Choral Music - Nilo Alcala
www.niloalcala.com

Choral Music - Nilo Alcala

Tune in today’s CULTURE CAROUSEL with Irene Obligacion for an interview with Mark Carpio, the choirmaster of the Philippine Madrigal Singers (also known as MADZ). He talks about the 2021 Sing Philippines Youth Choir virtual music camp and performance. We’ll also hear recordings of batch 1 to 3 of the Sing Philippines Youth Choir with choirmaster Mark Carpio. Songs from the Philippine Madrigal Singers’ recently released digital album F.L.O.W. (Faith Lives on Wondrously) are also in the program.  
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All music on the program features with permission from the artists.

CULTURE CAROUSEL 21 0710 |  Sing Philippines Youth Choir Virtual Music Camp

In this MAESTRO FILIPINO, DZFE's Tiffany is in conversation with the exuberant composer Nilo Alcala, whose work — particularly choral music — has been on the ascent among Filipino ensembles, and has also been performed abroad. Part 1 of our two-week feature on his choral music ventures into the texturally and thematically diverse world of his album /Onomatopoeia/ with the Philippine Madrigal Singers. 
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All music on the program features with permission from the composer.

MAESTRO FILIPINO 21 1204 | The Choral Music of Nilo Alcala, Pt01

The elegiac music of Nilo Alcala and a recent string transcription by the dynamic young composer are heard and discussed on this week’s MAESTRO FILIPINO. DZFE's Tiffany presents. 
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All music on the program features with permission from the composer.

MAESTRO FILIPINO 22 0409 |  Composer 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)

Gloria - Nilo Alcala

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

Dogalen A Mabaso (excerpt) - Nilo Alcala
Philippine Madrigal Singers

Dogalen a Mabaso is a folk tale from the Maranao people of Southern Philippines. Here's the English translation of the tale:

Hear Dogalen a Mabaso's story - a woman who fell in love with Sultan Sa Ilaho.

She snatched a lucky charm from an old woman to enchant him. But the lucky charm fell from Dogalen a Mabaso's window and into Raga Batagigirao's hands. Then Sultan Sa Ilaho passed by and Raga presented the lucky charm to him. He was lured by the charm and fell in love with Raga Batagigirao, breaking Dogalen a Mabaso's heart.

Dogalen A Mabaso (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

Performed by the Syracuse University Brass Ensemble.
John Williams/arr. Peter Graham
July 2013

Olympic Fanfare

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

Composer: Nilo Alcala
Poem: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Conductor: Benjamin Arendsen
Soloists: Artemisz Polonyi, Maya Webne-Behrman

Recorded live June 9, 2018 at Church of St. Luke in the Fields, NY
Audio recording: Noriko Okabe

cover art by Byron Gibbs

http://c4ensemble.org

Water Music

Crossing the Bar

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

Three Kalinga Chants by Nilo Alcala
Recorded live in performance on March 6, 2019 by Vox, our mixed voices small ensemble.

Based on the music traditions of the Kalinga tribe of the Northern Philippines. Incorporates lullabies and work songs sung by Kalinga women. Sung in Kalingan dialects.

The composer writes: 

“The chants in this choral setting are based on the music traditions of the Kalinga tribe who is part of a larger ethnic group called Igorots (Cordillera, Northern Philippines). Wiyawi is the Kalinga word for lullaby. The sound of the word wiyawi, repeated in the lullaby, is said to effectively lull a baby to sleep especially on a hot afternoon. Salidumay is a word with no direct translation but is widely used in countless Cordilleran songs that express thanksgiving, worship, and courtship among other positive themes. The gibberish phrase 'dang dang ay si dong ilay, insinali-salidumay' is commonly heard in songs during festive occasions and celebration. Mambayu is a popular rice-pounding song among Kalinga women. The syllables 'hiya' and 'hng' imitate the sound women make as they pound rice using wooden mortar and pestle. The rhythmic character and tempo of the chant accompanies the task perfectly, making the chore enjoyable.

“While Salidumay and half of Mambayu in this setting are fully composed, they draw from the essence of the indigenous chants. All three chants, associated with Kalinga women, are meant as tribute to the late Philippine National Artist Andrea O. Veneracion (founder of the Philippine Madrigal Singers) who was responsible for the growth of Philippine choral arts and its literature, especially of compositions based on indigenous material.”

Pacific Voices

Kalinga Chants

Christmas Eve - Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962, England)
Soloist: Jenny Spence

Our newest CD features holiday choral music from England, France, and Germany, plus readings from soldiers who lived through the Christmas Truce of WWI. Silent Night was recorded live in 2018 at Bastyr University Chapel, and marked 100 years since the end of the “war to end all wars.” Treat yourself to this musical celebration of an inspiring peace during wartime. More information or orders at seattlepromusica.org/cd-store.

British composer Gabriel Jackson was born in Bermuda in 1962, and is best known for his choral music, especially for his choice and setting of texts. While he cites Michael Tippett and Igor Stravinsky as influences, he is also drawn to soul and R&B. In Christmas Eve, he uses an interesting vocal effect to imitate the warbling of birds, as expressed in the text.

Christmas Eve
Poem by Christina Rossetti

Christmas has a darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas has a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas has a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.
Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven has answering music
For all angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Christmas Eve

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

Ceremonial Burning by Nico Alcala
Text: 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.

In 2009 I first read the poem “An Autumn Burning” by Wendell Berry. The poet speaks of having pages of “words to burn: leaves of…wasted words”. The poem ends on a hopeful note, as it describes new “life beyond words”
springing forth from those burnt pages. I was taken with the imagery of the text and meditated on this poem for several days without thinking about how the music should sound. Eventually, I took the text, crossed out a huge chunk of words from it, and strung together a new poem, as if my own ritualistic burning of words. The resultant poem surprisingly retained the essence of the original which was for me a burning of the old, and a rebirth of something new. Not long after, I started to hear the music in my head, and in my imagination it was a mystical, ritualistic burning of these symbolic words.Years after, I tried to revisit the work and felt another ritualistic burning of words was needed. I totally discarded the excerpts from Berry’s poem and penned a new one. This purging now involved the burning or
letting go of fears. This time the speaker emerges and in possession of a newfound courage.

Ceremonial Burning by Nilo Alcala

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.

Dogalen A Mabaso (excerpt) - Nilo Alcala/Philippine Madrigal Singers

nilo alcala | composer |

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