by Gina Cariño
Home >> Postcard from Manila
Greetings from Manila! Did you ever hear of the Thrilla of Manila? If you like boxing, and if you are as old as I am, then maybe you did. The Thrilla of Manila was an in every sense heavyweight match between Joe Frazier and Cassius Clay, better known as Muhammad Ali. Do you remember who won?
What exactly, if anything, do you think of when you hear or read the word Manila? Chances are you think of Philippine calamities. You think of typhoons, earthquakes, and vomiting volcanoes, when not of child prostitution or of real flagellations and crucifixions at Holy Week. These are not postcard topics.
What if we personalize the question? Instead of what, who do you think of at the sound or sight of the word Manila? Now don’t tell me Miguel López de Legazpi, the Zumárraga-born founder of Manila who died and is buried there. Let’s talk about more recent people.
If you like the world of high-fashion, and if there’s a bit of the morbid in you, then you might remember not a thriller in Manila, but a thriller in Miami starring a killer from Manila! The name is Andrew Cunanan and his last victim was Versace. That gave my country another twenty seconds of notoriety.
Or maybe Manila brings to mind not a man, but a woman? Perhaps one who owned lots of shoes? It’s no big deal, really. What about Spain’s queen of hearts? Hello! She probably owns as many shoes, Blahniks at that, which she breaks in on porcelain tiles as her butler carries pyramids of gold-wrapped chocolate around. Both Imelda and Isabel are proud of their Spanish ancestry.
A Spanish-Filipino that the Spanish are less likely to associate with Manila is Antonio Morales, father to TV’s Carmen Morales. Yes, the Junior of the pop groups Los Brincos and Juan y Júnior. That was back in the sixties, before he went low-key for the sake of the career of RocÃo Durcal. Theirs was a “till death do us partâ€? marriage.
Another mestizo of Spanish showbiz is Luis Eduardo Aute. Few people in Spain know that this cantautor and film director has “Pinoyâ€? blood, was born in Manila, lived there til the age of 11, and learned to speak English with a Manila-boy accent, besides some Tagalog. That’s Aute, who is also a painter and a poet.
Now there’s a giant of a painter who the Spanish think was only Spanish. That’s unfair, for he was just as Filipino. Fernando Zóbel was born in Manila into a very wealthy Manila-based family. The Zóbels are connected to developments in Spain like Sotogrande, but much more to developments and other enterprises and activities in the Philippines itself. Not that this is important. What counts is ART. Zóbel, co-founder of the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca’s Hanging Houses, began his career with Philippine folk subjects, and was as much a Filipino as a Spanish artist till the day he died, neither in Manila nor in Madrid, but in Rome.
And there’s a giant of a half-forgotten Spanish poet who was not Filipino but who, like Aute, had a father who was involved in the Philippine tobacco industry. His name was Jaime Gil de Biedma and I believe he is quite a cult figure. And he loved Manila and Manileños so much that his Retrato del artista en 1956 is the best postcard from Manila I can recommend.
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Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2007-01-25 11:00:00 +0100
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I can vouch that although Gina returned from Manila at the very beginning of this year, the postcards are just getting in!
Until very recently, Manila to me meant the color of the folders we used at school. Now it is a real place, even if only in my imagination and my idea of it is slightly muddled. I am not sure what to think of a place that exudes so much elegance and poverty, culture and Ang Daan Patungong Kalimugtong all at the same time. I imagine it is a land of contrasts. I imagine it like some other places I have been where I felt almost guilty for being there spending my money. But guilty why? It is all luck, after all, isn’t it?
But whatever there is to find in Manila, it is a place I must see. Perhaps a trip to the side of the world I have never been to would be appropriate. A stop in Australia, a stop in Manila, and a stop somewhere else, just for the hell of it. No, I suppose one has to be a lady or gentleman of leisure to be able to spend so much time hopping from one place to another. Call me when I retire…
BTW, greetings from New York!
Ang Daan Patungong Kalimugtong (The Road to Kalimugtong) is a Filipino movie we saw in last year’s San Sebastian film festival, a very long and very slow reality show about extreme hunger and isolation. And I will vouch that Wesley is picking up Taglish (Tagalog+English) very quickly.
Hi Gina!
It’s very interesting article.
I’m a fan of Aute and I know he has “Pinoy” blood. Probably, for that, he is really a Renaissance man!
It’s a surprise for me that Zóbel was born in Manila. I enjoy Zóbel and his apparent simple paints. I discovered Zóbel in Cuenca and the “Casas Colgadas” are a perfect frame for their paints and the paints of other spanish abstract painters like Tapies, Millares, Saura or Mompó.
I recomnend to visit the Museum of Modern Art of Cuenca.
Anyway, I think Manila is more interesting than the topics say.
I promise to read Gil de Biedma’s ” Retrato del artista en 1956 ”.
Like Wesley my first experience of the word ‘Manila’ was as an adjective to describe the colour of products made from Manila hemp such as envelopes and matting.
Then, of course, when I was fourteen there was the famous Thrilla (sic) in Manila where Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier endured one of the most punishing boxing bouts in the history of pugilism.
After that very little apart from Imelda Marcos and her happy feet.
Very little until I met Paola who taught English with me. Then I discovered what a vibrant, interesting and versatile country it is.
Respect for family, veneration of elders and that oft forgotten glue of a civilized society, FRIENDLINESS are still evident in the Philippine people. We would do well to emulate them. Kung ano ang puno, siya ang bunga, as they say.
Puno is tree, bunga is fruit… Whatever that means…
Another good “postcard” is Yo te diré…: La verdadera historia de los últimos de Filipinas, by Manuel Leguineche. It is the revisiting of a famous incident (and a famous song) interspersed with juicy stretches of travel journalism.
Hi!
I’ve got a special admiration about José Rizal … I’m not sure that it´s a really history, but it´s saying that the spoke more that twenty languages, was scientific, surgeon, music, economist, seller, writer, etc. ... completely incredible!! ...
And who has not heard speak about “Mantón de Manila”??, most of it really work of art in silk … in Spain are so typical in the South, due to seller wrapped tobacco with it long time ago … but it was so used by the Chinese high class …
I had no idea that Aute was born in Manila … I know another type of music typical of Filipinas … It´s called “Gong” ... it´s a percussive instrument … I know becouse one friend of mine is teacher of Ethnic music, like Shakuhashi, Koto, Mongol sing, etc. and he bought it in a travel around Filipinas …
I was born in 1975 so I couldn’t enjoy with the rivalry of Muhammad Ali Vs. Joe Frazier in live … curiously, the last match between them was one day before my birthday! ... this match in Manila is so well-know and I’ve seen more than one reportage about it ….
I think Filipinas it’s a wonderful place to know … in my opinion, Gina has a commitment to do of guide in a travell around Filipinas, and specially Manila! ... you don`t think so? ;)
Bye!
Hello Gina,
When I listen to Manila, to me he reminds me to Imelda and Presley.. of course!
But, It’s sure that the most beautiful country is the Filipinas.
Manila, today it’s considered to be a global city. Truly I have surprised about Junior and Aute. Every days he learns something new.
Bye,
Reyes-))
Since the Philippines is one of the most important Asian populations in the USA, there are many famous Filipino Americans. If they aren’t pureblooded, they’re at least half-Pinoy. Let me just mention three:
1) Actress Tia Carrere, whom you may have seen as a female Indiana Jones in the TV series “Relic Hunter” (“Cazatesoros”).
2) Rapper and breakdancer Allen Pineda, artistically known as apl.de.ap, one of the members of The Black Eyed Peas.
3) Nicole Scherzinger, the sexy lead singer and dancer of The Pussycat Dolls.
Thank you, all!
VÃctor, I am truly truly impressed you know José Rizal!!! You know that that pop art-style face in the picture accompanying the article is Rizal, don’t you? He was lots of things (novelist, poet, ophthalmologist… womanizer…) and he lived in lots of places including Heidelberg and Madrid, where he partied with the Generation 0f ‘98. Then, back in Manila, he was executed… As for mantón de Manila, please see my explanation in the Spanish section.
Hello everybody!
I liked reading the article.
For me almost everything I read was new and I found it very interesting.
Regards,
Cristina
Hi.
I don’t know if we could accept the delicious ‘Filipinos’ as something from Phillippines. Filipinos are delicious biscuits, looks like a little doughnut covered with chocolate (I’m able to eat one box of filipinos in 1 minute) ... and now there are a new kind of Filipino with white chocolate and sweets… superbs!!! Gina, why uses this name for this kind of sweets here in Spain?
I imagine Manila like an aromatical city, with many people in the steet, going to the market, or to the downtown to make a trade, with very disordered streets like Sevilla, or Cordoba, with a lot of establishments in the street to sell spices, or fruits, or fishes, and many traffic jams … like Yakarta in the film ‘The year of living dangerously’, or Saigon in ‘The quiet american’. I like so much the cinema, but I couldn’t see ‘Ang daan patungong Kalimugtong’ (The Road to Kalimugtong). I read the synopsis and it looks as a very beautiful film … you could see the trailer here (maybe don’t work).
Hi,
I liked a lot this article, I learnt many new things…I was suprised to know how many famous people are from Manila…
Apart from Imelda Marcos and Isabel Preisler I didn’t have more information about this city.
If I had to choose a word to define Manila, I’d choose “exotic”. I’ve never been there, and I’m looking forward going.
regards,
Begoña.
Hi everybody
The true I have hard about Manila that Gina speaks and Imelda Marcos’ shoes and I. Preysler.
Thanks Gina to show us that in your country there are something more that poor people and calamities.
Angeles Simón
Antonio, I like Filipino cookies, too! When they first reached the market, I remember that some Filipinos living in Spain complained about the name chosen for the product. But I didn’t feel offended by the name at all. In fact, I think it’s flattering for such a sweet and tasty delicacy to be named after us.
For, in a way, Filipino cookies are a metaphor of Filipino people. We’re relatively small, we have rounded features, we’re sweet, and people like us. The different colours also represent the different ethnicities you’ll find in the Philippines. Brown (milk chocolate) is for the original Filipino, black (dark chocolate) is for the Negrito tribes (they’re really called like that, I’m not kidding!), and white is for the mestizos and for the Chinese population.
What would a product named ‘Espanoles’ look and taste like?
As for Antonio’s image of a crowded, cluttered, chaotic, “aromatic” city… Well, yes, maybe some parts of Manila can be described like that. Others, not at all. As someone said at the start of this forum, Manila is a place of contrasts.
Hi Gina!
I know Rizal becouse I’ve read a lot during my adolescence! ... I devoured all books that dropped in my hands, and I read a old collection of books about historical personage and I was impressed about him, as his multifaceted life as his hard conviction …. I never forget the way that he was executed … he wanted to be fusiladed without blindfold and in front, but they didn’t accept and put him on backward … and in the last moment he turned himself and died in front … he wanted to demonstrate that they could snatched his live but not his dignity …
Bye!
Hi everybody,
I never been in Manila, but I think it is a big city. Interesting is what spanish language continue live in people with the Spanish language Philippine Academy and the Cervantes Institute.
The incorporation of Philippines to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation have increased the relationship with other countries with spanish langague (Peru; Chile, etc.)
Therefore, spanish language for Manila and Philippine people are important for to learn.
Other interesting place of Manila I think can be Intramuros, the old city builded for Legazpi over 1570.