When PH Bands start Marching In, A Festival Begins

Most Filipinos will recall with fond memories their childhood days when they hear marching bands start playing.  It simply means the beginning of a festival with a colorful parade, games, a show, and generally a happy gathering of families.  Happy and colorful memories are often associated with marching bands.  The UP Vanguard,  Makati Chapter along with the Cultural Center of the Philippines will bring this old tradition back to life in a grander scale.   Military groups from the different sectors will show off their musical, choreography and production skills as they compete in the upcoming IHUDYAT! 2017 “A Festival of the Finest Philippine Marching Bands”.

Atty Sid Fortun of UP Vanguard
Makati Chapter Head

IHUDYAT! 2017 will be held on Saturday, March 25, 2017, 4pm, at the UP Diliman Amphitheater. The festival highlights the participation of elite bands of the Philippine Air Force, Philippine Army, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Marines (Navy Fleet), The Citizens’ Brigade Band of Dasmariñas, Cavite and the Imus Youth Symphonic Band. IHUDYAT! 2017 is a joint project of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the University of the Philippines Diliman Office of Initiatives for Culture and the Arts (UPD-OICA), and the UP Vanguard Makati Chapter.

IHUDYAT! 2017 includes works of National Artists for Music Col. Antonino Buenaventura and Maestro Lucio San Pedro, who made significant contributions to what Philippine marching band music is today.  Buenaventura’s popular folksong “PandangosaIlaw” and San Pedro’s masterpiece “Lahing Kayumanggi” are some of the pieces that will be performed, with the latter as the contest piece.

Atty Feliciano -  Judge Consultant 

The festival also aims to further elevate a kind of music that has become a huge part of Filipino life and culture. Owing to its Hispano-Catholic heritage, the Philippines is popular today as a country of “fiestas”.  Filipinos are known to be people who celebrate life and salvation almost the whole year round. In honor of their Savior or patron saints, they welcome friends and strangers alike into their homes to savor their finest delights, while an interminable procession of beautiful and bountiful blessings are paraded in the streets.

As soon as one hears the processional music, one says “ayan na ang dagundong ng mga tambol at tunog ng mga torotot” (“here comes the roar of drums and the cracking sound of the horn”). Soon, the people excitedly spring towards widely opened windows and they wiggle for the best spot to view the arrival of a spectacle. The faint distant sound of melodious brass winds and the rhythmic beating of the drums anxiously build up into a climax as the band, clad in its most colorful gala, marches right before them.

Such is the kind of music that adds spice to every Filipino’s life. Street marching band music, especially in the provinces, is evident in baptismal rites, birthday parties, sporting events, graduations, funerals and practically every event celebrating life. Community organized bands show how interconnected, well governed and organized its people are. Bands have been a source of pride and have somehow saved many Filipino youth away from societal menaces such as drugs.

With IHUDYAT! 2017, the country celebrates the significance of street marching band music in Filipino culture, and acclaims the many wonderful ways it has  enriched Filipino society and humanity.  One of the country's pride that we want to show to the world,  and soon  . . . we will.
For more questions please feel free to contact Leo Quinitio or Ramon Ramirez at +63 2 920 6881 or attyramonramirez@gmail.com.