Balitaw writing tilt

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos is sponsoring a balitaw-writing contest. Entries should be at least five pages long, single space, in Times New Roman 12 font. Theme of the balitaw, which takes the form of a debate between a man and a woman, is Reproductive Health.  Each speaker’s turn should have four lines (quatrain) using any rhyme scheme.

“Ms. Linda Kalayaan Faigao-Hall, playwright daughter of the late poet Cornelio Faigao, will donate the amounts of P6,000 for the first prize, and P4,000 and P2,000 for the second and third prizes,” this was learned from Dr. Erlinda Alburo, director of the CSC.

Winners will be notified a week after the deadline on January 30, 2011. Entries, with contact details included, should be addressed to: Cebuano Studies Center, USC (for hard copy) and [email protected] (for e-copy).

Those who missed the lecture demonstration on the balitaw last November 24 conducted by Dr. Alburo at the USC-Buttenbruch Hall can read about this unique Cebuano cultural form in the website of faigaoworkshop.com. The first prize winner will be performed at the SM City Cebu during the celebration of National Arts Month in February.

The Cebuano balitaw

In her lecture, Alburo defined the Cebuano balitaw as “basically a song-and-dance verse debate between a man and a woman usually on love and courtship, domestic and social life, but may also be on almost any subject.”

The standard format has a man and a woman alternately exchanging extemporaneous verses.

The bal in balitaw, like the bal in polkabal probably comes from the Spanish valse (waltz), so balitaw, it is suggested, comes from balse sa mga tawo, a term coined during the Spanish period.

The balitaw has evolved from the original joust that was part of a body of oral literature that had impressed the Spanish missionaries as “well developed, sophisticated, and presented by artists who were rewarded for their skills.” 

Alburo further said that Spanish influence may be seen in the use of the harp, which gave a more melodious accompaniment, to replace the coconut shell guitar; in the text of the song, and in vocabulary.

“It was during the American period that balitaw performance became specialized,” she pointed out in her presentation. “It competed with other forms of entertainment like the cinema in the city, which was introduced in the 1930s. The balitaw survived only in the rural areas. In Cebu, the famous couple Pedro Alfafara and Nicolasa “Colasing” Cañiban would tour the Visayas and Cebuano-speaking provinces in Mindanao.”

Another famous Cebuano balitaw couple emerged after the World War, Antonio “Tonying” Bohol and Josefina “Pasing” Bacalso. The Bohol couple, who were married to each other, did not go to as many tours as Pedro and Colasing before them, but they popularized the balitaw through the medium of radio and stage performances. In 1989, the couple left the Philippines to join a daughter in Australia, where they performed before Filipino communities. Both have already passed away.

Moreover, it was learned that verses draw from the wealth of Cebuano folklore, and with Christianization, the subject matter was enriched with stories from the Bible. But the general structure of the debate was retained, usually revolving around the fate of a young man’s suit.

“A typical balitaw follows the conventional structure of: Introduction or greetings to the audience and to each other; the main action where the boy proposes and the girl plays hard to get; and acceptance or rejection of the suit,” Alburo added.

One type of contemporary adaptations which, somehow, stalls the dying of this art form is to be seen in the novelty songs of Boholano Roman “Yoyoy” Villame and Cebuano Maximo “Max” Surban, with their entertaining melodies and lyrics. Another is in the poetry of the Bisdak poets. (FREEMAN)