THE Fifth International Rondalla/Plucked String Festival has officially opened on Sunday, November 4, in Silay City with 21 groups composed of more than 250 musicians from the Philippines and other countries that will compete from November 3 to 11, 2018.
This is a celebration of the world's shared heritage of plucked string music.
In a press conference held Sunday, November 4, at the Manuel Severino Hofilena ancestral house in Silay City, Mayor Mark Andrew Golez, along with national artist for music and festival director Ramon Santos, and national artist for literature and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) chairman Virgilio Almario, welcomed the international participants from 10 countries namely France, India, Iran, Israel, South Korea, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Portugal.
Local musicians from Metro Manila, Bogo City, Dipolog City, municipality of Candelaria, Dumaguete City, and Silay City will also compete for the said international competition.
Golez said there are 21 groups of artists who will play their own music, repertoires, and styles. “The festival aims to provide a venue and forum for an exchange of musical knowledge at the same time discover hidden treasures in the folk and modern traditions of peoples from different parts of the globe.”
"We will also continue to explore the possibilities of these instruments with new transcriptions and with new compositions, as we are going to encourage local and even foreign composers to contribute their works in this festival. I hope that everyone will enjoy the variety of music as well as the rendition that they will present in the concerts," he said.
This is also an opportunity to exhibit the musical culture of the Silay City as well as the rondalla tradition in this part of the Philippines, he added.
Moreover, the Strings of Unity International Festival was initially conceived by the Music Committee of the NCCA as a flagship project and a model activity of the Unesco's International Music Council.
The four previous festivals have engaged the participation of plucked string ensembles from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Myanmar, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Uganda, USA, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Santos, for his part, said in the spirit of celebrating the shared heritage of the plucked string music around the world that the Philippines' NCCA through the Musicological Society of the Philippines initiated this String of Unity.
“This is a continuing effort to forge unity among nations and is part of the search for peace and understanding between people that share a common humanity and a common global environment,” he added.
Santos said, "the NCCA believes in the power of art to transform lives and communities and through this festival. We see the versatility of the rondalla as a serious instrumental medium, disproving in the process the stereotype notion of its inferiority to other modern musical practice.”
“It is not just a music for the barrio. Our talented rondalla musicians are capable of performing simple nick works and experimenting on new techniques. Music is a thread that binds us all," he added.”