Choral Music - Nilo Alcala
www.niloalcala.com

Choral Music - Nilo Alcala

I Am Here with You Always (music Nilo Alcala II, text Reggie Alcala)  
World Premiere - Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama
Samford A Cappella Choir  |  Philip Copeland, conductor

On the 20th of January 2021, I lost my dear Mother Reggie to pancreatic cancer. A few days before she breathed her last, I found this original poem of her’s written on the inside front cover of her journal with instructions to share the poem at her wake. Setting her poem into music was not easy, yet truly cathartic and quite healing.


See me in each butterfly
     emerging from its cocoon.

Hear me in the rustling
     of the falling leaves.

Kiss me back when the soft breeze 
     kisses you.

Feel me when your heart
     beats in joy and in sorrow.

I am here with you 
 …always

I Am Here with You Always (music: Nilo Alcala II/text: Reggie Alcala)Samford Acappella Choir

𝐒𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐙 𝐍𝐈 𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐃 (Without Peace or Dignity)*
(from Nuestra Patria, the original Spanish text of 𝐁𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐍 𝐊𝐎)
Letra: 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐨, Musica: 𝐍𝐢𝐥𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐚 

Commissioned by Raoul 'Miggi' Angangco for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Conductor’s Chorus

Composer’s Notes

The song 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐊𝐨 (My Homeland) ranks second only to the Philippine National Anthem as the nation’s most well known and beloved patriotic air. It gained renown especially at the time of the EDSA“People Power” — a bloodless revolution that deposed the Marcos Regime in 1986.

Yet not many know that the original text was in Spanish attributed to Gen. 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐨 and written in light of the 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞-𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐫 from February 4, 1899, to 1902. (Prior to this occupation, the Philippines was a colony of Spain from 1571 to 1898 — totaling 327 years of Spanish tyrannical rule, and yet with it came literacy in the Spanish language.) Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos died in the Philippine-American war, and the Philippines became a territory and later a Commonwealth of the United States until 1946.

Alejandrino’s text directly points a finger to the 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐨-𝐒𝐚𝐱𝐨𝐧𝐬 while the popular Tagalog translation by 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 a.k.a 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 points out the dayuhan — the foreigner. This setting opted to 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 anglosajon with 𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐨 — “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥” to dissipate hate towards a specific race, and to also show that oppression today comes in many forms and from different types of power and privilege. The setting also omits “Filipinas’ to refer only to Patria or Homeland as any group of people can relate to oppression.

The song Bayan Ko is written in kundiman form — an art song structure usually in moderate triple meter, beginning in a minor key and ending in it’s parallel major. Sin Paz Ni Dignidad (Without Peace or Dignity) 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 the kundiman form and uses these ‘deconstructed fragments’ throughout the piece. It also loosely alludes to music of the ‘collective colonizers’ incorporating fragments of a deconstructed habanera as well as moments of pseudo-polyphony and melismatic runs. - Nilo Alcala

*Commissioned by Miggi Angangco for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Conductor’s Chorus)

Sin Paz Ni Dignidad (Nilo Alcala) - Live (excerpt)

Kaisa-Isa Niyan
Nilo Alcala
Performed by the Philippine Madrigal Singers


(Maguindanaon dialect)
Kaisa-isa niyan, 
Kaduwa-duwa niyan 
Katelo-telo niyan Kapating ginapatan 
Kalima ni tagedtal 
Kanem i dagedeban 
Kapito-pito naga 
Kawalo barubugan 
Kasiyam kabankaban 
Kasapolo bindasan

(English translation)
Only one
Only two
Only three
Four work alternately 
Five, too heavy, it disturbs 
Six, a sound so loud 
Seven, a dragon
Eight pounds heavily 
Nine, a box
Ten, a drawer


A composition based on a children’s game chant from Maguindanao, Philippines. This was premiered by the Philippine Madrigal Singers at the 2007 European Choral Grand Prix hosted by the Concorso Polifonico Guido d’Arezzo. This historic victory earned the Madz its title of being the very first choir in the world to win the Grand Prix twice.

Kaisa-isa Niyan (excerpt)- Nilo Alcala/Philippine Madrigal Singers

Ceremonial Burning
words and music by Nilo Alcala

I have fears to burn			
Thoughts too ill to let pervade
I know a flame that quickens inside must purge these wraiths.

I fan this flame and it craves for more kindling.
This torch of courage burns them, nothing escapes.

And when the embers have died
There’s new light…
from the ash

Behold this blaze inside my heart.


Ceremonial Burning (excerpt) - Nilo Alcala/Philippine Madrigal Singers

III. SAGAYÁN (from Mangá Pakalagián) 
Composer:  NILO ALCALA
performed by the Philippine Madrigal Singers
at the 2017 European Grand Prix for Choral Singing


(COMPOSER'S NOTES on MANGA PAKALAGIAN)

Ceremonies: music and community
The playing of kulintang (which refers both to the repertoire played as well as the actual instrumental set of bossed gongs) — is very much integrated in the everyday life of Mindanao communities especially in Maguindanao where the Kalanduyans hail from.  In almost every occasion, there is a specific kulintang piece to be played;  the playing of this music somewhat elevates a community event or ritual into “ceremony status”. 

Mangá Pakalagián is a suite of 3 choral works  that highlight ceremonies or rituals with kulintang at the forefront: 1) welcoming and honoring guests, 2) thanksgiving during harvest, and 3) invoking invincibility in a pre-battle/war ritual.  The three choral pieces are to be introduced by actual traditional kulintang repertoire specific to those ceremonies/rituals, namely 1) Kapagonor, 2) Kaluntang, and 3) Tagonggo.   It took several visits and interviews with Guru Danny, as well as months of personal research before I was able to delimit the scope of the ceremonies to these three.  I then wrote the texts for all three pieces of the suite which was then translated by Guru Danny into his Maguindanaon dialect. 


Ceremony 3:  SAGAYAN (Pre-Battle Ritual)
The traditional kulintang music Tagonggo that opens this ceremony, is originally not intended to be played in concerts.  It is actual ritual music used in 1) healing rituals, 2) driving away negative energy/spirits, and 3) at a pre-war ceremony to invoke invincibility and power.  The playing of Tagonggo  pre-dates Islamic Maguindanao and nowadays has interestingly evolved into music that signifies important festive events, like wedding ceremonies.   Sagayan, the title of the choral work, focuses on the pre-battle aspect of the ritual and is also the traditional name of the dance ritual that is accompanied by Tagonggo. 

Related to this pre-battle ritual is Kasalawat, a practice of chanting to seek for blessing. The choral piece begins with a Male solo chant,  seemingly initiating the ritual which then proceeds to a rhythmic ritual dance music.  This ritual dance music has a slow interlude to be sung by the women of the chorus in which I imagined the wives of the Maguindanaon warriors pleading for their husbands.  

The work closes with the kulintang ensemble and the chorus coming together in a mélange  of rousing traditional melodies and rhythms with brief segments of kulintang improvisation — all underscoring an imagined ancient battle.

III. Sagayan (from Manga Pakalagian) PHILIPPINE MADRIGAL SINGERS

CROSSING THE BAR 
music: Nilo Alcala
poem: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective
“Water Music” concert
conducted by: Benjamin Arendsen
soloists: Soloists: Artemisz Polonyi and Maya Webne-Behrman
recording: Noriko Okabe
Recorded live June 9, 2018
Church of St. Luke in the Fields, Manhattan, NY
http://www.c4ensemble.org

Crossing The Bar (N. Alcala) C4: The Composer/Conductor Collective

Nilo Alcala’s compositions and arrangements have been performed in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. His choral suite Manga Pakalagian has been hailed as “extraordinary...” (Eric Whitacre), “very fine...” (Morten Lauridsen), “...powerful... spectacularly engaging” (Lauri’s List), “...exuberant and at times hypnotic...”(Cultural Cocktail Hour), and “...scaled peaks of genius” (Asian Journal).

Alcala made history for being the first composer from the Philippines to receive the prestigious Aaron Copland House Residency Award (2017), as well as the first Filipino to be commissioned by the Grammy-nominated Los Angeles Master Chorale and premiered at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. 

Alcala’s awards also include the POLYPHONOS Young Composer Award from The Esoterics (Seattle, WA), the 2nd Prize Asian Composers League Young Composer Award (Israel), and Ani ng Dangal (Harvest of Honor) from the Office of the President of the Philippines. His commissions include the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA); Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival; Korean Ministry of Culture; Asia-Europe Foundation; and premieres by the Metro Manila Concert Orchestra. 

Alcala was composer-in-residence of the Philippine Madrigal Singers (UNESCO Artist for Peace) which premiered his works in international competitions such as the Florilege Vocal de Tours (France); the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (Italy); and events including the American Choral Directors Association National Conference (Dallas, TX); the 9th World Symposium on Choral Music (Argentina); and America Cantat 7 (Colombia). 

An Asian Cultural Council grantee, Alcala is also a Billy Joel Fellow at Syracuse University where he earned an MMus in Composition and received the Irene L. Crocker Music Award. He holds a BM in Composition at the University of the Philippines, graduating Magna cum laude. 

A versatile composer, Alcala also scores for the screen. His music for the film Homecoming (Gil Portes, Director) earned nominations for Best Musical Score at the Metro Manila Film Festival and Star Awards for Movies. He is also part of the composers team for Train Station, a ground-breaking international film by CollabFeature with 40 directors from 25 of countries. Alcala also recently scored White Horse Pictures’ short documentary Candlestick Park Fans (The Last Ticketed Concert of The Beatles) to promote Ron Howard’s “The Beatles: Eighth Days A Week”. He is currently music director of Club Six Studios, a Silicon Valley-based mobile video game company.

Crossing The Bar (N. Alcala) C4: The Composer/Conductor Collective

nilo alcala | composer |