Celebrating Rolando Tinio 81st Anniversary in the Vernacular
On March 5, 2018, the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Department of Filipino of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) celebrated Rolando S. Tinio's 81st birthday. Tinio is a former educator in ADMU who helped establish the Filipino Department and a National Artist for Theater and Literature. He founded the Teatro Pilipino, a drama company dedicated to reviving Filipino drama by restaging old theater forms such as the zarzuela and translating old Western classics into the national language. Outside of theater, Tinio writes film scripts. The most recent staging of one of his scripts is Ang Larawan, the musical adaptation of Nick Joaquin’s stage play, A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino.
The event, held in the Escaler hall, began with opening remarks delivered by one of Tinio’s former students and Ateneo’s current Vice President of the Loyola Schools (VPLS), Ma. Luz C. Vilches. Her recollections of Tinio as a daunting instructor induced chuckles among audience members in her generation. Vilches recounted multiple stories of Tinio not only as a strict teacher but also as a novel thinker with firm opinions.
Afterwards, three poetry readings were performed by three different professors from ADMU. The first was “Sa Poetry” read by Devi Paez followed by “Ang Burgis sa Kanyang Almusal” read by Jing Panganiban-Mendoza, ending with “Valedictation sa Hillcrest” read by Jean Page Tan. Tinio’s satirical voice interspersing Tagalog and English was immediately evident upon first hearing. The readings cast humorous light on awkward Taglish, eventually causing one to realize it is the language of Filipinos of high social standing.
Next was a reading from an excerpt of Tinio’s play, May Katwiran ang Katwiran. The work is yet another satire, with themes revolving around social class rather than merely sociolects. It tells the story of a rich woman who manipulates a worker in her hacienda to help dispose of the body of her lover. The rich woman traps her worker in her fallible yet convincing logic until the worker herself is also coerced into becoming complicit in the crime. The play was directed by Jerry Respeto and Jethro Tenorio and performed by Missy Maramara, Skyzx Labastilla, and Vene Rallonza. With the lack of ample space for a full-blown theatrical performance, minimal preparations were made in costume. Three chairs were used, while a projector was utilized to indicate changes of scene. Despite this, the performance was cleverly blocked and the cast communicated the scenes exceptionally well.
Finally, the audience’s ears were entertained with Tinio’s Filipino wit in his salinawit, Filipino adaptations of songs originally in different languages (typically English). With Krina Cayabyab accompanying Cris Villonco’s soulful singing, the duo gave life to three songs. The first was “Sa’n Pa Ba Ibig Magpunta?”—a salinawit of “Do You Know Where You’re Going To?” from the movie Mahogany. The second and third songs were jazz standards entitled “Langit Mo, Ulap Mo,” an adaptation of “Summer Me, Winter Me” (popularized by Frank Sinatra) and “Ako’y Bakyang-Bakya,” adapted from “The Lady Is A Tramp” (popularized by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett).
The care in Tinio’s choice of words is made obvious upon further analysis of his salinawit. Instead of using mere transliterations, the lyrics were altered to fit not only the Filipino sentence structure but also to allow the songs to embody a truly Philippine context. This was most evident in the second and third songs. In “Langit Mo, Ulap Mo,” winter could have been translated to taglamig, alienating most local listeners as the Philippines does not experience the season of winter. The use of langit and ulap, however, made for a more relatable context, referencing the country’s summer and rainy seasons respectively.
“Ako’y Bakyang-Bakya” was even more entertaining, drawing inspiration from Philippine class distinctions to describe how the woman in question was not a classy socialite, but someone you would see casually walking in the streets. The references to Oropesa and Yves St. Laurent increased the relatability of the song during the time it was premiered.
Cris Villonco’s singing was also worth praising. Having already sung covers of Ryan Cayabyab’s works, arrangements like those of the salinawit were naturally within her comfort zone. The experience and maturity in her voice from years of theater and television work was evident. Her command of the stage was dynamic and elegant, making it difficult to look away from her performance. The only issue I had was with her low notes in “Langit Mo, Ulap Mo.” The key of the song was probably too low for her range, but her technique was excellent throughout her performance. Everything else about her singing—from her vibrato to her vocal attack—transformed the lyrical pieces into performances entirely of her own style.
References: [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]
"National Artist - Rolando S. Tinio." National Commission for Culture and the Arts. June 3,
2015. Accessed March 6, 2018. http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-artists-of-the-philippines/rolando-s-tinio/.
Photos by Aldwin Lineses and Franklin Llenaresas