By: Victor Henry C. Tejero
Music, dance and theater have always been at the heart of Tigbauan culture. The loa, the binalaybay, the komposo, the folk dances, the moro-moro, the komedya, the veladas (soirees), and the zarzuela have been popular artistic endeavors and entertainment among Tigbauenos from the pre-hispanic times to the 1960s when there used to be an enclave of zarzuelistas near the town plaza. A well-loved folk dance, the Lagundi, was created by Maestro Ricardo Trasporto of Tigbauan. The town also boasts of some of the country’s well-known music, theater and film artists whose ancestors or parentage originated there: namely, Alona Alegre, Dorothy Laforteza, Carmen Ronda, Sunshine Dizon, Dawn Zulueta, Joel Torre, Monique Wilson, Jed Madela, and Arthur Solinap.
The zarzuela Tigbauena flourished together with the moro-moro, the komedya and the veladas (soirees) staged in celebration of ecclesiastical holidays such as the Maytime Santacruzan --- Sta. Elena’s Finding of the Cross of Christ; the Christmas re-enactment of the Nativity; and festival entertainment during the Fiesta del Sto. Nino de Tigbauan in January.
The moro-moro and the komedya used to precede the zarzuela performance. Later on the komedya and the zarzuela were performed at different times during the year. The zarzuela was performed in December and January. The komedya, on other occasions.
Calle Bilibid in Barangay Uno was the traditional quarter of the zarzuelistas during the 1930s to the 1950s. Guided by a script and a prompter, the zarzuelistas rehearsed for a week before the performances --- one during the bisperas (vespers or eve) of the fiesta; and another during the night of the fiesta.
During zarzuela performances, there was no sound system nor microphone. There was no electric light then. Only a Petromax or hurricane lamps illuminated the stage. The zarzuela director designed the telon de boca --- the backdrop which depicted the sceneries painted with the help of the members of the zarzuela troupe. Behind the telon de boca hid the prompter to cue performers who might forget their lines. The singers were accompanied by a guitarist. Costumes were borrowed from relatives and friends. Performers were not paid as they did it for the love and fun of zarzuela. Some families donated money for food during rehearsals and performances.
The Golden Age of zarzuela Tigbauena was during the 1930s. After World War II, the zarzuela was rarely performed. Only the komedya persisted until 1956 when there was a spark of zarzuela revival supported by the late Hon. Mayor Eugenio Torrento, Sr. But the zarzuela was soon supplanted in the mid-1960s by the mobile cinema sponsored by Procter & Gamble to promote its then banner product --- Purico.
O, Pioneers!
Familia Pacurib was traditionally acknowledged as the leading zarzuela family in Tigbauan. Its patriarch Sofronio Pacurib, together with his brother Nicolas and his friends Jesusimo Tigmo and Mariano aka Anoy Tamasak, formed the pioneering zarzuela troupe of the town. Displaying their fencing prowess in the moro-moro which usually preceded the komedya and zarzuela performances, Sofronio Pacurib and company blazed through the cultural landscape of Tigbauan.
Sofronio Pacurib
Writer, director and sometimes prompter, he played Don Ramon, the iconic stern father in zarzuela Tigbauena. His daughter Marcela and his sons --- Virgilio and Jose, who always played the surugu-on (manservant), were involved in the performances; and so were his nephews Antonio and Juan who invariable played minor characters.
Jesusimo Tigmo
He was always the prinsipe (prince) in the moro-moro and the dashing lover in the zarzuela. Tigmo’s son Guillermo also played some small parts in the zarzuela.
Federico Tayongtong Taleon
Educated only up to Grade 7, he wrote and directed zarzuelas in the 1950s. His memorable zarzuelas --- Luzviminda, Lampara andanda (Walking Lamp), and Flor venida (Blooming Flower) --- sadly vanished into oblivion.
Francisco Tuclaud
He wrote the zarzuela Ang Binaya-an (The Forsaken) --- a romantic story about a sailor who, in search of fame and fortune, left behind his fair ladylove. Tuclaud’s son Epifanio Tuclaud later on became Tigbauan’s leading historian.
Basilio Tranca aka Eliong Hari
He was a komedya and zarzuela director.
Jovita Tajanlangit aka Biting
The lone woman zarzuela director in Tigbauan, she staged a children’s zarzuela about a school teacher whose devotion to her profession and devotion to her school children endeared her to the community.
Ladies of Zarzuela Tigbauena
They were the daring women of Tigbauan who had the moral courage to face the audience and act out the nuances of their characters. Through song and dance they survived the exigencies of life and smiled back at those amber days when grass was greener and grain more golden and bountiful.
Lilia Tuando Portugalete
Born 29 September 1927 in Takas Banwa. She is the second of six children. She was only six years old when she joined the zarzuela in Jovita Tajanlangit’s troupe. Her uncle Basilio Tranca aka Eliong Hari, a komedya and zarzuela director, cast her as one on the angeles (angels) in the Christmas zarzuela Ang Pagkatao (The Nativity).
neighboring towns of Iloilo. She saved some of her earnings to support her education as she
wanted to be a teacher.
Consolacion “Nene” Tuando Castillo
The elder sister of Lilia Tuando Portugalete, she was in the cast of Federico Tayongtong Taleon’s Lampara andanda (Walking Lamp).
Marcela Pacurib
Born 6 July 1937, Marcela was 18 when she first started singing in the zarzuela. She sang the role of Aurora, la muchacha (girlservant). She later went on to become the leading lady of zarzuela Tigbauena.
Gloria Vengano
She was the unforgettable salonera (salon or nightclub girl) in Federico Tayongtong Taleon’s Lampara andanda (Walking Lamp) in the 1950s. She later on became a cloistered nun in a monastery somewhere in Valderrama, Antique.
Luisa Traya Teruel
She played one of the angeles (angels) in the Christmas zarzuela Ang Pagkatao (The Nativity). She later became an elementary school head teacher. Now she bides her time in the service of God as head matron in the Church of the Parish of San Juan de Sahagun in Tigbauan.
Flora Terrenal
She played various roles in the zarzuela, beginning with minor characters and eventually singing the lead parts.
Teatro Handurawan kang Tigbawan
To initiate the second revival of Tigbauan’s zarzuela tradition, Victor Henry C. Tejero, Manila-based television and theater director, enjoined the school teachers of Tigbauan Central Elementary School and the town’s culture movers to form a theater company that would oversee the training of music theater performers and the production of contemporary zarzuelas with socio-cultural themes past and present.
Thus Teatro Handurawan kang Tigbawan was founded on 31 March 2008. The theater company’s advocacies are: the retrieval of the memory of Tigbauan through cultural endeavors; the revival of zarzuela through the celebration of the annual Fiesta de Zarzuela Tigbauena; the regeneration of Tigbauan’s creative industries, i.e., patadyong weaving, bamboo basketry and other artisanal crafts of Tigbauan.
Founding members were Maria Luisa Tejero Torrento, culture bearer and lyricist of the official Himno sang Tigbauan; Linda Fe Camina; Josie Jarina; Henrieta Ledesma; Mildred Magallanes; Louella Traya Saba; Rhoel Rae Saba; Ernena Tayag, Ph.D., Ed.; Juan Victor Traya Teruel; Salvacion Trayvilla; and Nora Rose Tubiano. Honorary member was Miss Loreto Tenefrancia, composer of the official Himno sang Tigbauan. Victor Henry C. Tejero became its first executive and artistic director.
Acclaimed music, dance, theater and visual artists from Manila were invited to conduct workshops during summer. For three summers, from 2008 to 2010, kids and adults within the poblacion and from far-off barangays of Tigbauan were empowered as they learned the rudiments of performance and the various arts. Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Ballet Philippines prima ballerina Edna Vida and danseur noble Rafael ‘Nonoy’ Froilan conducted workshops in modern dance and choreography. Former Philippine Bayanihan Dance Company and Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Gantimpala Theater lighting director and designer Joey Nombres focused on the art of lighting. Former Cultural Center of the Philippines and GMA 7 senior production designer Rolando de Leon taught costume and props design using indigenous and found materials. UP Diliman College of Music professor Christine Muyco, Ph.D., Music, sounded off participants on how to compose music without notation. Internationally acclaimed classical singer Conrad Ong III demonstrated the various techniques of voice production. Shell National Art 1997 grand prize winner Florence M. Guinguyon II outlined the regimen of basic drawing and painting. Television and theater director Henry C. Tejero introduced kids and adults alike into the art of acting.
Fiesta de Zarzuela Tigbauena
Fiesta de Zarzuela Tigbauena was held every December from 2008 to 2010. The festival began with the Novena in honor of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe whom Teatro Handurawan kang Tigbawan venerated as its Patroness. One-act zarzuelas in Karay-a were performed nightly free to the public for a week starting every December 13, the universally celebrated first day of Christmas.
The Holy Mass in the morning and a motorcade led by Jabez motorbikers traversing from the poblacion to Cordova onto Baroc-Atabayan then to Buyuan and back to the poblacion were joyous salvos to usher in the Fiesta de Zarzuela Tigbauena in December 2008. An opening ceremony in the evening and the tandem performances of Rhoel Rae Saba’s Ang Sugilanon (The Tale), a music theater rendition of the legend of Tigbauan; and Gugmang Ginsikway (Forsaken Love), a sad romance set to Iloilo’s immortal folksongs by Rhoel Rae Saba started the festival. Maria Luisa Tejero Torrento filled up the festival week with her creative output: Ang Maestra (The Teacher), a social documentation of one girl’s struggle through dirt poverty to become a successful school teacher admired by peers and beloved by the people; 450CC Dugo nga Puti (450CC White Blood Plasma), the tragic first case of dengue in Tigbauan; Ang Kama-Kama (The Dwarf), a children’s zarzuela about a boy befriended by a dwarf, a heartwarming yet humorous remembrance of our lost sense of wonder; Eliseo, a memorial to Philippine Scout and Bataan Death March 1942 casualty Eliseo Gonzales Tejero; Ikog-Pagui (Mantay Ray’s Tail), an environmentally themed zarzuela using the manta ray’s tail as symbol of child cruelty and environmental degradation. The festival culminated with the performance of Tejero’s Ang Pagkatao (The Nativity), a Christmas zarzuela which was a reconstruction and resetting of the Christmas story using the daigon (Christmas carols) of Tigbauan as musical narrative. A ceremony attended by religious, social and political personalities of the municipality of Tigbauan and of the Province of Iloilo officially closed the Fiesta de Zarzuela Tigbauena 2008. Subsequent Fiestas de Zarzuela Tigbauena were celebrated in 2009, 2010, 2019 and 2020. Discontinuance of the celebration in past years was due to lack of institutional and corporate funding.
Culture moves when the past is revoked and made relevant to present and future generations, making it vital and valid. Thus vanished arts are revived to enrich and enhance contemporary arts which create new idioms for the future.
Zarzuela Tigbauena, an artistic artifact since the 1930s has been one validation of the art of Spanish zarzuela indigenized and integrated into the native culture of Tigbauan. The revival initiated by Teatro Handurawan kang Tigbawan in 2008 of the town’s once very popular music theater art would have determined zarzuela Tigbauena’s contemporary relevance and its future dynamics as it would revitalize the arts and culture of Tigbauan.
