Barclay may have discovered the best word to describe the concert: Surreal.
Webster’s defines surreal as “fantastic or incongruous imagery.” What could be more incongruous (“not consistent with or suitable to the surroundings“) than a huge musical concert on the edge of the jungle in the remote southern Philippines?
Nine miles outside of Zamboanga City, four acres were cleared of cobras and brush, and a 40-foot wide stage grew out of the ground. Technology made friends with the jungle in the form of large speakers, two platforms for video cameras and a sound booth. Banks of lights on poles lit the stage. Everything was powered by a diesel generator, topped off by a sound enclosure to ensure the music wasn’t violated.
On the day of the concert, Jan. 30, as many as 10,000 local Filipinos associated with CFCA filled the grounds, sitting on blankets or plastic sheets. A dozen American sponsors, who had traveled more than 8,000 miles for the event, came as well. Muslims sat side by side with Christians. Everyone enjoyed the common language of music.
What a stark contrast to the “real world” of terrorism and people focused on differences.
Love, peace and harmony ruled.
An indelible image for me is a 5-year-old Muslim Filipino girl who remembered me from a brief meeting the day before. Amid all the people at the concert, she found me near the stage and presented a Valentine’s heart on a stick.
I won’t ever be the same.
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Very touching indeed. Yet another reason to call off this awful war.
Comment by Hawk February 26, 2008 @ 6:39 pmI am from Mindanao, now live in Michigan, USA. Look forward to video of concert. Peace! Priscilla
Comment by Priscilla March 26, 2008 @ 9:45 amGreat Mission! Great documentary! But please change the title… The preview as I saw it, does not fit the documentary to be called “zamboanga.” Please consider that if you use Zamboanga as your title, Chavacano language and music should be the focus of your documentary. From the way I saw it, it was more of other tribes here and not the Zamboangueno way of living. Thanks a lot. I am hopeful that you would consider my request.
Comment by Juan The DJ March 30, 2008 @ 6:56 pmThis is my 2nd comment, because you have deleted my 1st. I apologize if you think that was kind of rude of me to do say such(but I don’t think so.) I appreciated your work actually, but it’s just that the Film just do not fit the title, so I suggest that you change it. Zamboanga is no longer this, and being a Zamboangueno, I know my place, some of the footages you’ve taken is not actually from here. I think some of those were from Basilan, but definitely not Zamboanga. Please consider my suggestion, before I’ll bring this to the attention of the City Council. Thanks a lot!
Comment by Juan The DJ March 31, 2008 @ 6:51 pmThank you for your feedback. We appreciate your encouragement as well as the chance to hear your concerns. We’re glad that you liked seeing the preview segment on the Web site.
We feel very honored to portray the beauty and spirit of the Filipino culture, focusing on Zamboanga, where we held a concert that about 10,000 people attended in January.
Your note indicates that you aren’t pleased that we include any other region in our film. We hope that you will understand that we are offering a glimpse of the footage we shot and that the preview is not the whole film. We believe that your concerns are addressed in the story we are planning to tell in the and hope you will appreciate how Zamboanga is celebrated and pronounced in the final version of the film.
Sincerely,
Comment by cfca April 1, 2008 @ 12:25 pmThe Zambo Doc Team
Posts to this blog may not be immediate. We thank posters for their patience.
Sincerely,
Comment by cfca April 1, 2008 @ 12:28 pmThe Zambo Doc Team