If I was to be asked what I wanted from Iloilo. It’s not more bars, cafes or clubs. I don’t really want another mall or another new nightspot. No, no. I think we’ve had our fill of those things. Because if we ever do add malls or nightspots for our city, yes our city does grow in some way, but a bigger city runs the risk of higher crimes. Just look at our city’s current nightspot. It seems to have become a breeding ground for a new generation of morons who resort to cowardice crimes of hostilities. The ignorant arrogant thug generation. Of course, there’s also drugs and prostitution.
What Iloilo needs is not to expand structurally. But culturally. Notice how IMBALANCED Iloilo is. There is an overflowing community and power of Pop Culture. Pop Culture that is very much associated with commercial culture.
And commercial culture is controlled by powers interested in profit. On the other hand, on the opposite side, we find the art community, the world of creative artists, rockers, metalheads, and misfits. This is the community is where Art & Creativity generally comes from. And there is a really awful imbalance here in Iloilo wherein the Pop Culture is too enormous in magnitude that it never gives much chance for an independent artistic and creative community to thrive.
Now is the time for us to gather strength and grow. Let our numbers be known and let our tribes be heard. Our wild howls should be heard when they have their little fucking balls over at their nightspots. Let us march. March of Misfits. March of Weirdos. March of Punks, Metalheads, Freaks, and Nerds. Poets, Writers, Painters, and Sketchers alike. Dreamers and Nightmarewalkers. Geeks and Goths, Hippies and Techies. We March. We March and our flag is Iloilo and Panay in general.
In a year’s time, Panay should be known as a Cradle of the Arts Scene. It should be just like Seattle in the 1990’s when it was a cradle of the Alternative & Grunge Rock Scene and also that of the Art Scene, as it was a hub for poetry and the other arts. It should be like SoHo, which is also a landmark because it is a hub for the American Art scene and also the Film Community. Metro Manila has always been associated with being the capital, Cebu has always been associated with business and also its Pop lifestyle. Iloilo? Our Pop nightlife (although it is active) there is nothing really distinct about it to make it more special… I’ll give you “special” for Iloilo to be associated with…. Iloilo as a hub of rock n’ Roll, Creativity, Poetry, and the Arts! THAT, my friends, is identity we want Iloilo to be associated with.
One of the things that have been holding Iloilo back is that it has been very difficult for organizations, production groups, art groups to be united and co-exist. There were very many attempts to unite some groups into one integrated organization, but that obviously has failed because what I have noticed in Iloilo's groups is that it tends to be very “tribal”. You cannot force a group to give up their power to a higher leader. No. What we should do, in my opinion, is work together for a common end but acknowledge each other's borders and each other's power. You will have your group, and we will have ours, we should not force to integrate it....but we can agree to a common goal. I know that sometimes we can have the tendency to be very competitive. But try not to think of it as a reason to have some kind of hate for each other. You can compete with each other---but that does not mean you have to hate each other… and that does not mean you cant share a common goal. Kita-kita manlang di sa Iloilo, sure, magkumpetensyahanay ta, but in one way or another, we could find ourselves working with each other somehow. Kumpetensyahanay lang kamo sa iban na pagkabutang, pero hinde lang kamo mag suya-ay, wala lang personalan, wala lang badtripay, wala lang halitay… ISA LANG ATUN KAWSA --- ILOILO’s Rock, Arts, Counter-Culture,
Subculture, Alternative Culture!
[promethean]
editor-in-sane
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