The arts and learning of a race or a nation are in its culture. Philippine has a rich body of indigenous artistic traditions which make it well known all over the world. Pearl of the Orient Seas has already been rich in culture before we had been colonized by foreign countries, but Spanish colony influenced traditional Philippine folk music and dance, cuisine, festivities, religion and language. After the Spaniards, Uncle Sam entered, Americans also left evident of their influences in English language, contemporary pop culture, such as fast food, music, film, film and sports (basketball).
All their influences have been added to our rich culture that reflects the complexity of the history of the Philippines. All of the forms of cultures and all the people of the country play a vital role in enriching our culture. One way of making them do their role is cultural awareness. Why is there a need to enrich cultural awareness? Cultural awareness is the foundation of communication and it involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptive.Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task; it takes different ways and requires several factors to completely fulfill what is desired.
One way is through dance and music. As a youth, I can see the phenomenon; some people like me have already forgotten what they have. They tend to learn foreign culture instead of their own. Maybe, it’s because of the Filipino value of having a desire to appear well off and having a certain degree of racial inferiority.
Now, people are conscious on how can they be attuned to the times.They think that knowing the foreign songs such as the songs of Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Korean songs, etc. , you are considered updated and so called expression “you’re in”. Don’t they notice that our culture is dying? It’s dying because Filipinos just ignore the impact of cultural differences.
We must do something. But, how? How can we make them culturally aware? Through Philippine music and dance, we can bring back the spirit of our own culture. The various forms of music are also an indicator of the different culture that exists out here.Although, native compositions and modern tunes are different, they greatly give color and harmony to our culture.
Conducting programs and contests such as the Litmusda or Literary, Music and Dance is one of the best ways on preserving our culture. Let us encourage artists that instead of reviving old foreign songs, they should revive our old Filipino music. Why don’t we just play all original Filipino music on radio stations?? Maybe that doesn’t sounds good to some. Why not?The dance of the Filipinos is seen in various forms and styles. The Filipinos also have certain distinct forms of folkdance such as the Tinikling and Singkil, which use bamboo as an accompaniment with the steps being performed.
Same in dances, why don’t we call all the native folk dancers out there to teach native dances to the young, youth and everyone. Oh! What about conducting a simultaneous dancing of Filipino dances of about thousands or even millions of people at a time?? Want to be part of that world record? Why not??Oh I know that those are just 1 percent of all the possible ways on creating our culture again and totally enrich it. You don’t need to be an expert in every culture and to be culture genius or try all the possible ways to make yourself culturally aware; rather, cultural awareness helps you to explore cultural issues with your care recipients more sensitively. As long as you’re a Filipino, you are indeed responsible to know, learn and apply Philippine culture in your existence and Philippine dance and music have a major role in creating and enriching it again.
