Back in July, French Geographer and Capampangan expert, JC Gaillard organized another Pampanga River Delta trip, text'd and asked me if I was interested in going. I told him sure. Donna has had enough of boat rides. She and Alyce were with us the first time. Check my post "
Flashbacks - Masantol, Pampanga".
It was basically the same route into Pampanga River from Masantol, through the palapat and mangrove forests, except this time instead of going to Sapang Kawayan, we went all the way to Sasmuan. We got off at the consignacion area of Sasmuan, walked around town and even had enough time to have some meryenda of halo-halo and palabok.
We were with a couple of JC's French students along with fellow ANASI member Nancy Lagman and her friends from Minalin. As usual, we were accompanied by Masantol Vice Mayor Bajun Lacap.
I took way too many pictures for me to post them all here. So click
here to check them out on Flickr.com. You won't be sorry, a lot of them are quite pretty.
Due to the launching of PLC (Provincial Language Council) courtesy of the provincial government's Sangguniang Panlalawigan (legislative branch) a whole bunch of cultural activities were held towards the end of August. The PLC was headed by CKS's Erlinda Cruz with outstanding support by ANASI's Romy Rodriguez.
The first event was the showing of the first episode of
Jason Laxamana's Kalam, the first ever Capampangan Telenovela, in SM on August 27. It was attended by the province's luminaries. I felt sort of out of place in my shorts and T-shirt with most of the gentlemen there wearing Barong or at least some nice shirts.
Aldo ning Amanung Sisuan celebration started with the Lecture Series at HAU, August 28 presented by Fr. Venancio Samson, Fray Francis Musni and another lady lecturer whose name escapes me right now.
The day after we went to the capitol to join the parade to the City of San Fernando in support of Aldo ning Amanung Sisuan. There were quite a few people who watched us march the streets of the city.
It's sad that these two events didn't draw a lot of attendance. Before the parade there was talk of not going through with it because there were more people with the two marching bands with us! But our love for the Capampangan advocacy prevailed so we went ahead with the parade. Romy Rodriguez was there for PLC and a couple of Capampangan poets. Nancy Lagman and I represented ANASI. There was lunch and a short program when we came back to the capitol MC'd by Romy. Governor Panlilio delivered a short speech to spearhead the celebration. I couldn't attend the afternoon festivities because I had to go home and prepare for our trip to Baguio for a wedding.
Saturday was the finale where all kinds of things happened at SM Clark. They announced the winners for the Capampangan poetry contest among students from various public schools in the province and there was also a concert towards the evening by some of the bands of RocKapampangan. I heard Mon David was the special guest. It's too bad I didn't get to see it. We were already in Baguio by that time.
On
September 27 Arti Sta.Rita performed their much publicized show
'Pamanuli' at the new HAU Theater, from their US Tour in May. Towards the end of the show was also the debut performance of
MaArti, a group of about 20 ladies 50 years old and above. I was able to drag Donna to watch the show. I think she came mainly because Mon was there as their guest. Most of the members of PAG (Pampanga Art Guild) attended as well.
Below is a picture taken by Bruno Tiotuico after the show. From left to right:
Mike Pangilinan, Edille Paras, Ysagani Ybarra, Andy Alviz, Norman Tiotuico, Borj Jimenez and Romy Rodriguez.
KAM (Kapampangan Art Movement), an Internet forum was created by Ruston Banal Jr. Members are but not limited to Capampangan visual artists. That's probably why I was recruited as a member. There are a few RocKapampangan bands who're also members;
Mental Floss,
Five Against the Wall,
Nora Aunor Fans Club. KAM started an artists' venue called After Shack located on Fields Ave., in Clarkview, Balibago and they had a soft opening on September 13. There were some impromptu performances; the song 'Bulan' by Andy Alviz, pantomime by Norman Tiotuico and Minnie Arceo had me and Edille Paras read some Capampangan poetry. Ysagani Ybarra got tattooed in his infamous loin cloth. He even jammed with the bands.
The grand opening was held on October 4 which was basically the same as the soft opening but a little more formal, with more people and there was an actual cutting of ribbon and stuff with the bands jamming on both openings.
Fellow ANASI and KAM member Levi Buan invited us on his birthday/despedida party on October 9 at his house in Pulung Santol, Porac. He was leaving for Saudi Arabia that weekend. He was home for a few days, he's been working in the Middle East for the past few years. The food was pretty good. Donna and I both had seconds on that potato something casserole he fixed. He and his wife Afric are both good cooks.
