Florante’s Interview At the NYC Harana Premiere
Florante Aguilar’s interview at the Asian American International Film Festival’s New York premiere of HARANA. The original publication can be found here. ### Harana is a long-abandoned Filipino courtship serenade, which originated in the Spanish colonial period. In this award-winning ...
Read MorePress Release for HARANA KINGS US Tour
Email: fides@haranathemovie.com, www.haranathemovie.com Hi-‐Res Image Available Upon Request ### FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New Art Media Presents INTRODUCING THE HARANA KINGS San Francisco, CA June 29, 2012 – Master artists discovered in the soon to be released documentary “HARANA” comin...
Read MoreHARANA the Movie Synopsis
HARANA – The Search for the Lost Art of Serenade Upon his father’s death, Florante, a classically trained musician returns to the Philippines after 12 years of absence. During his stay he rediscovers the music of Harana – a long-forgotten tradition of Filipino serenading when me...
Read MoreThe Great Denigration of Composers
I recently had the opportunity to watch this video clip that became viral. It is a 6-minute video based on Don McLean’s anthem of a song American Pie. It is an elaborate set-up that employs a single take which must have required prodigious amount of coordination. It is nice and heartwarming...
Read MoreHarana the Movie Production is Completed
Hello everyone. I know I have not blogged for almost a year. But the answer will be obvious as the fruit of my labor on various projects slowly unfold one by one this year. The most significant among them is the completion of Harana the movie which I co-produced with Fides Enriquez. Six years in ...
Read MoreHarana and the Latin Rhythms
I was once chastised for using a distinctly Latin rhythm on a popular Filipino harana song ‘Sa Gitna Ng Dilim’ on the opening scene of the Harana The Movie trailer. “Travesty!” they say, a bastardization of the noble harana rhythm. “This guy should be shot”, et...
Read MoreWhy do Filipinos Love Sad Pensive Songs?
Admit it. If you’re Filipino, you are a sucker for corny ballads. You go teary-eyed on some of the sappiest American pop songs. Even boxer Manny Pacquiao belts out an old tune from the 70s (Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill) on late Night with Conan. When I was growing up in Cavite in [&h...
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