GRAFTED, an exhibition held recently at the Cultural Center of the Philippines , August 20- September 27, 2003. Collis Davis, a member of a newly-formed Jazz Society of the
Philippines , responded to the
Society's call for the loan of a LP
record collection featuring American          Carmita Eliza J. Icasiano, project director; Collis H. Davis,
jazz. This display of jazz albums was        contributor; Violeta Hughes-Davis, wife; and Michael Munoz,
one among several indicators showing       Visual Artist enjoy opening night of the GRAFTED exhibition.
the impact of American culture on the       
Philippines since 1898.

resistance , an exhibition of weapons from the Moro region of the Philippines, thematically counter-pointed the accomodationist tendencies of illustrados (elite class) toward the Americans, and which later found expression in the Filipino's embrace of American culture. Below is an excerpt OCR'd* from the exhibition brochure: 

GRAFTED:
FILPINO-AMERICAN CONFLUENCE
IN POPULAR CULTURE

Carmita Eliza J. Icasiano, project director

At the turn of the 20'" century, then US President McKinley found the prospect of bringing up "native children cut off from their Spanish fathers and desired by other European powers" glaring before him. His famous speech of November 1899 dramatically recounts how he came to the decision of taking up the task of tutelage and finally annexing the Philippine Islands to the United States of America. Through time, this American incursion on Philippine soil has encountered responses either of assimilation or resistance. Such responses have not been in the least muted, resonating down generations of Filipinos through the last century and well into the new one. They have likewise taken motley forms, from whichever direction it originatesthe Filipino's response to the American, or the American reaction to the former. In whichever case, the reality illustrates the extraneous taking root, eventually to grow into another/an other. The phenomenon is reminiscent of the agricultural practice of grafting, from which the exhibition title GRAFTED was derived.

Notions of assimilation come to mind with American icons and genre settling comfortably into Philippine popular culture, asserting its way into industries, entertainment, and even health practices. In the Bulwagang Fernando Amorsolo (CCP Small Gallery) are examples of successful assimilation. American products, unarguably American icons, adapting to local tastes, traditions and popular sentiment speak well of efforts at winning the Pinoy market by establishing bonds through identification with it. How the public positively responds to such initiatives is borne out by the fact that these icons perpetuate itself for decades on end. The Pinoy's engagement with American references, in the case of the local entertainment industry in the early 20th century, spills over even to the present. How American jazz music has been received into the country in the 1920s has been defined in a number of wayslocal adaptations by Filipino musicians,. formation of jazz bands, including the recent founding of the Jazz Society of the Philippines, among others. Not to be neglected in the narrative of assimilation is the manner by which Filipino humor picks on American brands to play a pun and reveal nuances of local culture and mentality. The result is a hilarious combination of East meeting West.

Nonetheless, while Kikay's sentiments of longing for the extraneous may well count as the height of assimilation, resistance that turns to armed struggle marks the discourse proffered at the Pasilyo Victorio Edades (CCP 4t" Floor Hallway). With objects sourced from the Mindanao State University Museum in Marawi, the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines, and the Museum of Arts and Sciences of the University of Santo Tomas, visual artist Michael Munoz develops a narrative that highlights the Moro people's history of struggle against forcesboth nonMoros and nonFilipinos that assert their authority and political will on them. In these struggles, early 20th century America is not to be excluded. The closure is a telling piece and one to potentially remove ageold blinders.

 As American presence gained ground so did its trappings of culture. Musicallyoriented, the Filipinos welcomed US imports of jazz music as early as the 1920s. Not long after Filipino jazz bands were drawing fairly large audiences, as in the case of the annual Upsilon Sigma Phi concerts at the University of the Philippines. The likes of Lito Molina and the Jazz Friends, Romy Posadas, Pena, Alava, Katindig and Robles came to be known as exponents of Philippine jazz. The 1960s saw the adaptation of jazz with rhythm and blues, and rockknown as Pinoy Jazz Fusion, locally mastered by musicians Eddie Munji and Ryan Cayabyab. More than half a century later, appreciation for jazz among Filipinos lingers on. Of late, the establishment of the Jazz Society of the Philippines gives further proof that jazz in the country is alive and kickin'.

289 pieces Jazz albums, Collis H. Davis, Jr.

* OCR refers to optical character recognition