7 new national artists to proclaim on Wednesday

The architect Francisco Mañosa, the filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, the composer Ryan Cayabyab and four others will be proclaimed national artists on Wednesday.

Writers and scholars Resil Mojares (literature) and playwright-puppeteer Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio (theater) are also to be inducted into the Order of National Artists (ONA), the highest Philippine distinction awarded to Western arts practitioners.

The authors of Hiligaynon, Ramon Muzones (literature) and the cartoonist Lauro "Larry" Alcala (visual arts) are to be posthumously nominated for ONA.

Three new Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan (Gamaba), also known as national folk artists, mainly from indigenous cultural communities practicing traditional arts, will also be proclaimed: Estelita Bantilan, Bungan weaver, from Malungon, Sarangani; Yakan weaver Ambalang Ausalin from Lamitan, Basilan; and B'laan ikat-weaver Yabing Dulo from Polomolok, South Cotabato.

The Gamaba laureates have been selected and nominated for the Malacañang Proclamation by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

The ONA winners went through a three-level selection process, the latter involving the NCCA and the Philippine Cultural Center's board of directors and live national artists electing finalists to the proclamation.

The living national artists who participated in the vote are the writers F. Jose Sionil, Bienvenido Lumbera and Virgilio Almario, the composer Ramon Santos, the choreographer Alice Reyes and the visual artist Benedicto "BenCab" Cabrera.

Vernacular architect

Mañosa (born February 12, 1931) is an internationally renowned architect. He was actually named national artist by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2009, but in front of the general outcry over the inclusion of other artists who did not screen and whose qualifications have been questioned, the Supreme Court ignored the 2013 proclamation.

A graduate in architecture from the University of Santo Tomas, Mañosa is known for its modern vernacular architecture: it incorporates Philippine design materials and designs into its buildings that have become landmarks such as the Palace of the Walnut. coco, the building San Miguel Corp. and the shrine Edsa.

Postcolonial filmmaker

The real name of Kidlat Tahimik is Eric Oteyza de Guia (born October 3, 1942) and his mother, Virginia Oteyza de Guia, former mayor of Baguio City, was the first woman mayor of the Philippines.

He was chairman of the student council of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and then studied at the University of Wharton.

De Guia gave up a promising career as a high-level leader and leader and, renaming himself Kidlat Tahimik, turned to film and visual arts.

He became a pioneering independent filmmaker in the 1970s, whose works were humorous and fanciful postcolonial critics.

He was catapulted to international fame when his "domestic film", "Mababangong Bangungot" (Scented Nightmare), was chosen to participate in the Berlinale in 1977 and won the International Critics Award.

The film was distributed in the United States by Francis Ford Coppola and was presented with great success. Critics and prestigious scholars such as Marxist Fredric Jameson have written numerous articles about him and other films by Kidlat Tahimik, such as "Turumba".

Renowned scientist

Mojares (born September 4, 1943) is an internationally renowned essayist and scholar of cultural studies.

An award-winning English fictionist in the mid-1960s, he turned to critical and cultural writing in the 1970s and made himself known for his literary history and erudition ("Origins and Rise"). from the Philippine novel: a generic study of the novel until 1940 "), regional studies (" Cebuano Literature ") and a regional biography (books on Osmeñas, Aboitizes and Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco).

His books beginning in the 1980s marked the interdisciplinary shift in cultural erudition, as evidenced by his fusion of urbanism, architecture, and history in "Casa Gorordo in Cebu: urban residence in a province of the Philippines "; and a mixture of drama and social dynamics in his study of Cebuano's "linambay" or "moro-moro" in "Theater in Society, Society in Theater".

Popular composer

Cayabyab (born May 4, 1954) finished composition at the UP College of Music and was the first grand prize at the Metro Manila pop music festival in 1976 for "Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika," one of the hymns from the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) in the 1970s.

He later became a popular pop music composer and producer, his songs being performed by such popular singers as Basil Valdez, Hajji Alejandro and Ariel Rivera.

He composed for the cinema ("Karnal", "Hihintayin Kita sa Langit", "Aguila") and musical theater, notably "Larawan", the theatrical adaptation (and later cinematographic) of "Portrait of the "Artist" by Nick Joaquin. Filipino "and" Katy ", musical biography of the singer Katy de la Cruz. He also made liturgical music.

Bonifacio (born April 4, 1930) studied drama at the Wisconsin State University, where the UW Play Circle Theater premiered its first play, "Sepang Loca" (Crazy Sepa), in 1957. .

In 1974-1975, thanks to a Fulbright grant, she did research on traditional Asian theater.

She has pioneered research in children's theater in Asia and has incorporated the traditions of South Asian and Japanese theater into her dramatic productions.

Posthumous Laureates

Alcala (1926-2002) was a very popular cartoonist. His most popular comics were "Islaw Palitaw" and "Kalabog en Bosyo".

He also created the first locally produced cartoons in the 1960s for television commercials.

In 1997, the Philippine Council of Books for Youth proclaimed Alcala "Dean of Filipino Designers".

Muzones (1913-1992) was a successful writer from Ilonggo. He had written at least 61 novels at Hiligaynon, many of which had been published in series and had considerably stimulated the circulation of regional magazines.

He began his preparatory work at Far Eastern University in Manila and obtained his law degree from Central Philippine University in Iloilo.

At one time he was a speechwriter and political advisor to Rodolfo Ganzon, a controversial and maverick politician, Ilonggo. His last major novel, "Shri-Bishaya" (1969) recreated the odyssey of the 10th of Borneo in the Philippines.

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