Bacoor launches 1st Int’l Music Championships
Winning marching bands from Asean nations revealed at awards ceremony tonight
THE city government of Bacoor hosted a grand gathering at the historic Quirino Grandstand on June 22 as they welcomed delegates to the first-ever Bacoor International Music Championships Representatives from across the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Hongkong and Japan converged early Friday morning at the famous landmark for the opening ceremonies
Asking after the competition’s history, Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado told
The Sunday Times Magazine, “While this is first time the city is mounting the Bacoor International Music Championships, its roots go all the way back to 2011 when then mayor and now Congressman Strike Revilla wanted to promote the city as the ‘ Marching Band Capital of the Philippines.’
“He organized a competition which wasn’t widely known in its first few years, but over time, when we were finally and officially recognized as the country’s Marching Band Capital, we were incorporated by the Asian Marching Band Confederation and Winter Guard International, both organizations since guiding us how to mount a regional competition, including how to score and how to judge the participants.”
As such, the city was able to attract 11 international marching bands and 23 local bands to compete in this first region- wide endeavor, which coincides with the 6th Cityhood Anniversary celebrations of Bacoor this weekend. It was on June 23, 2012 when Bacoor’s constituents voted in majority to turn their municipality into a city. Mercado further informed The Sunday Times Magazine that Bacoor has the oldest bands in the Philippines on record, going as far back as the Spanish era. Padre Mariano Gomez of the martyred Gomburza trio and first parish priest of the Municipality of Bacoor was the very first organizer and teacher of a marching band in the town. They performed in exchange for eggs which were used to glue the adobe in building the Church of St. Michael.
“This event is very important to us as the Marching Band Capital. We are opening the doors for our musicians to the international arena. Before, we only held a national competition so it’s about time we grow in scale,” Mercado enthused. “Of course with the help of our international partners, we are now able to show not just in Asia but the whole world the talent of the people of Bacoor and our ability to host the very first international marching band competition in the country.”
Meanwhile, according to Bacoor Tourism Officer Edwin Guinto, the city government knew they were embarking on a difficult project but they proceeded nonetheless to advocate music and culture at a time when marching bands are no longer very popular in the Philippines.
“Actually before we hosted this international competition, we really looked into every detail of a marching band festival. We realized how in other parts of the world, a competition like this is treated as if it were a sporting event for the arts,” he explained.
“In fact when I visited a marching band event in Indianapolis, it drew the kind of crowds an NBA game would attract. Hopefully, doing the same in the Philippines will expose our marching bands to the standards of winning bands from around the world to make them competitive as their counterparts.”
A three-day event, the launch on Friday immediately saw two competitions take place--first up were the Drumline
preliminaries (among team Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Thailand), followed by the Brassline preliminaries (among team Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand).
The activities on the second day were comprised of street parade in General Evangelista Street in Bacoor, WGI preliminary ( color guard, winds, percussion) and Marching Show Band preliminary at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Tonight, on its third and final day, the awarding ceremonies will be held at seven o’clock also at the Mall of Asia Arena right after the WGI Finals, Marching Show Band Finals and Music Battle for Drumline and Bassline.