An Overview of the Kapampangan Music Scene (Part 1)

Nanu nang atin, Nanu pa ing kailangan
An Overview of the Kapampangan Music Scene (Part 1)
By Jason Paul Laxamana
Urban Kamaru
Central Luzon Daily

The Kapampangans, it can be said, are still in the stage of exploring and learning the industry of music, and its technicalities. As Project Director of Kalalangan Kamaru's and Holy Angel University Center for Kapampangan Studies' RocKapampangan, the first ever Kapampangan rock album, I have witnessed first hand that we already have everything that is required to build and sustain a Kapampangan music industry. Well, almost everything.

Thank Apung Ginu for these

Talent. We have a pool of talented but innocent musicians, albeit poor in confidence and aggressiveness, as they generally believe that a successful music career can solely be achieved by being discovered and being handled by the hands of Manila-based record producers. They are often fanatics of national musicians, but little do they know that they can be Bamboos or Sarah Geronimos in their homeland, if they just believe more in themselves and acquire a sense of competition with Tagalog and even foreign musicians.

Equipment. We have competent recording studios, three of which would be Kikoman's Recording Studios, Aldrene Tuazon's Kid's Place Recording Studio—both in Angeles City—and James Dizon's D'Zone Digital Recording Studio, located in the City of San Fernando. They're not as high-tech as those of Manila-based studios, but their quality, subject to the level of skill of the recording engineer and/or mixer, are ready for radio airplay and even out-of-the-province release.

Visionaries. We have record producers who can supervise the production of Kapampangan songs and albums, scout for potential talents, and even manage them. These producers, however, are quite independent—struggling, if you wish to call them—as they don't have corporate giants like Universal Records, EMI, BMG, or Star Records to backup their endeavors, simply because, on a Manila perspective, to venture into Kapampangan music is not very commercially viable compared to venturing into English and Tagalog music.

Financing. We have foundations, cultural groups, and wealthy individuals who see the benefits of having a strong music industry. These people have been willing to morally and financially support the production of Kapampangan albums or tracks for the sake of the Kapampangan people.

Media. We have enough local mass media firms to promote Kapampangan music—television stations, cable channels, radio stations, and even the Internet. Apart from these, we have ordinances and resolutions supporting the propagation of Kapampangan music through mass media.

Other skills. We have enough skilled people to support Kapampangan recorded music productions in terms of publicity, such as photographers, inlay and CD designers, music video directors and technical team, printing presses, concert and event organizers, and journalists.

Ask Apung Ginu for these

Capitalists. Either Kapampangans build their own big record labels, or convince Manila-based music corporations to establish a regional branch in Central Luzon. But how to convince? Not merely by words certainly. We need to show the big people of Manila that Kapampangan music is not only competent, but thriving, and is worth the investment. It's just something like tourism, or attracting foreign investors to erect firms in Clark.

Distributors. Based on experience, we don't have CD replication presses in Central Luzon still. When Kamaru and HAU produced RocKapampangan, we had to bring the master copy to Manila for quality CD reproduction. All we have right now in the region is CD burning.

An alternative to independent CD replication is getting a distribution deal. But are there big time distributors here? None, which results in a very interesting case of music piracy. An illegal act, piracy has served a latent function in the promotion of Kapampangan music. I personally heard Ara Muna's O Jo, Kaluguran Da Ka first on the lines of bangketas along Miranda St. in Angeles City. Two weeks after the launching of RocKapampangan, pirated copies began to swarm Apu. Other people have informed me afterwards that San Fernando pirates have begun selling pirated CDs. Then Tarlac. Then, even Quiapo. Would you believe, even in New Jersey?

It's difficult to find original Kapampangan CDs in record stores, but bangketas, they have them all—from the polosadors to ArtiSta. Rita, from Aslag Kapampangan to funny remixes. Thus, I pose this question: is piracy of Kapampangan music all that bad, when it is piracy that serves—temporarily I hope—as the distributors of struggling Kapampangan musical artists?

The bad side of this is pangalugi of course. Pirates live off the work of enthusiastic producers and musicians. If producers and musicians don't earn back what they have spent, how will they continue making more and much better Kapampangan music in the future? This is something the local government should look into.

Strong market. In relation to piracy, Kapampangan music has a growing following. But does 'following' equate with 'market'? To a certain degree, yes, but 'market' here is discombobulating, as there is no transaction involved. People don't buy the music; they ask for it to be given away for free, or for a cheap price (thus, resorting to pirated copies). Will Kapampangans ever be ready to purchase and support Kapampangan music, to the extent of getting the original copy instead of the piratical? Do they have enough purchasing power to avail original copies of the latest Mon David or K4ad album?

World view. Another thing the Kapampangan music scene needs to embrace is the sense of a global village, which implies that every piece of music we churn out should be a potential player in not only the national but global cultural industry. This means that the quality of the song should be observed. Quality may be subjective, yes, but using our own standard of quality, we should strive for it nevertheless whenever making music.

But the musical quality of the song is limited to the world of half-notes, sopranos, baritones, and G-clefs, which the real world is absolutely not. Musical quality does not ensure a hit or a historical mark. We should also look into what I love to call the “social quality” of every track. Your song may be beautifully sung or wisely mixed and engineered, but is it anything new to the world of music? If I place it in a shelf with all other songs in the world, would it potentially grab my attention?

Wanted: Investors

Having said all these, I call out to the wealthy people of the Kapampangan region who see not only monetary but cultural potential in the growing Kapampangan music industry: please stand up! Grab the idea while it is new. Conquer the field while there is no king yet.

Please email reactions to sisig_man@yahoo.com.ph

Pedriña and his Kapampangan Comic Book Superheroes

Gener Pedriña
and his Kapampangan Comic Book Superheroes
By Jason Paul Laxamana

Urban Kamaru

Central Luzon Daily

Batman, Superman, Wolverine, the Powerpuff Girls, Spider-man, Naruto, Yusuke (Eugene), Son Gokou—who is your animated childhood superhero? From the day we were born in this country, our minds have already been imperialized by foreign superheroes that range from a photographer bitten by a radioactive spider to a Kamehameha-blasting warrior; from bug-eyed, Chemical-X-energized little girls to a delinquent Japanese student in green school uniform shooting Rei Gun from his fingertips; and from a temperamental mutant male with Adamantium bones to a rich and skillful crime fighter of Gotham City.

To counter this early imperialization of the youth by foreigners, the Tagalogs have crafted, through comic books, Darna, Capt. Barbell, Panday, and Lastikman. They have penetrated the Filipino consciousness well, albeit still on the disadvantage compared to their First World counterparts.

Now we take a look at the Kapampangan children. Who are their animated superheroes? For the relatively older Kapampangan generation, I ask the same question. Even my Ima would mention non-Kapampangans like Darna and Superman, whom she has knowledge of more on due to television and movies, not because of comic books or cartoons. More culturally-rooted Kapampangans would recount the tales of their grandparents about Sinukuan, Kargen Kargon, Pugut Negru, and Pande Pira, but the Kapampangan generation of ngeni are exposed to everything that is non-Kapampangan.

This is where Gener Pedriña comes in. Having finished BS Civil Engineering at the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) back in 1992, Pedriña is currently based in Manila doing graphic works.

Kabalen Superheroes in Pinoy Comics

Although now based in Manila and working for Tagalog/English comics, Kapampangan elements have not failed to disappear from Pedriña's consciousness, as in his collection of original Pinoy superheroes titled Sanduguan (blood compact), most of the lead protagonists are Kapampangan.

“Most of what we have [in comics] are Tagalogs and Americans,” Pedriña explains. “I want diversity so I make characters from Mindanao, Kalinga, Bohol, Ilocos, Laguna, etc. but a lot of my characters are Kapampangan.”

Basing his research from libraries and the Internet, he realized a lot of things about his roots. “Pampanga was the first province and had a very rich history, which seems to be neglected even in the history books,” Pedriña expresses. “We used to be recognized by the Chinese as the Luzon Empire [Lu Sung Guo] and our ancestors were very much respected.”

One of the concepts of Sanduguan, aside from spotlighting various creatures and characters of Philippine mythology in the new century, is the showcase and exploration of contrast between the old and new Filipino identity, which the creator personifies through the life of two characters, Supremo and Sandata, who are both of Kapampangan descent.

Supremo is a Kapampangan ortelanu (farmer). Pedriña describes him as a powerful entity trapped in the body of a boy and the living embodiment of the Filipino spirit.

Sandata, on the other hand, is a Mabalacat-residing master of Kapampangan martial arts. A practitioner of sinawali (Kapampangan arnis), Sandata is gifted with two magical batons to help him fight dark forces. Garbed with the Philippine coat of arms, he is devoted to combat evil all his life.

Aside from the two, three more are Kapampangan.

Diwata, granddaughter of Mariang Sinukuan in Sanduguan, has the typical local fairy magical powers. As a child, she was found in—where else, if you know your Kapampangan folklore—the Arayat mountain. Thus, her favorite expression, “King lagyu nang Sinukuan!”

Bato, a half-Pampango and half-Visayan lagayan (spirit seer), has adopted the ancient motto of Kapampangan fame: Qng leon, qng tigre, e cu tatacut, queca pa? A common man seeking power to help his fellow men, he acquired the one of the most powerful anting-anting in the Sanduguan universe, the mutya ning sagin. Pedriña further describes, “He now patrols the night sky, keeping us safe from malignos.”

Last, but not the least, is Sidapa of Macabebe. Although known generally in Philippine mythology as the god of death, in Pedriña's work, he is a descendant of the infamous Macabebe warriors. Denying himself the final gift of heaven, he chose the pursuit of justice. Neither living nor dead, Sidapa now walks on the thin line of death and redemption. “A dugong aso on the prowl,” Pedriña describes.

The story of Sanduguan falls under the typical good versus evil category, but no matter the redundancy of such topic, it still attracts an audience. Why? Probably because the good-versus-evil in real life is ongoing, and the final judgment is something that intrigues all of us.

Pedriña's comic book story highlights Kalayaan City as a major setting, which is actually what we know today as the Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. Siginaguran, the Philippine god of evil, escaped his century-old imprisonment and proceeded to causing havoc. Creating monstrous automatons, he attacked and destroyed the mega city of Kalayaan. Four heroes—Diwata, Sandata, Supremo, and Sidapa—decided to band together to defeat Siginaguran and prevent further carnage by any possible future threat.

Kapampangan Komiks?

Asked if he is willing to contribute to the Kapampangan cultural renaissance through his comics-related skills, Pedriña didn't have to think twice to say “wa”.

“I really want to do a Kapampangan epic [in comics], but i haven't been really lucky with regard to reference materials,” the artist laments. “I need to know who is best suited to be turned into a comic book. Juggling work, family, and hobby already eat too much of my time.”

“I shall need all the best materials we have on the subject, and from there, pick the best story for adaptation,” he adds. “I really want to do a lot of them.”

This where the matenakan (experts) of Kapampangan folklore, literature, and history enter. If you want to get in touch with Gener Pedriña, you may email him at sanduguan@gmail.com.
If we, Kapampangans, be able to develop our own comic book industry independent of Manila and foreign countries, then that's again one step closer to cultural self-determination and another way of providing our talented artists a fulfilling graphic career without leaving the province. We now have new Kapampangan recorded music, Kapampangan TV shows, Kapampangan publications, Kapampangan films. Will Mr. Pedriña be the pioneer of the new Kapampangan comic book industry? That we have to watch out for.

Having a Kapampangan TV drama and what it implies

URBAN KAMARU
Jason Paul Laxamana
Central Luzon Daily

This Wednesday, Infomax-8, a Kapampangan cable channel based in the City of San Fernando, and Kalalangan Kamaru, a creative team of multidisciplinary Kapampangan youth, will be presenting to the public the latest offering of Kapampangans to the rest of the world—Kalam, the first ever Kapampanganovela (Kapampangan television drama) in the history of Philippine broadcasting. It will take place at the Event Center of SM City Pampanga, 5 PM, and is bound to be a grand Kapampangan event as it will feature not only various Kapampangan performances, but also the public screening of the pilot episode.



Making the Kapampangan youth as its target audience, Kalam tackles the life and adventures of a new generation of witches and healers (gifted people, or in Kapampangan, ding ating kalam) born in urban Pampanga and how they struggle to fit in a skeptical, discriminating, and fearful society. It will be an exciting mix of urban fantasy, action, romantic comedy, drama, and social relevance, while using Kapampangan culture—both past and present, folk and modern, rural and urban—as canvass.

A clear history of the development of Kapampangan mass media is not yet available, albeit, inspired by the so-called Kapampangan cultural renaissance happening in the province, several mass communication students in and out of the province are beginning to take interest in outlining our media history as their thesis. Nevertheless, the production of Kalam is certainly a milestone.

Just what does having a Kapampangan TV drama imply?

Panyulung Pangkultura (Cultural Development)

First of all, we see a huge leap in what we call cultural development, as having a Kapampanganovela means that Kapampangans now officially know how to make a TV series, the process of which requires diverse skills from a well-coordinated team of people.

These skills include: research, story conceptualization, scriptwriting, directing, camera operation, cinematography, acting, talent management, production design, makeup and costume design, audio editing, and video editing. But television is more than a creative effort. Production management, location management, marketing, programming, publicity (which involves graphic design and large-scale printing, coordination with the press, and public relations), sales, advertising, financial management, budgeting, broadcasting, to name some more, are also involved, and Kalam boasts of an all-Kapampangan staff, cast, and crew. This means that all the skills I've mentioned and have failed to mention are now part of the growing Kapampangan culture.

Whether Kapampangans are bound to excel in the field of TV drama production and cause a “Kapampangan wave” (synonymous to the recent “Korean wave” phenomenon) is something to look forward to. Looking at our past achievements, however, we can conclude—not necessarily meaning we can be complacent—we can excel. Look at our lanterns compared to the rest of the Filipinos'.

Sagisag Kapampangan (Kapampangan Symbol)

Second implication is the growing awareness of Kapampangans that they, indeed, are a people who have their own identity apart from their Filipino and Asian brothers, and this road to cultural self-determination has extended to the field of TV drama production.

Kapampangans used to and still rely on the Tagalogs, the Koreans, the Taiwanese, the Mexicans, the Japanese, and the Americans when it comes to satisfying their television entertainment needs. If a Kapampangan wants to watch a TV drama, he tunes in to ABS-CBN, GMA-7, TV-5 or other channels. Or perhaps, he would run to the nearest bangketa to find the vast array of pirated DVDs of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese TV series. But what do we see in these foreign productions but foreign culture where Kapampangan is nowhere to be found, except probably in lousy cases like the Kapampangans in ABS-CBN's Kokey (where Kapampangans are exaggeratedly portrayed as letter H-deficient people) and the divine character Sinukuan in Dyosa (where Sinukuan is an Arabian-looking princess).

Such lack of Kapampangan symbols cause the alienation—inferiority complex, even—of the Kapampangans, particularly the youth who are heavy media consumers, to their own culture, including language, and identity. Now that we have a TV drama of our own, expect familiarity, as various symbols are bound to make Kapampangans see themselves more in the boob tube—not as “colored people,” but as diverse people who think, feel, face problems, come up with solutions, excel, fail, cook, eat, photograph, love, hate, philosophize, obey the law, break it, dream big, dream small, etc.

It's time to determine who we really are using television instead of relying on others to portray us, for if we remained in the level of dependence on Manila media, we will forever be H-deficient, gegege people who excel only in domestic work and pamagmais. We will never be portrayed as lawyers, philosophers, scientists, matinee idols, modern activists, political leaders, doctors, etc.

The presence of Kalam, however, is a symbol itself. It is an addition to the symbols that unify us as a separate ethnolinguistic community, which include the Kapampangan language, Kapampangan cuisine, Kapampangan literature, Kapampangan heroes, Kapampangan history, Kapampangan landmarks, Kapampangan icons, and Kapampangan songs and hymns.

I wonder when the time will come when Kapampangans cease importing entertainment from outsiders (including territories outside the Kapampangan region) and start making their own media products for export in other parts of the world.

Primerung Pasinag (Grand Premiere)

Given these two big implications, we hope you would support Kalam, as its success will be the success of Kapampangans. It's also a nice way to celebrate the Bulan Na Ning Amanung Sisuan (Language Month). Please review the first paragraph for the event details. Visit http://kalamtv.blogspot.com for more information about the series.

"Kalam" visits UP Diliman, wows audience

Last Thursday, Kalalangan Kamaru, a creative group of Kapampangan youth behind productions such as the RocKapampangan album and GVFM's weekly youth-oriented Kapampangan show Frequency K; and Infomax 8, the sole Kapampangan cable channel existing in the province, visited the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman to deliver a lecture, in line with the school's occasional Alternative Classroom Learning Experience or ACLE, where regular classes are suspended in order to give way to various workshops and symposia.

UP Aguman, an organization of Kapampangans in UP, decided to invite the people behind Kalam, the first Kapampanganovela (Kapampangan telenovela), to discuss about the emergence and challenges of regional broadcast media, particularly those of Kapampangan.

Jason Paul Laxamana of Kalalangan Kamaru, writer and director of Kalam, spoke about the ideology of uniting the Philippines through respect for its cultural diversity (not uniting the country by imposing one culture or language over another), while Mau Aquino, General Manager of Infomax 8, together with Marketing Director Jomel Cruz, told the story of how and why their station decided to package themselves as a Kapampangan channel employing the use of the Kapampangan language.

Present also were Diego Marx Dobles, Asst. Director of Kalam; Nhoel Austria, Set Designer; Aries Yap, Reachel Mucho, and Peter Danganan, main actors; and the technical team of Infomax, who covered the lecture for its daily news program, I-Max News. Approximately 60 people, Kapampangans and non-Kapampangans, attended the lecture, including fellow Kapampangan Prof. Nilo Ocampo, a Filipino teacher in UP Diliman.

Members of UP Aguman with Kalam's Dette (Reachel Mucho)

Members of UP Aguman with Kalam's hero Yubs (Aries Yap)

The issue of language preservation and development versus nationalism through the Filipino language—which Laxamana, using the test of Linguistics, called just a mere dialect of Tagalog—was raised and the issue, as usual, was left unresolved.

As Aquino and Laxamana kept stressing, people should learn as much languages as they can. Kapampangans and non-Tagalogs alike are not asked to un-learn Tagalog (after all, trilingualism is their advantage over Tagalogs who are mostly only bilingual); they are asked to master their native languages—to love them with pride—and not feel inferior upon using it. What should be battled is the phenomenon of language shift, when people abandon their native languages in favor of the national language or the English language.

In spite of the heat of the argument, after the English-subtitled screening of the first episode of Kalam, which prides itself for being culturally rooted and for being in the Kapampangan language, not one person was left dissatisfied, to the point of some even claiming they prefer to patronize it over the mainstream Pinoy TV dramas.

Kalam tackles the life and adventures of a new generation of witches and healers (gifted people, or in Kapampangan, ding ating kalam) born in urban Pampanga and how they struggle to fit in a skeptical, discriminating, and fearful society. It will be an exciting mix of urban fantasy, action, romantic comedy, drama, and social relevance, while using Kapampangan culture—both past and present, folk and modern, rural and urban—as canvass.

Catch the Primerung Pasinag (Grand Premiere) of Kalam in Pampanga. It will take place on the 27th of August, 5 PM, SM Pampanga Entertainment Plaza. Aside from the screening of the first episode, various Kapampangan groups will also be performing.

UP Aguman members, Nhoel Austria, and three of the main actors

Official Kalam MTVs now out!

The music videos for the opening and closing theme songs of Kalam are finished! They were screened at the Francis De Javier Theater of Holy Angel University yesterday before the technical preview of the Cinemalaya 2008 Best Picture, Jay (Francis Pasion), but are aired regularly at Infomax-8.

You may also view them in YouTube:

Official music video of ALANG ANGGANG SUGAT by 5 Against the Wall featuring Ramcos Nulud (vocalist of Nora Aunor Fans' Club band) and violinist John Canlas of Mabalacat. Song written by Jason Paul Laxamana, with excerpts from poems of Jose Gallardo (Malikwatas, Biye Alang Bakas) and Mariano Sigua (Aduang Curan). DIRECTOR: Jason Laxamana, ASST. DIRECTOR: Diego Dobles, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Joven Mallari, EDITOR: Jason Laxamana, Diego Dobles, PRODUCTION DESIGNERS: Jon Tanganco, Nhoel Austria



Official music video of Mernuts' original Kapampangan composition, Oras. Used as closing theme song. DIRECTOR: Jason Laxamana, ASST. DIRECTOR: Diego Dobles, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Joven Mallari, EDITOR: Jason Laxamana, PRODUCTION DESIGN: Roland Quiambao, SET MAN: Jon Tanganco