Jazz in the Philippines

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been reading a couple of novels by William Boyd over the summer as I am a fan of his books. The one novel which really intrigued me was "The Blue Afternoon" which concerns the American- Philippine War of 1899-1902. There are effectively four plots running simultaneously in this story and I could not put it down. I had appreciated that America had been closely involved in the Philippines although I was unclear exactly how this came about. My interest piqued, I have just finished David J Sibley's "A war of frontier and empire"which deals with the conflict and neatly explains the rather underhand way in which the Americans invaded the islands in their first serious attempt to become a significant player on the world stage whilst wrestling with their own issues such as the Jim Crow Laws. As a rule I am a bit mistrustful of miliary historians and prefer those historians who employ archaeological research in their writing. Howewer, I felt that this book was fascinating because it basically succeeded in a way that Iraq and Afghanistan have failed. In the grand scheme of things, I think it is probably relatively unimportant (unless you are Filipino!) but the resonance with current affairs is intriguing, especially with the Chinese issue .

Reading further in to the subject, I stumbled across this article on line which is fascinating as it looks at the influence of American music on the Philippines and the rule of the musician Walter Loving who I had never heard of but who seems to have had a similar role in life to the likes of James Reece Europe and Will Vodery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Constabulary_Band

This was effectively a military band but I was intrigued to see just how far flung the influence of black , American musicians was even as early as 1902. Loving was an acquaintance of Sousa and this biography is quite intriguing. Not a musician who deserves to have bee overlooked and a remarakable character:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Loving

The relationship between the US and Philippines is extremely close and it was fascinating to learn that this extended in to music as well. I seem to recall there was a jazz pianist from the Philippines in the 1970s but the only jazz musicians I can think of with Filipino heritage are Louis Armstrong's drummer Danny Barcelona and, more contemporary, Susie Ibarra ( asscoiate of David S Ware ) and saxophonist Jon Irabagon. Makes you wonder whether this connection with the States might mean that the relationship with jazz might stretch back further.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Kipling's "The White Man's Burden" (sic) was written to justify American hegemony and imperialist intervention in the Philippines. And by inference Britain past and present. Turned out well..sarcasm.

"Take up the White Man's burden—
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

[Ian Thumwood]

Kipling's "The White Man's Burden" (sic) was written to justify American hegemony and imperialist intervention in the Philippines. And by inference Britain past and present. Turned out well..sarcasm.

"Take up the White Man's burden—
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard—
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:—
"Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

The significance of this poem in influencing American policy in the Philippines should not be underestimated. Although there was a strong ant-iImperialist element within the Senate at the time. Silbey is excellent at explaining how the political manouvering of that time ultimately facilitated the role of America in the archipelego. The interesting thing is that although fighting against the Islamist Moro's in Mindinao continued until 1913, Roosevelt was able to effectively declare the war won by 1902. Filipino Macabebe scouts had been instrumental in capturing the elitist resistance leader Aguinaldo in that year and measures to improve literacy and food distribution ultimately resulted in the Philippines being assimilated far quicker than say Black and native Americans. Until I had read the William Boyd novel, I had no idea of this conflict but it is pretty much fair to say that the Filipinos did not really rail against these occupiers in the same fashion as they had against the Spanish and later the Japanese. It is fair to say that there was an appetite for American culture which arrived at the time that the archipelego first started to acquire it's own feeling of nationalism. Although the Spanish had held the islands for since 16th century, it was never a "united country" and I think it is probably a bit foolish to consider it united in 2021 given the Islamist rejection of rule from Manilla which was only ultimately weakened post-war by mass migration from places like Luzon which sought to obliterate Islamic identity.

The strong sense of association with the US is interesting and will continue to be so with the increasing tension regarding the South China Sea. However, the point of the initial post was to underscore the fact that there are close cultural ties between US and PH which tends to counter the "White Man's burden" position insofar that PH independence in 1946 has not necessarily resulted in a loosening of ties. President Taft's ties with PH from the early years of the 1900s effectively saw the PH regarded with affection in the US and the ties have only really lessened over the course of the previous 120 years during the Japanese invasion - a far more malevolent conquest. I was fascinated by the story of Walter Loving and the fact that the history of black music does not necessarily confine itself to the States and also within a context that defies convention.