpha Multi Core Advertising Agency, The Manor at Camp John Hay, Baguio Country Club, Solibao Restaurant, Ballet Baguio, Baguio Photographers Club, The Workshop for Infinite Media Inc., Fridge Multimedia, Open Heaven Recording Studio, Travelite Hotel, Porta Vaga Mall and the Department of Tourism-CAR. Crescendo was performed and streamed live online from the UP Baguio Teatro Amianan, featuring Kay Balajadia-Liggayu, Glenn Gaerlan, Ingrid Payaket, Stefanie Quintin-Avila, Reis Luke Damaguen Aquino, Francis Siapno Lopez aka Miz Kiki Krunch, Ballet Baguio’s Pheoboa Buen, Isko Macgui-ing and the fabulous Prof. Divina Bautista. Event management The Workshop For Infinite Media, Inc. (TWIMEDIA) Directed by Ferdinand John Balanag. Production Staff and Crew: Marketing and Promotions Chief: Millie Kesner-Romawac Sound Engineer- Shadiel McCann Chan Live Streaming by Gabriel Bautista and Jovic Pineda Balatero Motion Graphics, Video Editor and Documentation- Glenn “Spyke” Pat-ogan Photo Documentation- Kristian Leprozo Vintage Baguio photos courtesy of Armand Voltaire Cating Stage Manager- Callum Al Gelane HMUA- Archie Vergara Wardrobe Consultant- Eros Goze Scriptwriter- Noly Balatero Production Assistant- Alan Manalastas Program Host: Andrew Pinero Many thanks to the following: Fara Manuel Nolasco and UP Baguio CCA Hendrix Sanchez Jacqueline Go-Ramon (Ballet Baguio) Ompong Tan (Baguio Photographers Club) #AngatTayoBaguio |
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AN ENCHANTING BAGUIO CHRISTMAS
A 40-DAY calendar of events, programs and activities in various venues throughout the city, topped off by the Baguio Christmas Fair, a European-influenced replication of the Christmas Market in vogue in recent years, at the Rose Garden in Burnham Park opened on November 24, 2019 to presage the full Yuletide Season with a special performance of the world-famous Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bayanihan National Dance Company. An Event by the City of Baguio in cooperation with TWIMEDIA, Inc. Project Director/ Creative Director: Ferdinand John Balanag Event Panning and Management: TWIMEDIA Marketing Chief: Millie Kesner Romawac Video and Stills Documentation: Red Aquino Secretariat Chief: Angelie Pamela Carino |
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SAGADA OUTREACH ACTIVITY
" If you have enough and God still wants to bless you so that you could be a blessing to others, I guess that became my driving force and the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing right now is not because I have so much but because it's the Lord's way... " - Piolo Pascual January 12, 2018 Sagada, Mountain Province Production and Creative Consultant: Ferdie Balanag Field Producer: Jasz Bulaon Cameramen: Glenn "Spyke" Pat-ogan Jonathan Barrozo Ezer Owindo Video Editor: REd Aquino Local Coordinator: Gwen Gaongen |
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BERNIE @ 80, THANK YOU FOR THE LEGACY
BERNIE @ 80: Thank you for the Legacy. A tribute to former Congressman Bernie Vergara by his family and friends on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Documentary Staff and Crew Production Manager: Laydeh Alberto Scriptwriter: Mari-an Santos Supervising Editor: Jasamadhi Verador Video Editor: Glenn "Spyke" Pat-ogan Cameraman 1: Glenn "Spyke" Pat-ogan Cameraman 2 : Ezer Owindo Production Assistant: Jupiter Balisong Jr. Director: Ferdinand John Balanag Documentation and Events Team Photographer: Kristian Leprozo Videographers: Jonathan Barrozo and Jun Barrozo Technical Assistant: Glen Laciste Stagehand: Dumay Solinggay |
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PHILIPPINE INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
IPITIK FESTIVAL: A bubbling brew of diverse ingredients More than would be ritually required of a celebratory ritual, the Ipitik Festival brings together master brewers of tapuy from all over the region, each bearing a jar of his or her best brew. A bubbling brew of diverse ingredients. Other novel ideas born of ancient traditions that are part of Ipitik are the on-the-spot woodcarving competition, a pinikpikan cookout to feed hundreds, and the creative touch of Baguio's artists added to traditional symbols and structures. Finally, unlike most other cultural events which favor only one ethnic group or territory, Ipitik brings together all the cultural groups that have converged and live together in Baguio City. Ipitik emphasizes the fact that our city is a melting pot filled to the brim with a bubbling stew of diverse ingredients. Ipitik is an event of cultural revitalization that magically celebrates ritual and old ways even as it breaks the rules of tradition and nonchalantly shrugs off all worries about invention. What is culture if not the continuing reinvention of ways of life that will continue to hold meaning to us as the world around us changes? If this Ipitik truly succeeds: it bridges a gap between generations of Cordilleran’s and epochs of Cordilleran history, and between the solemnity of a sacred offering and the light-heartedness of a good drink shared among life-time friends. (by Padmapani L. Perez) IPITIK FESTIVAL: Ipitik is a light yet solemn act of offering the first drops of a newly opened jar of tapuy to Kabunian, the highest deity of the Cordilleras, and to the ancestors. Traditionally done by the mambunong, or shaman, the practice lives on today among many Cordilleran’s, young and old. When first opening a bottle of alcohol, be it tapuy, gin, wine, beer, vodka, or scotch, one whispers an invitation to the spirits to come and drink and spills a few drops of alcohol on the ground, or takes a symbolic sip on behalf of the spirits. Baguio boy Ferdinand John Balanag and friends first conceived of creating an annual Ipitik Festival out of love for this small act of offering and the libations that it attends. The festival as such magnifies and creatively re-invents many small yet significant aspects of Cordilleran culture: Instead of having the traditional number of gong players and dancers, the Ipitik Festival has 108 children playing gongs in unison and dancing with gusto to a beat that will most certainly outlive disco rhythms. |
BINTAO: Ang buhay at kamatayan ni Wenceslao Q. Vinzons
Presented by University of Baguio and University of the Cordilleras (January 2008)
Script by Efren Yambot Directed by Ferdinand L. Balanag Music by Karlo Marko Altomonte Produced by Leonides Bautista and the Upsilon Fraternity 
Baguio, Bintao and Living Theatre
By Effren Yambot Baguio! The mere mention of the city evokes memories, sometimes even bordering on the mystical. It is hard not to feel an emotional attachment to the city, even for a perennial transient like me. And my recent experience as a playwright in Baguio has only strengthened that bond. But first, some of the back story. I first set foot in Baguio in my junior year in a public high school. It was after a long train journey from Tutuban to Damortis - so many stops all the way from Bulacan to La Union - and thence by bus through Kennon to Baguio. We attended the Hi-Y conference (a YMCA-sponsored event), were mesmerized by the battery of speakers, and more so, by the place. We stayed at Teachers' Camp, where the conference was held, and I remember composing a short poem after a walk through the camp in the early morning (my first in Baguio), when the fog had not yet completely lifted, and after taking in the sights of the blossoms and the quaint cottages, and the heady scent of pine trees. Years later, I would have a similar, almost mystical experience: on my way down from Baguio, when I decided to take the Naguilian Road. It was a clear day, and at a vantage point along the road, I could see forever to the rivers wending their way to the China Sea. Fast forward to January 2008: My wife and I were staying at Iggy's Inn on South Drive, at the invitation of brod Des Bautista, who wanted me to take a look at the rehearsals for a musical based on my play Bintao: Ang Buhay at Kamatayan ni Wenceslao Q. Vinzons. I could barely contain my excitement as I looked forward to seeing the rehearsals. 
Sometime in October of 2007, I was pleasantly surprised - astounded, as a matter of fact - when I received a call from Des, telling me that he was producing the musical which was to be staged in January of the following year.
I had almost forgotten that I had given a copy of the play to Des. That was sometime in late 2005, I attended a reunion at Iggy's, a grand reunion sponsored by batch 1955 of the Upsilon Sigma Phi who were celebrating their golden anniversary. I brought along a copy of my play "Bintao." When I mentioned the play to Des, he showed keen interest, so I gave him the copy. Des immediately called for Baguio boy Ferdie Balanag, a young director and artist, and close friend of his son Iggy. Ferdie had directed a musical based on the lives of Des' parents, Fernando Bautista Sr. and Rosa Bautista, founders of Baguio Tech, which would later become the University of Baguio. I would also learn later that Ferdie had directed several other plays, including one he had written himself, "Tibok." Lately, Ferdie has become the celebrated director of the documentary film "Walking the Waking Journey" which was recently shown at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. An Impossible Task For almost two years thereafter, Des gave no mention of the play even when we saw each other at Upsilon gatherings. It was only around October or November of 2007, when he called me to say that "Bintao" would be staged as a musical in early 2008! Too early, I remember telling Des. Actually, I had told myself after our talk over the phone, it was "impossible" can't be done!" But then I didn't really know Des, his determination and resourcefulness, nor that of his director, and the cast and production crew he would rely on. Thus I was astonished when I received that call from Des several weeks later to come up to Baguio and watch the rehearsals for... not just the play, but the musical. The rehearsals were held at the auditorium of the University of the Cordilleras. Jerry Salvosa, president of UC, was coproducer of the musical. But I was in for more pleasant surprises as I realized how young and precocious the actors, the director, composer and musical director, choreographer and other members of the staff were. It was then that I understood what Rannie Vinzons Gaite, the only surviving offspring of Bintao (she came for the first night, with her two sons), meant when she mentioned "audacity" in her talk after the staging of the musical. I knew then she was referring not only to the author, but to the entire production staff and cast of the musical Bintao, as well. And especially to the producer, Des Bautista, who together with his wife Auring - is a nurturer and patron of talents in Baguio. I shall not dwell on the response of the audience and critics' to the musical. Maybe it is enough for me to state here that many in audience during the first and second nights were teary-eyed towards the end. Or that the two grandsons of Vinzons (Bintao), who accompanied their mother Rannie to the show, thanked us, for it was the first time that they understood the heroism of their lolo. Or that several individuals from the audience - some of them total strangers - approached me, and Des and the others involved in the production, to say how much they were affected by the musical. |
Heroes don't cry!
Let me just point out two comments: a) the musical was too long, a common observation, and b) Bintao cried upon learning that his wife and two children had been killed by the Japanesebut heroes don't cry! This, from a close friend and brood. Regarding the first: true, the musical was long, but it was really more because the director stood closely by the script (which was really long). It took me quite some time to write the script, and I hesitated to delete scenes and passages although I knew that they did not really advance the "action" of the play. But the director, upon the prodding of the producer, deleted or shortened some scenes during the second night, such that it became considerably shorter. About Bintao crying: it was the director's interpretation, and I respected that. (My original direction in the script was for a "primal scream", by which I meant a soundless cry... but still a cry.) Heroes don't cr y? Maybe. But then again, maybe we should take a second look at the contemporary thinking that it is okay for grown men to cry, when the situation so warrants.
Living Theater As a Baguio transient, I remember only two occasions in which I attended a theater production in the city. The first was the staging of "Ang Ina" (an adaptation in Filipino of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage") directed by Behn Cervantes, with Evelyn Pangilinan-Aliling in the lead role, produced by the Upsilon Sigma Phi and staged at the University of Baguio auditorium in the early 1970s. The second was the revival of Aloyan, a musical with the Cordilleras as its setting, and whose libretto, lyrics and music were written by Upsilonians of the 1950. This was staged at the St. Louis University and directed by Damy Bangaoet, with mostly local actors and singers in the cast. Both received critical acclaim, and it is a pity that each was shown only once. (At least "Bintao" the musical had two shows!) The theater is a medium unlike any other. Sure, it has its limitations, but it has its distinct strength that neither cinema, nor television and the other visual arts have. In the theater, the actors radiate energy, infused by the playwright, director, choreographer, composer and crew as a collective whole. This energy, this living force, suffuses the audience with courage, love between a man and a woman, love of family, love of country. The audience in turn, reflects this force back to the actors, further pushing the latter to the limits of their creativity. Other media, such as cinema or even the printed page, also transmit energy, but it is mostly a one-way street. After all, if we are to believe the experts, drama was supposed to have sprung in ancient Greece from religious rituals. But I digress: Baguio, with its precocious young talents and eager audience, is ideal for theater. If this enchanting city is a haven for visual artists and writers, as Baguio writer Babeth Lolarga (wife of Upsilonian Rolly Fernandez) would have it in an article in the Inquirer, why not also for playwrights, actors and composers, too? Or for that matter, for all performing artists? 
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Mikey’s concert, a challenge for TWIMedia
Mikey Bustos has chosen Baguio City to be the first stop for his series of concerts called “Pinoyboy World Tour” which is set to include concerts in USA, Guam, Europe, Australia and other parts of the Philippines this year. The concert will be a Filipino-themed mix of comedy and musical performances. Mikey shall perform many of his popular musical YouTube parodies combined with video, costumes, props and fun gags in between songs. It will include back-up dancers and choreography to create a very visual musical spectacle that will run anywhere between thirty minutes to one and a half hours. Mikey Bustos will perform on-stage for Baguio City in the heat of the Panagbenga 2015 celebrations. The concert shall serve as the grand launching of “Walk Happy! Baguio City!” It is scheduled on March 4, 2015 at 9:00 PM. 
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