©2013 by Annabelle A. Udo-O'Malley
(unedited version from AsianWeek.com posted on March 7, 2013)
In 1999, American guitarist Ry Cooder released the groundbreaking
film “The Buena Vista Social Club,” directed by Wim Wenders. The movie
follows Cooder as he attempts to bring together forgotten masters of
Cuban music and record their artistry for posterity. In “Harana: The
Search for the Lost Art of Serenade,” Florante Aguilar, a Bay Area-based
classical guitarist sets out on a parallel mission to assemble some of
the last practitioners of the Filipino musical form known as harana, or
serenade.
Known traditionally in old Philippines as a form of courtship music,
the main instruments used in harana are voice and guitar set off by
habanera-style rhythms and melancholic themes of love’s forlorn
pleadings. The film brings back the spirit of old school romance through
this amazing journey that begins with Aguilar’s own personal calling
back to the Philippines upon receiving word of his father’s death.
Having left the Philippines in 1986, after the overthrow of the
Marcos regime, Aguilar’s visit after more than a decade, soon becomes a
serendipitous trip that takes him far into the bucolic regions of the
Philippines where he finds some of the masters of this vanishing art
form of musical courtship. Replete with amazing views of the
Philippines, “Harana” captures a little-known musical style that reveals
the soul of a complex and multifaceted country—one that innocently
encapsulates the nostalgia of a time when harana—not texting—was the way
to woo someone in a simple, yet, intensely meaningful way.
“Harana is universal. Serenading is universal,” Aguilar explained in a 2007 interview with
AsianWeek.
“It’s essentially a declaration of love. In a lot of ways we
do haranas in our own way. We all have a harana in our soul and I think
the best way to express this is through a song—especially
Filipino harana.”
The film’s poeticism truly unfolds with conversations Aguilar has
with the three manongs (elders) who represent the truest practitioners
of this evanescent custom. Between 40 and 50 years ago, they were active
participants of this once-popular Filipino courtship tradition. Their
services were so highly sought-after that 15 serenades in a single night
was a common affair in their respective provinces.
Felipe Alonzo, learned many of the songs performing in zarzuelas,
live comic operettas performed in the town plaza; Celestino Aniel’s
style was reminiscent of crooners such as Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole,
a style that was adopted into harana during American occupation in the
1940’s; and Romeo Bergunio, a first-place harana singing contestant in a
competition for seniors in his hometown of Cavite, learned from his
father and grandfather many olden songs not often heard on the radio,
thus preserving the songs completely through oral tradition.
“I vividly remember those days that to this day is very much alive in
my thoughts the songs bestowed upon me by harana,” said Bergunio in the
film, “Those are the only ways we expressed our secret love—through
glances, song, and conduct.”
As a result of Aguilar’s long search for master haranistas they
collectively emerged as “The Harana Kings” which lead to major
performances at such places as the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and
Busan South Korea. Unfortunately, Aniel passed away last year and did
not have the opportunity to see the completed film. Directed by Benito
Bautista, founder of Wanderlustproject Films and an independent San
Francisco filmmaker, “Harana” induces many teary-eyed moments with a
storyline that is sure to quantum leap viewers to simpler times.
“Harana: The Search for the Lost Art of Serenade” screens at this
year’s CAAMFest on Saturday, March 16 at the Pacific Film Archive
Theatre, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley and Sunday, March 17 at Sundance
Kabuki Cinemas, 1881 Post Street, San Francisco. For more information
visit
www.caamedia.org. The CD “Introducing the Harana Kings” is available at
www.florante.org/discography.
