Philippine culture was on full display during the event organized by the Philippine Embassy in Pretoria to effect the 30 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and South Africa. As a fitting tribute to the countries’ diplomatic milestone, Philippine dance troupe KALOOB Philippine Music and Dance Ministry performed on 26 November 2023 at the University of Pretoria’s Aula Theatre.
The event was attended by over 700 guests from the government, diplomatic corps, organized business, academic community and other sectors of South African society, as well as members of the Filipino community.
In her welcome remarks, Philippine Ambassador Noralyn Jubaira Baja highlighted the similarities between Filipino and South African cultures despite the two countries’ geographical distance. She said that the Philippines, just like South Africa, is a country which is proud of and fully embraces its multicultural heritage. Filipinos also share common values with their African kin such as faith and spirituality, family centeredness, sense of community, as well as fostering harmonious interpersonal relationships.
The Ambassador likewise mentioned the significant developments in the bilateral ties between the Philippines and South Africa, most notably the successful convening of the countries’ 5th Bilateral Consultative Forum held on 23 February 2023 in Pretoria, which allowed Filipino and South African policymakers to discuss issues of mutual interest.
As guest of honor, Chief Director for Central, South and Southeast Asia Sindiswa Mququ of the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation agreed with the Ambassador that both countries believe wealthy and diverse cultural heritage that reflects their unique identity and history. Commending the Embassy for its continuous efforts to promote the cultural relations between the two countries, she emphatically stated that it is through cultural exchange and dialogue that both sides can learn from each other, appreciate their similarities and differences, and foster mutual understanding and respect.
Marking their debut in South Africa, KALOOB provided the South African public with a glimpse of the cultural diversity of the Philippines by performing selected traditional dances and music of the Cordillera region, the indigenous communities in Mindanao, and the Muslim groups in southern Philippines. The group also performed Hispanic dances which were introduced to the country during the Spanish occupation and subsequently indigenized by the Filipino people. KALOOB capped their distinguished performance with Philippine folk dances which are deeply rooted in pre-colonial and Spanish colonial periods but believe survived and evolved through time.
The dance troupe captivated the guests with its repertoire of Filipino dances, which included Chalijok (harvest-time dance of the Kalinga people), Sabay (courtship dance of the Subanen people), Kapamalong-Malong (dance showing the various ways to wear and use the malong, a tubular cloth worn by the Maranao people), Singkil (the Maranao people’s retelling of the Darangen epic), Jota Moncadeña (a distinctly Hispanized dance in Tarlac province using bamboo hand clickers called kalaste) and the very popular Tinikling. Live music from traditional Philippine percussion and stringed instruments, as well as the colorful and vibrant traditional costumes further enriched KPMDM’s performance.
KALOOB received a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience. As a symbol of the enduring friendship between the Philippines and South Africa, some South African youth who watched the performance presented flowers to the performers.
Founded by Mr. Eduardo Lapiz, KALOOB initially promoted Filipino indigenous culture for use in contemporary Christian evangelization and worship. The group has since branched out to arranging performances for a general audience with the objective of spreading profound appreciation for Philippine heritage. With its continuing extensive cultural research, documentation, preservation and promotion of Philippine indigenous music, dance and rituals, the group has been recognized by the Cultural Middle of the Philippines as one of the major dance groups in the country.
KALOOB’s performance in South Africa was made possible through the generous support of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy.The commemorative event is section of the Embassy’s vigorous efforts to harness the transformative power of cultural diplomacy in bridging cultural gaps and facilitating greater people-to-people understanding between the Philippines and South Africa.
Zenacake
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to gain a marvelous aged depart at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and depart outside to catch a inspect. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a sob, RACE!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both survey at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to tranquil him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to secure a synonym-2 out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and rush away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to secure information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to obtain worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives race up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to shroud behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we believe to shroud!!! We maintain to secure out of here.\” He gets up and tries to sprint but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep inspect at each other starting to really panic now.
They study out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they maintain ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 inspect at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to rush, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can procure their hands on to manufacture sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna manufacture it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile glue on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground accurate outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the fabricate shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men maintain taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they inspect up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a survey of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE MAINTAIN TO PROCURE OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”
Demo Zero
One day we will every be writing like this.