Marching to the beat of the world

A couple of months ago, I took my granddaughter to watch a marching band competition in Cavite. The City of Bacoor, which has been named the marching band capital of the Philippines, was throwing a big party for marching bands from all over the country, with the most talented and dashing of them taking home prizes. First disclosure: The mayor, Lani Mercado Revilla, is a childhood friend of mine. Second disclosure: I did not expect much of anything. The only thing I knew of marching bands was that they appeared during fiestas and funerals. My cultural ignorance failed me.

As it turned out, I had a rollickingly good time, and so did my eight-year-old granddaughter. More than the elaborately designed uniforms, I was impressed by the level of skill and precision of every performance. I mean, the musicians were playing instruments, some of them quite heavy, while marching and sometimes swaying in unison with their fellow band members.

Wow! I couldn’t even keep up with the beat when they made us march during Saturday Citizen Army Training back in the day!

That’s how I came to understand the fascination of Bacoorenos for marching bands – they have about 15 of them in the city, if I remember right – and the efforts of the local government to preserve the history, culture and tradition of these bands, and promote them even. Because, really, there is so much history here!

During the Philippine Revolution, for instance, a marching band was actually used as a diversionary tactic.

They made it look like the musikeros were going to a burial. In reality, the band wanted to lay siege to a Spanish military camp, which it eventually did. One of the founders of the band was a general, that’s why. And speaking of generals, as Emilio Aguinaldo raised the Philippine flag proclaiming our independence 120 years ago, it was a marching band, the Banda de San Francisco de Malabon of Cavite, which lent dignity and solemnity to the occasion.

Over the years, marching bands moved from the barracks of the military to the campuses of schools and universities, as well as the streets and basketball courts of barangays throughout the country. School principals and local officials discovered that the discipline demanded of band training make for motivated young ones. Banda Guysayko, for example, became a source of pride for Crisanto Guysayko Memorial Elementary School in Laguna as it topped local and national competitions, and produced exceptional students besides. In Pasig City, then Councilor Albert Habaluyas formed a band as a youth community project.

That was back in 1997. Since then, the Sinag Katipunan Drum & Lyre Corps has become a winning group with equally winning students.

It is perhaps such stories that encouraged officials of the local government of Bacoor all the more. After all, we’d like to believe that majority of individuals only need that one opportunity to make of themselves better persons.

And so, honoring traditions of the past, the City of Bacoor has gone on full marching band mode with a competition, which has attracted some 34 groups, 11 of which come from our Asian neighbors including Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, to be mounted in different venues, from the streets of Bacoor to Quirino Grandstand and Mall of Asia Arena.

Dubbed the Bacoor International Music Championships, it is sanctioned both by the Winter Guard International, the world’s premier organization in producing indoor color guard, percussion and winds competitions, and the Asian Marching Band Confederation, a non-profit organization established to assist in the development of music and marching band arts in the region. The event promises the whole caboodle of marching band category competitions, from drumline and brassline to color guard and percussion.

It seems like a daunting task, especially for a government unit, which only earned its cityhood six years ago. However, having had a preview of the sheer talent of Filipino bands and knowing the fierce bravery of the Caviteno, it is going to be quite a show, one that I shall watch with bated breath!

The Bacoor International Music Championships happens from June 22 to 24, 2018 at the Quirino Grandstand and SM MOA Arena. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/2018bimc/