The New Manila Sound: Music and Mass Culture, 1990S and Beyond James Gabrillo
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The New Manila Sound: Music and Mass Culture, 1990s and Beyond A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music James Gabrillo Peterhouse, University of Cambridge November 2018 This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other quali- fication at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. It does not exceed the word limit prescribed by the Degree Committee. "2 of 293" The New Manila Sound: Music and Mass Culture, 1990s and Beyond James Gabrillo Abstract This dissertation provides the first detailed account of the mass musical culture of the Philippines that originated in the 1990s and continues to be the most popular style of musical entertainment in the country — a scene I dub the New Manila Sound. Through a combination of archival research, musical analysis, and ethnographic fieldwork, my ex- amination focuses on its two major pioneers: the musical television programme Eat Bula- ga! (Lunchtime Surprise) and the pop-rock band Aegis. I document the scene’s rise and development as it attracted mostly consumers from the lower classes and influenced oth- er programmes and musicians to adapt its content and aesthetics. The scene’s trademark kitsch qualities of parody, humour, and exaggeration served as forms of diversion to au- diences recovering from the turbulent dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos from 1965 to 1986, when musical works primarily comprised of state-commissioned nationalist an- thems, Western art music, and protest songs. In the second part of the study, I trace the New Manila Sound’s contemporary revival in popularity through the aid of digital tech- nology, resulting in an expansion of the modes of content-creation, dissemination, and audience participation in the country’s entertainment industry. Eat Bulaga! and Aegis hold a significant place in Philippine culture: not only have they influenced the tastes and iden- tities of their audience, their brand of entertainment has also trickled down to the musi- cality of everyday social contexts in the country. As the first study of contemporary Philippine musical traditions that combines historical documentation and the ethno- graphic study of performers and audiences, my research expands our understanding of the country’s popular music industry as an influential force that has bestowed on its mass audience assurances of cultural and social authority. "3 of 293" Contents Abstract 3 List of Figures and Examples 7 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction Official culture versus mass culture 10 Scholarly contexts 23 Methodology and definitions 27 A penchant for performance 34 Taste, class, and cultural capital in the Philippines 40 Chapter One: Roots of the New Manila Sound Philippine television industry 48 Eat Bulaga! as phenomenon 56 Popular music in the Philippines 64 Birth of Aegis 66 "4 of 293" Chapter Two: The Rise of Eat Bulaga! Mockery and parody as entertainment 70 Influence on popular culture 95 Embraced by the lower classes 106 Backlash from the elites 110 Chapter Three: Eat Bulaga!’s Enduring Legacy Online community-building 120 Digital nostalgia scene 131 Expanding storytelling methods and platforms 135 Broadening class-based demographics 149 Eat Bulaga!’s place in Philippine culture 155 Chapter Four: Aegis’s Musical Spectacle Adapting and developing the birit style 164 A distinct musical identity 182 Aegis’s cultural impact 189 Criticism of Aegis 196 Chapter Five: The Resurgence of Aegis An enduring fandom: online, offline, overseas 200 Classicisation of Aegis 207 Pioneering influence 218 "5 of 293" Epilogue: New Manila Sound as Filipino National Culture 222 Appendices Appendix A: List of interviews conducted 234 Appendix B: Musical segments on Eat Bulaga! 238 Appendix C: Films mirroring Eat Bulaga!’s kitsch style 249 Appendix D: Musical acts influenced by New Manila Sound 256 Appendix E: Lyrics and translations of musical examples 258 Bibliography 265 "6 of 293" List of Figures Figure 1. A bodabil production in Manila, dated 1949. Figure 2. An advertisement for Student Canteen in the early 1960s. Figure 3. Joey de Leon, Vic Sotto, and Tito Sotto in 1989. Figure 4. The band Aegis in 1990. Figure 5. The presenters of Eat Bulaga! on 18 February 1989. Figure 6. Christine Jacob and Vic Sotto on 3 February 1998. Figure 7. Mitoy Yonting and Gladys Guevara performing on 3 May 1995. Figure 8. Lionel Gonzaga performing on 24 November 1999. Figure 9. The SexBomb Girls on 3 February 2002. Figure 10. A view of Eat Bulaga!’s audience area on 13 August 2016. Figure 11. Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza on 16 July 2015. Figure 12. Contestants of Lola’s Playlist on 12 September 2016. Figure 13. Aegis performing at a concert in Manila on 13 March 2017. Figure 14. Promotional material for Rak of Aegis. * List of Examples Example 1. Opening line of the song “Halik”. Example 2. Closing line of “Halik”. Example 3. First line of the chorus of “Luha”. "7 of 293" Acknowledgements I am tremendously grateful to my supervisors at Cambridge: Nicholas Cook, Matthew Machin-Autenrieth, and David Trippett. Since interviewing me for my admission to the MPhil programme in early 2014, Nick has been a wonderful mentor whose work contin- ues to influence my own. Matthew has lent unwavering intellectual and moral support since I first entered his graduate seminar on Music and the Politics of Place and Identity. Last but not least, David has guided me with utmost wisdom and encouragement, partic- ularly during my final year of research and writing. I am incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity to work with all three of them. I am thankful to numerous professors, staff, and friends at the Faculty of Music. My conversations with Kariann Goldschmitt, who was my supervisor during my MPhil degree, planted the seeds of this project. Thank you to Ananay Aguilar, Chloë Alagh- band-Zadeh, Ross Cole, Ian Cross, Tom McAuley, Peter McMurray, Bettina Varwig, Ben Walton, and Gavin Williams, who have all aided this project in diverse ways. I am indebt- ed to the administrative and library staff for their support, particularly Hania Biernacka, Emma Chapman, Kate Crane, Alex Drury, Libby Jones, and Helen Snelling. Thank you to Daniel Jordan and Ditlev Rindom for being steadfast confidantes in the past years. Charlotte Bentley, Rachel Becker, Rachel Hodgson, José Manuel Izquierdo, and Juan Pablo Robledo del Canto have been inspirational peers. My college, Peterhouse, has become my home in Cambridge. Thank you to Steven Connor, Bridget Kendall, Amanda Farnsworth, Stephen Hampton, Saskia Murk Jansen, John Robb, Jill Slater, Leslie Verrees, Gerald Meade, Jackie Mahony, and Celia Sievewright for their guidance. My friends Francesco Ciriello, Luther Davis, Marcus "8 of 293" Goodwille, Ranier Macatangay, Janine Ochoa, Adam Smith, Pallawi Sinha, Vivian Tsang, and Nathaniel Zetter have been reliable pillars of support. My deep gratitude goes to my sources and respondents in Manila for their trust and time — particularly the producers, staff, and performers of the television show Eat Bulaga! and the band Aegis, as well as the numerous audience members I met during my research. I owe a lot to Nachi Domingo, Mimi Ong, and Diana Paredes, who were my primary contacts in the entertainment industry. Thank you to the librarians and archivists of the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippine Presidential Museum and Library, and the University of the Philippines Diliman Library. UP Diliman, where I finished my under- graduate degree a decade ago, became my home base in Manila, thanks mostly to the support of the dean of the College of Music, José Buenconsejo. I am also grateful to Philippine Studies scholars Cristina Juan, Jonathan Ong, and Vicente Rafael for their guidance. I met many inspiring individuals at various conferences and would like to par- ticularly thank Ryan Bañagale, Byron Dueck, Greg Reish, Fritz Schenker, and Stephen Stuempfle for their significant advice. I would not have been able to pursue postgraduate education if not for the gen- erosity of the Cambridge Trust, who funded both my MPhil and PhD studies. My re- search, fieldwork, and conference trips were also supported by grants from the Faculty of Music, Peterhouse, School of Arts and Humanities Research Development Fund, American Musicological Society, Music & Letters Trust, International Association for the Study of Popular Music US, and Santander. Finally, my thanks go out to my family — my parents Helga and Jun, my grand- parents Uding, Estrelle, and Genia, my sister Jein, and my partner Tyler — for their love and joy. "9 of 293" Introduction Official culture versus mass culture On 8 September 1969, Imelda Marcos, the first lady to Philippine president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos, delivered a stirring speech to inaugurate the Cultural Centre of the Philippines (CCP), the country’s first state-run national theatre. Before an audience of political and cultural leaders, she proclaimed: This Centre shall serve as the shrine of the Filipino spirit. It shall be our Parthenon built in a time of hardship, a spring-source of our people’s living con- viction on the oneness of our heritage. […] We are young and struggling to un- derstand ourselves, trying to construct the nobler meaning