University's Composers Forum on
Asian Traditional Music

Speech of President Edgardo J. Angara
read for him by Executive Vice President Oscar M. Alfonso
at the opening of the University's Composers Forum on Asian Traditional Music
on 25 February 1985, Abelardo Hall

When I was invited to keynote this opening ceremony, I was at once reminded of how music extended its influence to enrich even our language. The common word "keynote", now commonly associated with speakers like us, is, as you know, the first and harmonically fundamental tone of a scale.

You could not have chosen a more opportune time conducting this University Composers Forum on Asian Traditional Music. A trend has been emerging lately for peoples everywhere to look back into the past and, for those in the West, to look to the East for modes of artistic expression to replace or rejuvenate the tired symbolisms of their civilization. The trend is also part of a desire to finally understand the multiplicity of human experience.

In Literature, Alex Haley's tracing of his roots to Africa gave understanding of the black man's plight not only in terms of his abstract rights as a human being but as a particular race with a rich and painful past distinctly his own.

I regard this forum as a step towards a cultural rediscovery. And I commend its organizers for taking up the cudgels not only for Philippine music but for Asian traditional music as well. I remark with keen interest your lofty goals of (1) discovering modes of musical expression in Asia that are directly related to Asian culture and traditions, and, (2) strengthening modern creative expressions of Asian composers by establishing linkages to their own musical traditions and cultural heritage. In a small way, I would like to offer some challenges for you to consider during the next few days and in your future creative works.

Firstly, let us explore new possibilities of preserving Asian traditional music, not in the archival sense but in a continuing, living form of expression, and of generating among our peoples, an awareness and appreciation of it. Your lineup of concerts featuring performances on Asian classical and folk instruments should give your audiences an opportunity to discover the richness and variety of Asian musical traditions. In the long run, what I would like to see are people both young and old, who do not simply watch others perform on these instruments but actually play them. Gamelans in Bandung and Bali for example are played by instrumentalists whose ages range from 17 to 70, thereby assuring their continuity as the old pass on their skills, temperaments, and artistic styles to the young. It is noteworthy that this forum, featuring outstanding artists and renowned scholars, intends to transmit to our young composers, a musical wisdom acquired through long years of practice and experience.

Secondly, let us preserve the spirit and tradition of Asian music through your compositions. AS you noted in our brochure, Asian music possesses its own concepts of creativity and even modernism since its forms undergo constant permutations. This dynamism should prove to our young composers that change is possible even in the process of preserving the fundamental forms of Asian musical expression.

Lastly, let us make a bold attempt to utilize our musical legacy as a source of inspiration in modern day life. Just like other art forms, music reflects patterns of thinking and behavior in any given culture. With our contemporary experiences in violence, greed, and other forms of inhumanity, it is most opportune for us to redeem our losses through a journey into the inner core of Asian music. For it is in the mysteries of these sounds that one can discover moments of reflection, intimacy, gentleness, subtlety, grandeur, vitality, and spiritual uplift. These are challenges that I hope you will find worthy of pondering. Given the exceptional artistry and extensive musical experiences of the participants of this forum, I have no doubt that you are more than capable of coming up within this short period of time of seven days, with some initial responses to these challenges.

With my sincere wish that your stay with us will bear immeasurable fruit in the field of art and culture, and on behalf of the organizing committee and sponsors, it is my pleasure to now declare the University Composers Forum on Traditional Music open.