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Part 2

Teatro Junquera (later Oriente) in Cebu City
showed Cebuano sarswela and Spanish
zarzuelas, Italian opera, and American-style
bodabil in the early 1900s. Plays by
Buenaventura Rodriguez and Florentino
Borromeo were staged with a complement of as
large as a 32-member orchestra. Then, one must
also consider that, beginning with the Spanish
period, the social calendar was filled with religious
festivities that created occasions for musical
performances. In later years, Cebuano movies
and radio programs also stimulated the creativity
of composers and performers.

The 20th century saw the advent of the music
recording industry in the Philippines. In the 1920s
and 1930s, Cebuano songs and singers were
recorded on phonograph discs. In 1929 for
instance, the premier Cebuano singer of the time,
Conception Cananea, had already cut 27 songs
for Disko Odeon while her husband, composer
Manuel Velez, had 12 songs recorded. (Velez
also owned at this time the Santa Cecilia music
Store in Cebu City, which sold musical intruments,
sheets, and phonographs). In 1931 there was an
Odeon Palace in Cebu City selling phonograph
records of compositions by Velez, Brigido,
Lakandazon, Piux Kabahar, Hermenegildo Solon,
Rafael Gandiongco, Ben Zubiri, Domingo Lopez,
and Tomas Villaflor.

Songs composed during this period included "Sa
Kabukiran" by M. Velez, with lyrics by Jose
Galicano, "Rosas Pandan" and "Kamingaw sa
Payag" by Domingo Lopez, "Salilang" and
"Dalagang Pilipinhon" by Celestino Rodriguez,
"Wasaywasay" by Piux Kabahar, "Aruy-aruy" by
Tomas Villaflor, "Garbosong Bukid" by
Hermenegildo Solon, and "Mutya sa Buhat" by
Rafael Gandiongco. The prolific character of the
prewar and immediate postwar period can be
inferred from the large number of Cebuano
composers: Vicente Rubi, Emiliano Gabuya, S.
Alvarez Villarino, Diosdado Alferez, Manual
Villareal, Dondoy Villalon, Vicente Kiyamko,
Estanislao Tenchavez, Ramon Abellana, and the
Cabase brothers (Siux, Sencio, Narding, and
Mane). In addition, Cebu produced excellent
performers and singers: the couple Manuel and
Concepcion Cananea-Velez and their daughter,
Lilian Velez, Eulalia Hernandez, Teodora Siloria,
Presing Dakoykoy, Pablo Virtuoso, and Pilita
Corrales.

In time, the growing dominance of Western music
and the promotion of Tagalog music eclipsed
Cebuano music composition. Musical activity,
however, has remained active in Cebu through the
work of such composers, teachers, and performers
as Pilar B. Sala, Rodolfo E. Villanueva, Ingrid SalaSantamaria, and the Cebu Symphony Orchestra.
Promotional activities by such groups as the Cebu
Arts Council, Cultural and Historical Affairs
Commission, Cebu Arts Foundation, Cebu Popular
Music Festival which has done notable work in
encouraging Cebuano composition of popular
songs, and local music schools and radio stations
have encouraged composition and performance in
Cebu. There are indications that Cebuano music
composition may again be entering a new
energetic phase in its history.