Summer In Dumaguete

Summer in Dumaguete means going to the beach, driving or riding into the mountains to find a remote water fall or grotto, or simply relaxing at a cafe or music venue on a balmy summer evening. Being a college town, the students set the tone, (those who do not go back to their province).

Silliman beach is a favorite free beach popular among the locals, It is no frills, but offers a taste of the local life. From there you can move north along the coast or south and find a variety of resorts from modest to garandiose. North of Sibulan there is Sea Forest resort. Going south there are many resorts to chose from beach to pool resorts, to scuba diving resorts.
Mountain lovers will love to explore Forest Camp resort, it has water, hiking trails, ATV rentals, and guided mountain trekking.

Evenings will find many students at Garahe, or any other numerous acoustic music venues. Special musical events are numerous often sponsored by San Miguel Breweries. These feature national recording artists, and some excellent bands visit Dumaguete on these occasions.

What ever your pleasure Dumaguete offers the best of summer at a lesurly pace. A great combination of popular culture and natural splendor is available.

Sunrise Festival

One of the great things about Dumaguete is the diversity you can find here. Speaking now in terms of arts and culture, you can find everything from jazz, art shows, Disco, Rock music, to poetry readings. Traveling shows and festivals also come to Dumaguete streets. The Sunrise Festival is one of these.

The Sunrise Festival is held every year at different locations around the Philippines. Sponsored and produced by the Maharlika Writers and Artists Federation, it presents a view of the Philippines often lost in its rush to join the 21rst Century. It emphasizes Philippine traditional dance and music, as well as contemporary commentary on Philippine life. Any given Sunrise Festival is a mix of concert and recital, dance and sculpture. Not bound by traditional sense of art, Maharlika makes art on the fly, creating both physical manifestations of creative energy, and more ephemeral live music and performance art. When the Sunrise Festival is over after a week of descending on a venue, there is little residue or evidence of its presence. Instead the Festival is about the process, the act of producing an experience unlike that in which most art and music are observed.

If you go to merely watch the proceedings at the nightly festivities, you are very likely to become a participant, applying body paint and dancing with the performers, or grabbing a drum and joining a morning drum circle. It’s like that.

Maharlika celebrates authentic Philippine culture, reinventing ancient arts and combining them with contemporary expressions. The participants, who come from all parts of the Philippines, represent the Elite among Philippine artists. Some bring with them crafts and arts to sell. Camping on site is the preferred lodging, and affords and promotes the communal atmosphere at The Sunrise Festival. Stories are exchanged and old friendships are rekindled.

I was very fortunate to be introduced to these wonderful phenomena by Susan Canoy a local artist in Dumaguete. Affectionately called mother Susan, she is well known here and a very nice person. She was instrumental in getting me an invitation to join the Festival with a display of my Photographs. As the local coordinator for the festival here in Dumaguete during its 2006 visit, she worked tirelessly to line up venues, hang the artwork, and make sure everything went smoothly.

The Sunrise festival has been held in such places as Boracay, and Bagio in 2007, and hopefully will visit Dumaguete again soon. I met some great folks and made some very interesting contacts far a wide throughout the Philippines.

I’ll post a few links to photo sites and information pages. If you get a chance to experience the Sunrise Festival while visiting the Philippines, I highly recommend it.

http://www.angkasama.net/mawf/index.html

Dauin Fiesta

If you visit the Philippines for any length of time, you are likely to witness a Fiesta celebration in a local community. Fiesta is a tradition wide spread throughout the Philippines. Dating back to the time when Spain ruled and dominated the local culture, Fiesta is a unique Philippine take on a European concept. It is regarded as a time to return home and visit family, a homecoming of sorts. Festival is also a time to share your wealth, even if you are poor, with your friends, family, and fellow villagers. This could mean roasting an entire pig and inviting the neighbors, or even sharing a small amount of rice and fish. Festivals happen all through the year, and each community has their own unique date. The larger municipalities usually have parades with elaborate costumes put together by each Barangay. These parades are a prelude to what is called here a “showdown” or competition between the ornately adorned dancers. These showdowns are elaborately choreographed production numbers often with as many as 100 participants. The music is the best part for me. The musicians play percussion instruments, drums of all sizes and make up. Many of the instruments are hammered from steel drums, others are modern band instruments. The rhythms are complex and high energy, influenced by native sounds dating back hundreds of years.

One of my favorite fiesta competitions is in Dauin, a small town just south of Dumaguete. For my tastes, it has the right mix of smallness and well organized competition. Each Barangay tries it’s best to outdo the others with the elaborate native inspired costumes and bone shaking percussive accompaniment. Dauin is a small but wealthy community with a history dating back many hundreds of years. There is an old Spanish mission on the town square which dates back to the time of the early European colonists. Everyone in the larger community participates in some way. All the schools have bands which march in the parade. Even elementary schools have bands with elaborate costumes. Music is a large part of Philippine culture and daily life.
In the Philippines no Fiesta week would be complete without one modern addition to the festivities. That is the nighttime disco. Most towns have an outdoor sports complex which often also serves as the home for a local church or Barangay hall. The basketball court (which sometimes is the Sports Complex) is transformed by traveling DJ’s with high powered amplifiers and speakers. Large sophisticated pulsating Disco lights are strung up overhead on a jury rigged web of poles and wires. Presto! You have a disco. Everyone in town goes to the disco. Ma, Pa, and the kids. If you are a stranger, you won’t be for long. People will try to get you dancing to ensure that you enjoy yourself.
fiesta, you will come away with not only a full stomach, but perhaps a greater appreciation for the true hospitality and friendly attitude of the Philippine people.