WITH BEETHOVEN UNDER PALMS (XVII)

 

Chapter XVII: Off to the New World

Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out what's great about a culture. That's exactly what Czech composer Antonin Dvorak was when he came to the U.S. at the end of the 19th century, an immigrant thrown into a new world and new sounds.

Out of that experience, he wrote a symphony for America: Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, subtitled "From the New World," has become one of the world's most beloved orchestral works. It also produced a melody that is a hymn and an anthem to what American music can be.

In February 1992, Rossana and I reached the New World, the United States of America after two flights with British Airways from Berlin to London and then from London to Los Angeles. It was my second stay in the U.S. In 1975, I visited America and Canada already for a tent tour visiting the complete west coast of both nations up to Alaska.

This time, we visited some members of our family, who emigrated to Los Angeles and San Diego after our wedding in 1983. 

Uncle Boy, Auntie Gigi, our nephews Dustin and Bebeng as well as their partners reside in Santa Monica until now. 

The sprawling beach and consistently sunny weather of Santa Monica is less than 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles, significantly adding to the seven million visitors this seaside city receives each year. The epitome of Southern California coastal appeal, Santa Monica has an energy spurred by the lapping waves of its western border, and a visceral excitement found on the pedestrian-friendly streets, buzzing with activity well into the night.

Rossana and I forgot Germany for several weeks. Uncle Boy asked several times whether we didn't want to emigrate to them. Our heads spun ... . 

"Let's visit Mexico first and then we decide where we are emigrating!" Rossanna said this so seriously that all believed it. But we only reached Tijuana and returned back to the U.S. as soon as possible.

The Universal Studios Hollywood, Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory, Disneyland Resort, Venice Beach, Long Beach, or The Original Farmers Market - really unforgettable, intoxicating weeks. We would meet Uncle Boy and Auntie Gigi again after years in Davao City.

1993 was planned again for the Philippines. My mother, a cancer survivor and then age 70 expressed an amazing wish out of the sudden ... .

(To be continued!)

Typical Filipino (XIX) - Typisch Philippinisch (XIX): "Balagtasan" - Debatten

 

The first balagtasan took place on April 6, 1924, at the Instituto de Mujeres in Tondo, Manila. The event was held at the Instituto de Mujeres (Women's Institute) as part of the celebration of Francisco Balagtas' birth anniversary. The two protagonists of the poetic debate were poets José Corazón de Jesús and Floranto Collantes. The verbal joust became popular among both the masses, intellectuals, and the debutantes. This led to the adaptation of similar literary forms such as the bukanegan by the Ilocanos named after the father of Iloko literature, Pedro Bukaneg. Filipino poets in the Spanish language, specifically Jesus Balmori and Manuel Bernabe, also engaged in balagtasan competitions, and their poetic jousts featured and immortalized in the book with the title Balagtasan: Justa Poetica (1927), with a prologue written by Teodoro Kalaw. Balagtasan saw a significant decline after the death of de Jesus in 1932.

Die traditionelle Debatte legt Wert auf die Form, nicht auf den Inhalt; auf den Vortrag und blumige Bildersprache, nicht auf Logik und Themen. Auf den Philippinen zählt weniger, was man sagt, als wie man es sagt. Dichterwettbewerbe erfreuten sich in der Vergangenheit grosser Beliebtheit. Heute sind sie nur noch in kleinen Städten zu finden. Weil gute zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen das Klingenkreuzen harter Wortgefechte verbietet, scheint der Streit der Ideen Filipinos im allgemeinen nicht besonders anzprechen. Vielmehr ziehen sie die richtige Formulierung vor, um Freunde zu gewinnen. Es ist ein gewandtes Wortspiel, um ein Lächeln auf die Lippen zu zaubern. Die perfekte Strategie, Ärger zu zerstreuen. Ernsthafte Diskussionen und Auseinanderseztungen über Ideen werden auf Konferenzen und Gesprächsrunden kaum aufblühen, Debattenteilnehmer übergiessen oftmals ihre Argumente eifrig mit Zuckerguss oder verwässern sie, um Streit und Erregung zu vermeiden.

The traditional debate focuses on the form, not on the content; on the lecture and flowery pictures, language, not on logic and themes. In the Philippines, what you say matters less than how you say it. Poetry competitions were very popular in the past. Today they can only be found in small towns. Because good interpersonal relationships forbid the cross-cutting of words. The argument of ideas does not seem particularly appealing to Filipinos in general. Rather, they prefer the right wording to make friends. The perfect strategy to dispel anger. Serious discussions and arguments about ideas will hardly flourish at conferences and round tables. Debate participants often eagerly frosting or enhancing their arguments to avoid arguments and excitement.