TOWARDS A PBOPLE'S ART

Felipe M. De Leon, Jr.

In Philippines society two great artistic cultures may be observed. One is strongly rooted in
Southeast Asian soil and, through largel;, ignored and misunderstood, continuous to flourish
and bear fruits in many, sometimes unexpected places- The other is of European origin, introduced to us
during the latter part of the Spanish regime and became well-entrenched with coming of the Americans.

The first, which I will call people' art (which includes what we call traditional, indigenous,
ethnic, and/or folk art), exist eve4rwhere in the country especially among our rural and urban populations
whose education is more or less synonymous with the life process in the community rather than with the
artificially structured, essentially theoretical and mental leaming that occurs in a formal set-up such as a
school. It is an art integrated, in myriad ways, with everyday concerns, interest, functions and activities.

The other type, which may be called specialist srt is the product of individuals whose minds are
essentially molded in academic institutions such as a college of liberal arts, or school of fine arts,
literature, music, dance, drama or film. The study of art in these places occurs as a highly specialized
activity, largely devoted to the idea of art as something self-contained. Art is viewed as a separate reality,
abstracted or divorced from other human activities and aspects of individual and social reality. Painting,
for instance, is studied for its own sake, in isolation or apart from the study of other arts (such as poetry or
music) and detached from other concerns of the individual and society (such as developing control over
one's emotions or learning to deal with particular social and dconomic problems).

Art in traditional Philippine cornmunities, in contrast, is acquired in concrete life situations. An

Ifugao child learning his society's dances try imitating his elders is not acquiring a skill in the abrstract. He
is simultaneously absorbing ways of his community and the human and social values implicit in them. A
young girl learning how to sing the pasyon by participating in an actual performance during the Lenten
season is at the same time imbibing the religious, social, economic and musical practices of her
community. The situation permits her and the other members of the community present to express
themselves fully as a whole beings on many levels-physical, emotional, mental, spiritual---who find
greater fulfillment and meaning in dynamically and creatively relating to each other than in living in
isolated, if not alienated, lives.

SPECIALIST ART

The highly comparfinentalized nature of an academic set-up, where people become fragmented (if
not splintered) into separate, narrow concerns called disciplines, favors the concept of art as a highly
specialized activity-art as separate reality, an art that serves no other value but the artistic - an "art- for-
art's sake". This essentially means that the individual artist has cut himself off from the trroader and
deeper concerns of humanity, as well as the social and practical ones of everyday life. Lacking in deep
feeling and creative inspiration because of superficial contact with life, he cultivates as far as possible a
superficially "original" st-vle of art and the forms, materials and techniques associated with it. He
becomes a highly specialized technician or virtuoso in a particular style or "maniler".

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 Further increasing the helplessness of the layman is the inevitable connection between emphasis
on technical virfuosity or brilliance and the high cost of acquiring such a skill, especially in a country like
ours rvhere people seem to find ore value in cultivating interpersonal relationship than in advancing
techniques for their own sake.

The accumulated cost of all this is prohibitive, not within the capacity-and perhaps the interest of
the great majority of the Filipinos - to support, and may prove to be an unnecessary burden in the long
run. How many people can afford or become really interested in buying a piano, organ, harp, French horn,
violin, or bassoon? How many parents can send their children to a school of music, dance, acting, film. or
fine arts? Producing an opera, syrnphony, or ballet, putting up an exhibit of one's paintings or sculptures;
or presenting a recital of one's musical "compositions" involves tremendous expenses that may be
benefitting no one but the moneyed or politically porverful-producers, their close circle of friends, a select
audience, and artists who together constitute a miniscule social elite. The artis! who may be legitimate
members of this elite or are simply rvorking for it, wittingly or unwittingly, provide legitimacy to its
privileged social position.
The excessive importance given to specialization in elite-mass culture creates a vast masses of
people who have practically no training or exposure to the arts, and thus can hardly form an intelligent
opinion about them- This situation makes people easy-prey to thg manipulations of an economic elite who
in collaboration with second class citizens of his artistic and intellectual elite, provide them with a pre-
digested kind of art -- art of a very commercial, mechanical, and sensational nature - suited to their
unrealized artistic potentials. A vicious cycle is created since feeding the masses this simplified,
"stereotyped", fornula - based type of art simply reinforces their undeveloped state instead of raising
their artistic consciousness.

MASS MEDIA REACTORS

The chief instrument by which the economic elite transforms the people into passive
consumer of commercial art is the huge propaganda machinery of the mass media. Using techniques ol-
mass persursion and conditioning, the print and broadcast media can artificially make and unmake
cultural and artistic 'ohits", "best sellers", "superstars", heroes and martyrs, revolutions and counter
revolutions, and the like. When, in as in music, the enormously expensive super propaganda efforts and
the high technology of mass persuasion succeed in stirring up a singing sensation overnight, a superstar is
born. The masses idolize him. They shriek hysterical just hearing the latest gossip about him. They try to
ape his style of singing talking, actiilg and dressing, down to the last detail. In the 1950s this situation
produced our Elvis Presly and Timi Yuro, Joni James, Perry Como, and many other look-and-sound-
alikes of particular "superstars" mainly imported from the West. Forlunately, our "masses" at present look
up to local superstars as well as to foreign ones. Still they are not active participants in the creative
process" They are reduced by the system to the role of mere reactors. The elaborate technical
paraphernalia, economic barriers, compartmentalization of work and separation of art from other activities
of life are obstacles too formidable for anyone who is not a member of the elite to overcome.
A concept of art, then, that permits and promotes the cultivation of the artistic independently of
other functions and values is inevitably of and for a society that is organized into two mutually dependent
sectors are the laymen and masses who became the passive recipients of the products of the other, the
experts or elite who in the words of C. Wright Mills, "tell the man in the mass who he is they give him
identity, they tell him what he wants to be-they give him aspirations, they tell him how to get that way,
they give him technique and they tell him how to feel that he is that way even when he is not-they give
him escape." Mills goes to say that the "gaps between the identity and aspiration lead to technique and/or
to escape. That is probably the basic psychological formula of the mass media today. But as a formula, it
is not attuned to the development of a human being, It is the formula of the pseudo-world which the
media invent and sustain."
 It is an elite-mass culture that prevails in the United States at present, and because of the
pervasive influence of American culture in Philippine societli, is increasingly becomin-u the culture of "
Manila and other urban centers or wherever American influence is strongly felt.

PEOPLE'S CULTURE

Our traditional culture, however, so deeply rooted in our collective psyche, is not one ttrat can
easily be supplanted by an alien culture, no matter how aggressively it tries to assefi itself in our midst.
The concept of art in our traditional or people's culture is entirely different and almost wholly
opposite to the elite-mass culture's as the following characteristics of people's art will show.

I" Arl is integrated with everyday life and not regarded as a separate hunan activity.
2. Art is cultivated together with other human values and not as an end in itself.
3- The arts tend to merge into one-
4. Though there is recognition and appreciation of expertise in art, the creation, performance or
presentation, and experience ofart is not the exclusive preserve ofthe few specialists but one
of col lective participation.
5. Emphasis is on the process of artistic creation rather.than on the finished product. Thus the
worship of masterpieces or the,extreme importance given to the preservation of art objects
does not occur.
6- Artificial, technical, material and formal barriers are not built around the concept of art.
7. There is no necessary connection between the creation, preservation and experience ofart on
one hand, and tremendous material costs, on the other,

In people's culture, art is not a highly specialized activity that calls for highly exclusive places
especially made for art experts of all kinds. There is no need for museums, concert halls, or opera houses
since artistic activity occurs right in the places where people'live work in the context of everyday human
activities. Putting a baby to sleep evokes a hauntingly beautiful lullaby from his mother. A childless
couple praying for a song performs an exquisite dance in fiont of a church. A young man courting the
prettiest maiden in town serenades her with a most lovely and tender rnelody. A pasyon play is
performed and suddenly the whole barrio is transformed into a giant stage. The most practical object of
everyday life--chairs, tables, beds, mats, hats, combs, ornamsnts, utensils, containers, bags, baskets,
costumes, and rnany more are at the same time endowed with aesthetic forms of the highest order.

Obviously, the aesthetic value in these activities and objects merge with those of physical utility,
the religious, social, economic and other cultural values. Art ther does not fall into the trap of regarding
itself as a separate human activity sometime to be pursued for its own sake. It does not become a highly
rarefied specialized, artificial. and esoteric undertaking whose social significance is frequently called into
question since it seems to have no other purpose but to provide entertainment or escape.

THE. UNITY OF TI{E ARTS

This unity of values in people's culture also works for a characteristic integration of the arts. The
balitaw of Cebu pandangguhan of Batangas, awitan of Quezon, pagsindil of Sulu, berso and maskota of
Cagayan, and many others are all living contemporary examples of poetry, music and dance ail woven
into one- A kulintang musical performance among the Maranaw is inseparable from the splendor of their
visual arts, costumes, and dance. Musical instruments among the cultural communities in Mindanao and
Sulu are visual arts masterpiece in themselves.

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 The brief assumption underlying the integration of values and merging of the times is lhat man is
a being of many level--physical, psychic, sensuous, emotional, mental, spiritual--whose survival and
sense of fulfillment depends on the successful integration of these levels. Our senses, in particular, need
to cooperate with each other for our fullest functioning. No one sense must dominate all the others. This is
the reason for the merging of the visual, aural, kinetic, literary and other art forms in people's culture.
One of the most important features of people's culture is the qualiry of opportunity for
participation in the process of artistic creation, performance or presentation and experience. Nobody is
barred from joining in these activities, however ordinary the artistic abiliff of a person may be. Even
though expertise in singing, dancing, musical invention, carving, acting, poetic, imagery, stor-ltelling and
so on is recognized in the communiry, it does not pose an obstacle for others to contribute their share.
There are no "superstars" .In a pasyoz chanting for instance, veteran singers pair with novices, guests are
encouraged to sing with the local residents, beautiful voices are heard together with not so beautiful one's
and throughout the ritual there is practically no intention on the part of one performer to outshine the
others- The spirit and the fact is one of collective participation.
Thus, there is no basis for the separation of performer from audience. Everybody is potentially a
performer and therefore his own audience. The situation does not give rise to the traditional (and
insoluble because of narrow specialization), Western dichotomy of artist and society, artist performer and
spectator audience or art and life.
In the Philippines, manifestations of collective participation is making artistic decisions abound.
Zarzuela rehearsals in the provinces are usually open to the public, thus inviting criticism from those
present. Lantern-making is open everybody regardless of skill and experience. Pasyon singing is not
limited to the best singer in the community. Carving, pottery-making, weaving or making a musical
instrument is everybody's concern.
The emphasis seems to be on the process of the artistic creation or invention rather than on the
finished products arising from it. This, together with the equality of opportunity for artistic productivity,
gives rise to a condition and sense ofartistic abundance so that there is no feeling ofurgency and anxiety
about preserving or hoarding of art objects so prevalent in the West- The worship of rnasterpieces, which
is but another aspect ofpreservation, also does not occur.

BIODEGRADABLE ART

It is but natural for a culture in which only a few people are engaged in the creation of art
masterpieces as in the West, to be extremely careful in preserving these masterpieces and to develop a
cult around thern tantamount to some kind of worship, complete with a whole set of disciplines, theories
and practices for making their significance known and appreciated by the masses and thus to further
confirm their venerable artistic qualities and masterpiece status. The Euro-American disciplines that
undertake these are the interrelated specializations of art criticism, art history, aft theory, connoisseurship,
curatorship, museum management and the like.

In people's culture, all these art related disciplines prove to be irrelevant. The concept ofan art
critic---who is an outsider, a detached observer-- has no place in an artistic activity where everybody is a
participant, as in the Pahiyas of San lsidro Festival of Lucban, Quezon. During the celebration, every
house along the streets on which the procession will pass is adomed with lightly colorful kiping ( large
leaf-shaped wafers made from rice and other ingredients), fruits, vegetables, other products formed into
various artistic designs and motifs. These are done by practically everybody in town. But ao maffer how
beautiful a work is, they will all be dismantled at the end of the day right after the procession. If the

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 people's art tend to be ephemeral it is because the emphasis is not on the art object itself but the joy of
making it.
One reason for the ephemeralness of our traditional art objects is the prevalent use of
biodegradable materials, like bamboo, bark, rvood, reeds, leaves, paper, gourds, animal bones, hides and
other inexpensive materials readily obtainable from the environment.
But this epherneralness is an advantage in a people's culture, since it encourag€s the continuous
creation of art rather than the preservation and worship of a few masterpieces done in the past. Like the
Balinese of lndonesia or the Chopi of Afric4 the Filipino traditional artists sees no need for classics to
keep them in touch with their past, no need to take refuge in the past from the pressures of the present. To
them, it is tlre process of creation that is important the product is relatively unimportant and can be
discarded without compunction a sign of self-confidence on the part of these richly creative artists that
seems to be lacking in the West.

AUDIENCE AS ARTIST

Another example of popular participation is the traditional awitan of Quezon and Laguna wherein
a man and a woman engage in a poetic debate, in song and dancg, with a third person providing the guitar
accompaniment. Apparently there is a separate audience because not everybody is dancing and singing all
at the same time. Many people seem to be just watching the couple perform. But soon somebody from the
crowd asks permission to offer his opinion or a piece of advice on the debate going on, also through song
and dance. Others may do the same as everybody is really encourage to join and share in the activity. And
from the crowd rise cheers, exclamations or spontaneous comments of approval or disapproval for one
party or the other, greatly and directly influencing whatever is happening at the moment. Thus, the awitan
is truly a commlrnal affair and there is no place in it for a detached spectator such as an art or music critic.
Such a relationship between the artist and his community is characteristic of many Asian
societies. According to Koizumi:

"The role played by the audience in the music and theatrical art of Asia is far more important than that of
its European counterpart. Asian audiences are not simply the passive recipient of musical performances, for
they have a more active part in the creation and performance of music. If at a concert in the Arab world no
one encourage the performer with shouts such as aiwah (ust so!) or Allahu akbart (God is great!) he
would probably lose the power to go on creating phrase after new phrase in the fabric of a taksim or
musical improvisation, as well as losing confidence in his own ability to thrill by his musical
inventiveness".

EACH CREATION IS I.INIQI.IE

He more active role played by the people in making active decisions is seen in another as pect of
people's culture: the absence of fixed, mechanical and arbitrary, technical, material, and formal standards.
These are flexible enough to allow for individual taste and creativity. A person may choose or create the
technique, materials and forms suitable to his expressive intentions and capabilities. A particular
Philippine instrument for example, may come in varying shapes, sizes, materials, tone, color, number of
notes (number of strings, finger holes, gongs, blades, etc.), tuning and over-all design so as to allow for
individual differences in physique, finger-span, strength and endurance, technical ability, taste,
temperament. musicality, imagination and spiritual orientation, among the potential performers and
composers of a community. Thus, no two kulintmg sets are identical. They vary from village to village,
from person to person. Mass production, the endless duplication of an item, is out of the question. The

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 variations,of,course,aredonewithinthelimitsofcertairtoonventionsofdesignandformwhich
everybodyinthecommunit.vrecognizesasbelongingtoaparticularinstrument.

Nonetheless,artisticauthoritydoesnotissuefromone.ofafewindividualsinthecommunity.A
by others' Each person
or excellent, will not be copied exactly
style or design, no matter how beautiful
expressessomethingofhimselfinhisworkeverytime'sothatheneverrepeatsexactlywhatanother may say that he is
himserf has done. He may feel insurted if forced to repeat a design- He
person or he
and plethora of forms and
ones. The outcome is an anazingdiversity
capable of creating more beautiful the endless variety of designs
culture can be compared' Just witness
styles to which nothing in elite-mass become a distinct symbol of
pampanga or in jeepney art, which, has
in the lanterns of San Fernando,
All
over the
the admiring attention of many foreigners'
Filipino culture and identiry and has attracted in the mats' hats'
variability of pattern and design maybe seen
counfi-v, the same infinite, irrorrgtl subtle, objects that we
ofrir, brassware, furniture, pottery, sculptures' and many other art
baskets, weavings,
make.
THE ART EXPERT

which was partly brought by. increasing specialization

In contrast, the idea of mass production,
andthepassionforcomfortintheWestfavorsasetupwhereintheartisticdecisionsaremadebyjustone
orafewexpertswhosedesignsorcreationsareexecutedinaSense,consumedandreproducedinlarge of this process are often
by a passive, non-creative labor force, as in a factory' The final product
quantities
masses of people who have to be
amused' diverted or entertained
then foisted by the elite-few upon large and economic
making crucial sociar, cultural, political
for not being allowed active participation in
decisions.Theybecomethepassiveconsumers,thevictims,ofsocialmanipulationandengineeringwho
gocrazyforfads,hits,bestr"ll".randsuperstaridolswhosestyles'mannersandformstheytrytheirbest
of human rather than
creativity, uniqo"r*rs, and development
to imitate at the expense of their individual
as mechanical beings'
a
by the few controllers of the media to become
observe how a Song or dance style, engineered
that they sing nothing else
,.hit,, or ,ocraze,, so dominates the consciousness of the masses (mostly urban)
comes along. They even take price
in copying-mindlessly-
or dance nothing else until the next fad
mechanically-thest5rle,manners,gesturesandappearanceofthe..superstaf'whoapparentlystartedit
all.

Comparedtopeople(withelegantlyflourishingtraditionalcultures)thesemassesare will be performed

in Mindanao ulld s"lu' no song or dance
impoverished. Especially in Northern Luzon, expressive and
way by two individuars. Every person alters or creates it anew to satisfy his
in the same (rnouth harp) in the
creative urge. Thus, we have hundreds
or .tyl", of the aglam in the north, kubing
in sulu, pandanggo or jota in Luzon and the
south, orpasyon in Luzon and dances like the pangalay
Visayas.

Suchcreativeartisticfreedomhardlyexistsinelite-masscultureinwhichanartsong,sonata.
product even though it may
pas de deux, orthree-act play is
presented as a finished, completed' unaltered
needs and
to particurar social, culturar, material and spiritual
have been created in the past in response
conditions that may no longer be existing-

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 TI]E ADVANTAGE OF ILLITERACY

The fact that artistic instructions are not written on paper but in &e minds of people gives them
the freedom to alter these according to the situation and expressive needs of the moment. This is
particularly true in the performing arts-music, drama, dance, story-telling, and poetry-rvhere the
performer-creator has to be especially sensitive to the feelings and response of his audience/co-performers
and the total social situation for maximum artistry, interaction and effectiveness. This is one important
reason why set pieces, those that are predetermined or planned from beginning to the end, i.e., the
standard musical, literary, theatrical compositions like Chopin's Fantasie lrnpromptu, Keat's Ode to a
Grecian Urn, or Bizet's opera in Carmen are the exception in people's culfure. Instead, find, we find
that most songs, epics, dances and plays change with each presentation. Each new performance is actually
a new creation. Such a concept of artistic creation insures a maximum integration of creator, performer,
audience, and situation. Art and life become one.

The standardization and mechanization of techniqug materials, forms and products in elite-
mass culture actually favors those individuals who have the means and inclination to work creatively
within these fixed standards. They actually bar the vast majority of people from active participation. Take
the piano, for instance, whose keyboard, size and shape, distance between keys, tone color, characteristic
amplitude, timing, etc. effectively discriminate against individuals who may not have the right physique,
finger span, strength, and temperament for it. But the piano is practically identical everywhere. In
particulaq a person who may desire to change its tuning (called equal temperament and pegged to an A-
440 standard) will run into some difficulty because of its, fixed and highly mechanized nature. The
Spanish guitar with its fixed fiets is not much better even if the tuning pegs are easily manipulable.
Compare these with the highly variable tuning system of the koto of Japan, sitar of India, or of our
kudyapi, the very frets of which are movable.

In people's culture there is a wide range of techniques available from the simplest to the
most elaborate, encouraging everyone from the most inexperienced child to the most sophisticated adult
to create art. This also applies to the choice of materials, which are not limited to those with highly
durable, permanent qualities, but open to whatever is widely available in a particular locality. Thus, we
get the whole gamut from the widely obtainable techniques and materials from making the palaspas to
the less available ones for making Maranaw brassware. In every case, a high aesthetic quality is achieved,
demonstrating that art is not to be equated with use of particular techniques, procedures, materials, and
forms. It is rather the use of whatever technical, material and formal means are available for the
attainment of functional, symbolic, creative and aesthetic qualities, which are the true ends of art. The true
creative artist is he who can turn any,thing into art.

The standardization mechanization of artistic products in elite- mass culture-- in make, materials,
techniques, procedures-- with a strong tendency toward highly finished, permanent objects not only limits
their artistic possibilities but inevitably raises the cost of producing them. Tremendous expenses are
necessarily involved in the production or presentation of concerts, recitals, ballets, opera, or the exhibition
of paintings, sculptures and so on, without doubt limiting the creation and enjoyment of the art to the
moneyed elite.

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 Having described the characteristics of people's art and contrasted them with those of elite - mass
art, we rcalize that many of these characteristics are the exact opposite of w-hat people in the West would
associate with art. Indeed, fine art in European culture is usually that which is independent of practical
utility, unintegrated with everyday life, the creation of specialists, expensive and regarded as an end in
itself. If we limit our concept of art to the specialist kind, we may think of our people's art as not art or, a
best, of a crude or primitive kind.

To the minds of most people in the West or of Westernized Filipinos, this is precisely what is
suggested by the term folk, ethnic, indigenous or traditional art. Many do nat even regard it as art but as
craft. Nothing could be further from the truth. For these terms do not connote degree of artistic excellence
or the lack of it. ( i.e., they do not represent a stage of artistic development) but a type of art that is the
creation of a particular type of culture. There are fine and crude examples of folk art in the same way that
there are fine and crude examples of the so called "fine" ( or academic, modern, or avant- garde) art in the
West, [t is misleading and dishonest to label a work of art folk just because it is poorly made. Many
examples of folk, ethnic, traditional or people's art in our country are among the finest expressions of the
human spirit, creativity and ingenuity. They are the manifestations of a truly fine art. To mention a few;
the playing of Amal Lumuntud of Magindanaw on the kulintang or of Sumaon Sulaiman, also of
Magindanaw, on the kudyapi; tiruray hats with their extremely fine weaving; Paete woodcarving;
Maranaw brassware; the playing of Janatyan Ahaddas of Basilan on the gabbang: Kalinga nose flute
playing; Tiruray dancing; pis siyabit woven cloth of the Tausug of Sulq or Okir of Lanao.

Filipinos who have been educated in the Western way or conditioned by the massive propaganda
for Western elite-mass culture in our midst have disidentified with our people's art to the extent of
denigrating it as inferior and primitive, if not ignoring it altogether as arts. Such thinking has no basis in
fact. And is mainly the result of ignorance and lack of exposure to the excellence of our traditional arts.
On the contrary, the best representative of our people's culture - the so called "ethnic" Filipinos or
northern Luzon, Mindoro, Mindanao and Sulu, Palawan, lowland folk in Luzon and the Visayas, and
traditional communities even in urban places like Manila and Cebu - have never succumbed to the error
of dichotomizing a* and life and serving art at the expense of the integrity of the community or the
individual. Unlike the West, our people's art has always been a way of making oneself whole and of
harmonizing oneself with others, with nature and with life.

The humanism of this way speaks with a clear and unmistakable voice.