Mayor Alfredo A. Arquillano Jr. is a genius!
A great visionary, the Mayor of San Francisco, Camotes envisioned the Soli-Soli festival way back in 2002 way before the “One Cebu” or “One town, One product” slogan, as an identity characteristic only to the town. Soli-soli is a tall grass native to the town. The grass is used to make mats, hats, backpacks and ornaments.
This writer was witness and part of the whole history as the choreographer of “Pundok Pag-ambakan” contingent, a cluster of three neighboring barangays – Unidos, Santiago and Himensulan – which grabbed the grand prize in 2002 and 2003.
In 2004, the mayor appointed this writer as cultural consultant and artistic director of the festival. The start was a bit difficult since basic steps and drum beat had to be established as common basis.
After a series of consultations and research, three basic steps were established – the movement of the tall grass represented by the sideward swaying of the hands and arms, the cutting of the soli-soli (there is no planting ritual since the grass grows wildly along the coastline of Lake Danao), and the weaving motion as the grass gets woven into a useful mat. Drum beat was a lively fit to the cutting movement of the harvesters.
Thus, an occupational basically-Christian rural themed festival officially emerged.
The immediate goal was to educate local choreographers and train them to be competent, not only locally but also when they will have the opportunity to compete outside their town.
Soli-Soli Festival 2010 was so far the best! The competition this year was really close, especially that, for the first time, there were three visiting contingents from the municipalities of Poro, Tudela and Pilar. Production numbers were so lavish and detailed.
The winners were Pundok Sowesan of San Isidro Elementary School for the elementary category and Tagbo Festival of the municipality of Poro represented by Luciano V. Rama Memorial National High School in the high school category.
Kudos to Mayor Al and the people of San Francisco, Camotes!