Conducting the soundtrack of the Philippines

Bob Shroder’s journey reflects the cultural streams of “MABUHAY!”

By Linda Chiavaroli

Bob Shroder

Bob Shroder sits on the edge of the beige couch in his North Hollywood home, holding a bamboo flute banded in red and green, about to produce the gentle, transporting sounds of the folk instrument. “Now you could go to the mountains of the Philippines and see a guy in a loin cloth playing a flute just like this. Of course, it probably would take you 12 to 14 hours from Manila to get there. And there might not be roads on the last part of your journey. You’d have to take a water buffalo.”

Shroder, as the musical director and conductor of The Filipino-American Symphony Orchestra (FASO), leads one of three groups collaborating on ”Dance, Rhythm, Harmony: MABUHAY!” (pronounced mah-boo-high) premiering at the Ford July 2 and 3. Celia Defato, executive director of the dance company Kultura Philippine Folk Arts, points out that “music is a common thread in Philippine life. Every street corner has a karaoke bar. Many people play instruments. It’s part of the culture.”

Shroder, the son of a Filipino mother and an American father, grew up surrounded by music. His maternal grandfather headed the local concert band in Kawit, southwest of Manila on the island of Luzon. At home there were recordings of everything from popular jazz to Beethoven. “When my mother and I would go into Manila, she’d always point out a building on Dewey Boulevard and say, ‘That’s where the Manila Symphony plays.’”

At first, Shroder had no thoughts of being in a symphony orchestra, no less leading one. Gifted at playing by ear, he started as an apprentice with his grandfather’s band at the age of 7, playing the clarinet. His grandfather warned him that, if he wanted to become a professional musician, he’d have to learn to read music. Shroder resisted until he saw his friends playing in fiestas. “I felt as if I’d been grounded,” he recalls. Ultimately he went to the University of the Philippines School of Music and, at age 22, garnered the position of principal flute in the Manila Symphony that had been held by his teacher at the conservatory.

Shroder, who has lived in the U.S. since 1991 and in Los Angeles since 2000, started FASO at the behest of The Asian Journal. “They went to see a show featuring Lea Salonga and said, ‘Don’t we have any Filipino musicians to accompany Filipino artists?’"

FASO, begun in 2008, is the first Filipino orchestra outside the Philippines. It has now grown to 65 members, 20 of whom will perform at the Ford. They will be joined by 10 members of the rondalla (roan-dahlia) or string ensemble headed by Pi DeLeon.

Rondalla instruments	Bamboo flutes

Shroder likes to combine elements of indigenous Filipino culture in his symphony presentations. You can think of the rondalla as the Filipino version of the Russian balalaika or the Italian mandolin. The instrument comes in different sizes and voicings and developed from the influence of the Spanish, who ruled the Philippines for 350 years.

Shroder notes that, no matter what your background, you will find something to relate to in “MABUHAY!” “If you’re Latino, you’ll see your culture there. If you’re Asian, you’ll see your culture there. Because that’s what we have, lots of different influences. The la jota rhythm is similar to mariachis, the gongs are like the ones from Indonesia, the tribal dances are reminiscent of Thai culture. Our oboist, who is Russian, says ‘I like those melodies. It’s similar to our folk music.’”

“MABUHAY!” — a greeting and blessing which means “Long Live!” — is, by any measure, an extravaganza. The FASO and rondalla musicians, plus the dancers of Kultura and the Philippine Chamber Singers, total 70 performers. The coming together on one stage of three of the most respected and acclaimed Filipino performing arts groups in L.A. is very rare, if not unprecedented. DeFato says Kultura is the first Filipino cultural dance group to be accompanied by a symphony orchestra. Traditional dance pieces have turned into production numbers. Some of the orchestral arrangements had to be sent from the Philippines or created especially for the show.

The first half of “MABUHAY!” focuses on the tribal culture of the northern and southern Philippines, such as “Banga,” the fetching water dance where women balance bowls on their heads. The second half is a fiesta and ends with a Spanish-gypsy flavored dance accompanied by tambourines and the Filipino version of castanets, two small bamboo rectangles not strung together and heavily dependent on the dexterity of the player. Each selection has its distinctive costumes and props. There are literally hundreds of objects that have to be brought into play at just the right time in just the right way.

“Two hours is not a lot of time to present what we have,” says Shroder. “What makes it special is that, this is a dream come true for most of us.”

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