And he was: David Byrne in Manila

Many years ago, David Byrne said in an interview that he didn’t buy much contemporary pop music because you just “absorb it through osmosis”. I guess the idea that we passively soak up our environment must have struck a chord for me have to have retained it for so long and I was reminded of the comment when I read David’s funny and perceptive account of his week in the Philippines last month. As I guess many people know by now, he was here to research his forthcoming musical (with Fatboy Slim) on Imelda, “Here lies love”.

Byrne’s open, “osmotic” approach to this difficult city was such a relief after the whining we have to endure from many visitors and long-term foreign residents. Although he is a famous rock star and could have stayed in any one of Manila’s glitzy hotel palaces, he checked into an obscure little place by the bay, brought his fold-up bike with him, and cycled everywhere. He even said “It’s a great place for walking”! Respect! He pulled me up, he really did.

He has a pleasant, unegotistical writing style, and a sure feel for the “conflation of fantasy, personal pain and politics” that runs through Philippine history. I was a bit doubtful about the Imelda project when I first heard about it. It seemed it could only sustain the trivialization of the unspeakable Imelda that has prevailed in the global consciousness for the last 20 years. Either that or it would simply recount the many crimes of the Rose of Tacloban—from grand larceny and simple bad taste to her alleged lead role, with General Ver, in the assassination of Ninoy Aquino*—in which case it probably wouldn’t be much of a musical. Most of us would veer off towards one of these poles, but if anyone can find some interesting ground between the frivolous, the vindictive and the emblematic Imelda, I guess it is David Byrne.

The Philippines is, of course, the kitschiest of countries (personified by the musical’s subject matter), and it is no surprise that this aspect should appeal to someone with such an acute ear for the absurdities of American popular culture:

Yellow was adopted [as the colour of the 1986 “People Power” revolution] due to the song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” which was adopted in celebration of the return of [Ninoy] Aquino to the Philippines — the welcoming crowd wore yellow. Surreal, these pop connections — a connection between Tony Orlando and Dawn and a grass roots uprising that overthrows a dictator — it makes my head spin.

Tony Orlando: Revolution Rock

By the by, there was another beautiful “pop connection” in the report of yesterday’s Black Nazarene procession.

"An hour before, marching bands simultaneously played party music like “Hawaii 5-0” and “Get This Party Started” while different statues of the Black Nazarene were paraded in streets surrounding Plaza Miranda."

The image of 600,000 people (not a typo) crushed into the tiny Plaza, listening to the theme tune from Hawaii 5-0 while waiting to get within 100 yards of a bogus religious artefact (since 1998 replicas have been used, while the original has stayed in the church), is about as pure a piece of modern Filipiniana as you can get.

Anyway, that was our visitation from the great man. Many of the people mentioned in David’s article are friends of ours (also see Carlos Celdran’s account and photo) and he visited North Sy-Quia, where Frayed has her apartment. Grrr. I am green with envy that we were out of the country when one of the heroes of my youth came to town. Still, everyone said he was really charming and I doubt whether you could say that about too many of the heroes of my youth. Perhaps if I get my osmosis working I’ll be able to absorb some of his aura from all the David Byrne tales that will float around town over the next few weeks.

*"While American diplomats and intelligence officers are uncertain and disagree among themselves about the nature of [Ferdinand] Marcos's involvement, most believe that the cumulative weight of the circumstantial evidence points to Imelda Marcos and her brother Kokoy in the conspiracy. ... The two were motivated, some American officials concluded, by their belief that Marcos was dying and by Mrs Marcos's desire to run the country if he did. (Raymond Bonner, Waltzing with a Dictator, p 349).

Comments

[butch]

DB was here for only one week. He left Manila for New York on Christmas morning. Al, I'm looking forward to stories and pictures of your travels in India.

[Skunkeye]

I'm sorry you two missed DB's visit!
His lenghty post is remarkably insightful and honest and I really enjoyed it. I am impressed he rode his portable bike around Manila - people thought I was crazy for all the walking (target), jeepeneys, and busses I took while there but thats the best way to experience things. DB also made me homesick and miss all the wonderful experiences with creative, welcome Manila denizens like you and Frayed! anyways, hope to visit spring/summer....

[torn]

Butch, thanks, I'll correct it. That's even more impressive--he seems to have acquired more understanding of the country in 7 days than many who have lived here for 10 years!

Taylor, what you say is so true. The airconditioned car between airconditioned office and airconditioned luxury hotel/home that is most foreigners' experience of Manila is so limiting. I admit that I have not yet taken to pedalling down EDSA to work, but I do at least get the MRT every day. You must assuage that homesickness by returning here soon!

I am disappointed that neither of you commented on the lovely photo of Tony (the Che Guevara of the Philippines).

[Major Tom]

It's kinda sad that David Byrne's visit here was not so publicized. I almost did not know about it if I didn't come here. As a new wave enthusiast, I am a great fan of his even from the Talking Heads years.

You must have hit the right point; An Imelda musical may not be as viable as say, Evita or Miss saigon because her story lacks that significant human experience that an audience of stage plays usually long for. Her being still scot-free and virtually unaffected by her past misdeeds, if there'd be as to be pressume in the play I suppose, would render her story so lacking of justice at the end of it all.

[torn]

Major Tom -- I agree. The absence of justice and closure is one of the central facts of Philippine life (and one of the main reasons for the country's lack of progress) and nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the fact that Imelda Marcos is still swanning around town.

On one level, the failure to bring people like the Marcoses and their allies to justice can be seen as a simple failure of institutions, in this case the justice system. However, it seems to me that there are deeper sociocultural roots to all this, and that these have positive as well as negative aspects.

Filipinos are forgiving people, it seems to me. Contrast the attitude of Filipinos and Chinese (from mainland China) to their former occupiers, the Japanese. Filipinos seem to bear no grudges at all against the Japanese, while the Chinese are still bitter about their suffering during the second world war and obviously just waiting for the chance to get their own back. I can quite understand the Chinese point of view, but on balance the response of Filipinos seems a better way of dealing with the past. You can't fight the second world war for ever.

On the other hand, the lack of any resolution to deep, deep, problems (in the personal as well as the political sphere) means that they never go away, their influence lingers like the dried sweat on yesterday's clothes. That ain't healthy.

[HALFORD E. JONES]

Nice website and also the other link with multiple pages. I don't have time to comment too much but there are some things that might be said further on some of the items covered,etc. But I will say, that when I was in the Philippines, 1963-19-65 and then 1966-1968 and again from 1972(under martial law) until 1980, the Japanese went from being in danger for their lives in some areas(such as Cavite) to being accepted because of their work in mining,etc. and then when the Japanese tourist boom came parts of Manila looked like Tokyo with Japanese signs, especially in the Ermita. Don't be fooled too much by this notion of 'forgiveness'. The principle of SIR(smooth interpersonal relations) operates along with some other things. It would not take much to have an incident where by something a Japanese does to trigger some violence and hostilities,etc. You can read about me at http://museum.hikari.us/ under Filipino Martial Arts. Have to dash now. Keep up the good work. Halford Jones