Posts

Showing posts with the label festival

MassKara 2013, Under New Management

The 2013 Masskara Festival is under new management!  This is the 33rd year of the festival and the new organizer is the Kasadya Bacolod Foundation, Inc . led by its chairman and MassKara Festival Director Mr. Rhoderick Samonte, who according to news feeds, has said that they are working with a minimum budget but, they will try their best to make this year’s festival distinct from past festivals.  For one, they are returning the Trini Lopez Medley , which was used first in 1988. Admittedly the latino medley is very upbeat and rhythmic, but the original music created for last year's Masskara had a distinct local beat and is Bacolod's own. And so, I think the 2012 music should have been retained, given some improvement and remixed.  Listen to both versions which I uploaded below and let me know what you think.

Hugyaw Kansilay 2012

Image
Although I live in Silay, I don't attend the Charter Day celebrations every 12th of June, due to the fact that I am not really a fiesta person and I live far from the city center where all the activities are happening.  But this year, my family and I decided to watch the Hugyaw Kansilay street dancing competition scheduled at 2 PM. We left the house early to find a good parking space and it was a wise decision since traffic was closed by then.  I must say, it was an exhilarating experience watching the participants swaying and dancing to the vibrant beat of the music of "Hugyaw Silay".  All sixteen barangays of the city participated in the competition with Barangay Guinhalaran emerging as the winner.

Flores De Mayo

Image
Traditionally, Flores de Mayo (Flowers of May) in the Philippines is usually equated with a Santacruzan Festival or a procession of "sagalas" with their consorts.  However, the real essence of the Flores is that it is a festival that is held for the whole month of May in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while a Santacruzan refers to the pageant on the last day of Flores de Mayo,  where pretty young ladies (usually from prominent families) dressed in traditional Filipino attire are paraded to represent the different virtues of the Blessed Mother. An Hermana Mayor, usually someone from the community or barangay takes care of the whole procession where devotees follow the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary praying the rosary and singing songs.  The Santacruzan was practiced more in the Tagalog provinces of Luzon than in the Visayas and Mindanao. And perhaps because of it's extravagance, this more than a hundred-years old cultural tradition done in honour of St. Helena (kno

My Masskara 2O11 Experience

Image
After years of indifference, I decided to attend the 2011 Masskara Festival.  I have experienced only 2 Masskara festivities since this started in the 80's...the first time in the mid-80's when I was taking my MBA and classmates convinced me to join the fun in the Bacolod Plaza (at that time, that was the only venue) and last year, when my son dragged me for help with a project to Lacson St.  where it was raining on and off the whole evening. This year, I joined my fellow Negros Bloggers in attending some of the events we were invited to. First stop was the Electric Masskara which is now on it's 5th year.  My friends, and I braved the crowd and pushed our way in to get a good look at the floats. I have no idea which barangay is which but it was great to see the dancers and their beautiful costumes up close. There were still several floats to see but as the crowd was moving, we had no choice but to move along and eventually found ourselves in front of the