The legend of Emer in UP
July 18, 2005 | 12:00am
What do UP and Ireland have in common?
The Irish have a legendary woman named Emer who possesses the six gifts of womanhood: Beauty, voice, speech, needlework, wisdom and chastity.
At the home front, the University of the Philippines has an Emer of a president.
Starting today, all roads to the UP campus in Diliman are festooned in maroon and green banners to usher in the week-long celebration of Emer’s or Dr. Emerlinda R. Román’s ascent as the 19th UP president.
Like Emer of the Irish, UP’s Emer has scored a feat of legendary proportions. Emer Román makes history for breaking what used to be a male-dominated UP Presidency for the past 18 terms since 1908. As the 19th president, the three-time chancellor of the flagship campus of UP Diliman becomes the first woman to be at the helm of the University. Her term is made doubly significant because she also is the first centennial president of UP. During her six-year incumbency, UP turns 100 in 2008.
The University is undoubtedly in a festive mood. From July 18 to 21, all seven UP campuses from Baguio to Mindanao join in the celebration dubbed as the Investiture Week. Lectures, symposia and forums are slated to reflect on President Román’s mission and vision of strengthening UP as a truly national university in the 21st century.
The culminating activity will be President Román’s investiture as the 19th UP president in simple but solemn rites at the UP Theater on July 21.
To kick off the week, a pre-investiture concert spins off today at 6 p.m. at the Abelardo Hall Auditorium. Titled Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao: UP Naming Mahal, it features the crown jewels of UP Diliman’s artistic groups in a command performance fit for the lady president.
Colorful performances of the UP Madrigal Singers and the UP Concert Chorus, dances from the UP Filipiniana Dance Group and the UP Dance Company, instrumental music from the UP Jazz Ensemble, and theater excerpts from the Dulaang UP comprise tonight’s repertoire.
The 70-year-old UP Filipiniana Dance Group founded by National Artist for Dance Francisca Tolentino Reyes-Aquino is composed of students from the various colleges of the University. In its early years the Group only performed folk dances, but in the 1970s, they included modern dance, light ballet pieces and jazz dance in their repertoire. The UP College of Human Kinetics continues to be the Group’s base of operations.
Acclaimed for having consistently won all the prizes in the most prestigious choral competitions for many years, and is regarded as one of the world’s best choirs, the UP Madrigal Singers was conceived in 1963 by National Artist for Music Andrea Veneración. The Madz is known for performing a variety of styles and forms, but specializes in the madrigal, a polyphonic and challenging musical style popular during the Renaissance, where singers and guests would gather around the table during a banquet to sight-sing and make music together.
Another pride of UP, the UP Concert Chorus, is a veteran of 16 world concert tours. Celebrating its 43rd anniversary, the Chorus has contributed immensely to promoting Filipino culture and heritage. Its unique style of choral music interpretation embellished with rhythmic passion and movement is universally attractive to all cultures.
Meanwhile, the UP Dance Company is an 18-year-old University Group based in the UP College of Music. The group is popularly known for their classical ballet repertoire, and has contributed immensely in the appreciation of the dance genre among the general public.
Popular in and out of UP, the UP Jazz Ensemble may well be considered as every jazz professional’s group. Many jazz musicians, composers and conductors in the country have started in the UP Jazz Ensemble.
Last but not the least, is Dulaang UP. Originally conceived in 1976 to be the production arm of the Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, it is devoted to the staging in its original and translated version, classics by master playwrights as well as incisive masterworks by Filipino playwrights.
The concert is UP Diliman’s way of echoing the theme of the Román presidency in a combined dance-music-theater presentation. The all-Filipino repertoire includes traditional music from the various regions as well as contemporary pop music to showcase the wide and diverse range Philippine music has gone through.
Opening the show will be the UP Filipiniana Dance Group performing the Dugso of Bukidnon, followed by Uya-oy from Ifugao.
After the UP Filipiniana Dance Group comes a string of songs from the country’s northern regions to be rendered by the UP Concert Chorus and the UP Madrigals, beginning with their collaborative performance of Idemdem Malida, an Itneg victory song from the Cordilleras. After them comes the UP Dance Company performing their signature piece, Pahinungód, a dramatic rendition of unity in diversity in Philippine culture. This again will be followed by performances by the UP Concert Chorus and UP Madz of songs representing the southern part of the country. Both choral groups would join together to render a popular Filipino music, Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas by Willy Cruz.
The UP Jazz Ensemble, for their part, is set to perform three jazz pieces – all Filipino compositions.
The concert is highlighted at the end with an urge to walk tall and proud with Dulaang UP singing Hold our Head High, an excerpt from the musical St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos.
There is also a special performance by Julia Román Abueva, a precocious child performer who happens to be the granddaughter of President Emer. Julia, who flew from Singapore for a brief visit, is a member of the Jazz Kids of Singapore, which does regular performances at the National Arts House of Singapore. She has had singing engagements, including performing before the President of Singapore, the Prime Minister and other ministers as well as the Filipino community in Singapore.
The concert is a joint undertaking of the Ad Hoc Committee Investiture Committee chaired by Regent Nelia T. Gonzalez and UP Diliman. It is under the direction of Alexander Cortez from a script by Floy Quintos.
Admission is free.
For comments, send e-mail to ruben_david.defeo@up.edu.ph or at dododefeo@yahoo.com.
The Irish have a legendary woman named Emer who possesses the six gifts of womanhood: Beauty, voice, speech, needlework, wisdom and chastity.
At the home front, the University of the Philippines has an Emer of a president.
Starting today, all roads to the UP campus in Diliman are festooned in maroon and green banners to usher in the week-long celebration of Emer’s or Dr. Emerlinda R. Román’s ascent as the 19th UP president.
Like Emer of the Irish, UP’s Emer has scored a feat of legendary proportions. Emer Román makes history for breaking what used to be a male-dominated UP Presidency for the past 18 terms since 1908. As the 19th president, the three-time chancellor of the flagship campus of UP Diliman becomes the first woman to be at the helm of the University. Her term is made doubly significant because she also is the first centennial president of UP. During her six-year incumbency, UP turns 100 in 2008.
The University is undoubtedly in a festive mood. From July 18 to 21, all seven UP campuses from Baguio to Mindanao join in the celebration dubbed as the Investiture Week. Lectures, symposia and forums are slated to reflect on President Román’s mission and vision of strengthening UP as a truly national university in the 21st century.
The culminating activity will be President Román’s investiture as the 19th UP president in simple but solemn rites at the UP Theater on July 21.
To kick off the week, a pre-investiture concert spins off today at 6 p.m. at the Abelardo Hall Auditorium. Titled Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao: UP Naming Mahal, it features the crown jewels of UP Diliman’s artistic groups in a command performance fit for the lady president.
Colorful performances of the UP Madrigal Singers and the UP Concert Chorus, dances from the UP Filipiniana Dance Group and the UP Dance Company, instrumental music from the UP Jazz Ensemble, and theater excerpts from the Dulaang UP comprise tonight’s repertoire.
The 70-year-old UP Filipiniana Dance Group founded by National Artist for Dance Francisca Tolentino Reyes-Aquino is composed of students from the various colleges of the University. In its early years the Group only performed folk dances, but in the 1970s, they included modern dance, light ballet pieces and jazz dance in their repertoire. The UP College of Human Kinetics continues to be the Group’s base of operations.
Acclaimed for having consistently won all the prizes in the most prestigious choral competitions for many years, and is regarded as one of the world’s best choirs, the UP Madrigal Singers was conceived in 1963 by National Artist for Music Andrea Veneración. The Madz is known for performing a variety of styles and forms, but specializes in the madrigal, a polyphonic and challenging musical style popular during the Renaissance, where singers and guests would gather around the table during a banquet to sight-sing and make music together.
Another pride of UP, the UP Concert Chorus, is a veteran of 16 world concert tours. Celebrating its 43rd anniversary, the Chorus has contributed immensely to promoting Filipino culture and heritage. Its unique style of choral music interpretation embellished with rhythmic passion and movement is universally attractive to all cultures.
Meanwhile, the UP Dance Company is an 18-year-old University Group based in the UP College of Music. The group is popularly known for their classical ballet repertoire, and has contributed immensely in the appreciation of the dance genre among the general public.
Popular in and out of UP, the UP Jazz Ensemble may well be considered as every jazz professional’s group. Many jazz musicians, composers and conductors in the country have started in the UP Jazz Ensemble.
Last but not the least, is Dulaang UP. Originally conceived in 1976 to be the production arm of the Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, it is devoted to the staging in its original and translated version, classics by master playwrights as well as incisive masterworks by Filipino playwrights.
The concert is UP Diliman’s way of echoing the theme of the Román presidency in a combined dance-music-theater presentation. The all-Filipino repertoire includes traditional music from the various regions as well as contemporary pop music to showcase the wide and diverse range Philippine music has gone through.
Opening the show will be the UP Filipiniana Dance Group performing the Dugso of Bukidnon, followed by Uya-oy from Ifugao.
After the UP Filipiniana Dance Group comes a string of songs from the country’s northern regions to be rendered by the UP Concert Chorus and the UP Madrigals, beginning with their collaborative performance of Idemdem Malida, an Itneg victory song from the Cordilleras. After them comes the UP Dance Company performing their signature piece, Pahinungód, a dramatic rendition of unity in diversity in Philippine culture. This again will be followed by performances by the UP Concert Chorus and UP Madz of songs representing the southern part of the country. Both choral groups would join together to render a popular Filipino music, Sana’y Wala Nang Wakas by Willy Cruz.
The UP Jazz Ensemble, for their part, is set to perform three jazz pieces – all Filipino compositions.
The concert is highlighted at the end with an urge to walk tall and proud with Dulaang UP singing Hold our Head High, an excerpt from the musical St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos.
There is also a special performance by Julia Román Abueva, a precocious child performer who happens to be the granddaughter of President Emer. Julia, who flew from Singapore for a brief visit, is a member of the Jazz Kids of Singapore, which does regular performances at the National Arts House of Singapore. She has had singing engagements, including performing before the President of Singapore, the Prime Minister and other ministers as well as the Filipino community in Singapore.
The concert is a joint undertaking of the Ad Hoc Committee Investiture Committee chaired by Regent Nelia T. Gonzalez and UP Diliman. It is under the direction of Alexander Cortez from a script by Floy Quintos.
Admission is free.
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