Kanta Filipina: Theresa Calpotura, solo guitar
Compositions, arrangements, & transcriptions of Bayani de Leon VGo recording 2010, Compact Disc Choosing driving music is typically unchallenging. All you need is that it matches the beat of the road. In this world of high speed freeways, jet travel, and lighting fast communications, traditional Philippine music may seem like an anomalous rhythmic oddity. This is the kind of music one would listen on a quiet beach or in some sultry pastoral setting with animals grazing and trees swaying gently in the wind. The titles in this CD tell it all –Maglalatik (a dance); Paalam sa Pagkadalaga (farewell to maidenhood); Pandangguhan (fandango); these are Philippine traditional songs and dances that evoke much of its pre-modern rural culture. The other songs are of the same genre – love songs to be precise, composed or transcribed for guitar by Bayani De Leon, of the well-known and respected Felipe de Leon family of musicians. The album also features new gems for guitar music like Jose Rizal’s Pastores de Belen in the style of villancico (ca 1861) and Sa Pinto ng Langit
(ca 1882) of the zarzuela genre. Rizal is the revered Philippine national hero, a novelist, a sculptor, and now a musician. The artist, young Filipina guitarist Theresa Calpotura, provided the right timbre and lilt one expects from this music. Typical interpretations of this genre of music tend to be on the heavy side, playing to its sultriness and the tradition of the kundiman (tearful love songs). Ms. Calpotura’s rendition displayed exquisite skill of interpretation and disciplined finger mechanics, making the natural bell like qualities of her guitar evoke the freshness and pristine nature of the music. Her rendering of the dances like Maglalatik and Pandangguhan exhibits a good pulse that highlights de Leon’s rythmic and harmonic innovations for a traditional genre. No doubt, the excellent training and schooling from the masters of the SF Conservatory of Music has produced an artist of remarkable caliber and promise. Taking this music on the road was not my original purpose. But after a few weeks on listening to it as I drove the winding road of Highway 17 to Santa Cruz where I teach, I realized that I was driving to the music. The rolling hills and slow curves the vehicle took became measured to the tempo of the music swaying as it were at each turn of the steering wheel. This oneness with the music – while driving- produces a relaxing effect one least expects from this music. For a brief half an hour or so, the world seemed to have slowed down and it sounded beautiful. Andres Segovia, the father of modern classic guitar, declared that
playing the guitar is easy. Playing it well is something else. Kanta Filipina, a collection of Philippine music transcribed for the guitar evokes both characteristics – music that sounds easy to play but difficult to really play well. The guitarist, Filipina Theresa Calpotura, in this album has accorded the music and its composer their rightful place in the illustrious pantheon of Philippine instrumental music.