JOSE

Montserrat
MACEDA

FILIPINO NATIONAL ARTIST

A LEGEND IN MUSIC

WHO IS JOSE MACEDA ?

Jose Montserrat Maceda, pianist, composer, ethnomusicologist,

was born on January 31,1917 in Manila . His parents were Judge
Castro Maceda y Norona of Pila, Laguna and Concepcion
Montserrat y Salamanca of Sta. Cruz and Naglarcan, Laguna. He
is the eldest son of four boys. It was his mother, who encouraged
him and instilled in him a love for music and arts.
He is a loving and devoted husband to Madelyn Clifford, a
Canadian pianist. They were married in Manila in 1954 and spent
their honeymoon in Maguindanao collecting music and musical
instruments. They have four daughters named: Marion
Villanueva, Madelein Heide, Kathleen Maciel, and Eileen Mapili.
He was conferred as a National Artist of the Philippines for Music
in 1998 during the presidential term of Former President Fidel V.
Ramos.
THE PROCESS PAGE 02

JOURNEY AS A NATIONAL
ARTIST

His early musical training was received at the Academy of Music of Manila. He graduated with
the highest honors in 1936. After graduation he was sent to abroad, in Vienna for further studies
but a visiting pianist named Youra Guller recommended Paris, France with Alfred Corotot, his
mentor. He left for Paris in 1937 staying four years at the Ecole Normals de Musique where he
earned the Diplome de Virtousite with distinction. Prior to graduation he had twice won first place
in the Scholl examination. He returned to Manila in 1941 just before the outbreak of World War II
in the Philippines. His homecoming concert was presented by the Asociacion Musical. They
introduced to the Philippine audience a new style of French Piano playing. He traveled and played
a recital at La Consolacion College on Mendiola St. and then on he toured and played a recital
also on different places in Visayas.
in New York, Maceda studied musicology at Queen's College and Columbia University from 1950-
1952.
His initial publications first appeared in 1955, are indicative of the trend of his musical thinking-
The Music of the Bukids of Mindoro, Hanunuo Music of the Philippines, Music where east and
west meet.
His immersion in indegenous music includes not only that of the Philippines but also the music of
Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan, and Korea. In 1957-1958
he returned
to the US and studied anthropology and ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago, North
Western University and Indiana University.
THE PROCESS PAGE 03

A Rockefeller Grant in 1961 -1963 brought him to the University of California in Los
Angeles where he learned his Ph.D in 1964, writing his dissertation on the Music of
Maguindanao. His solid Western musical training helped him create new sound
structures based on a different concept of time, melody, form, performance medium
and the experimental dimensions of music.

Dr. Maceda had acquired a sizable number of taped music , field notes, photographs
and instruments from his 1968 research and expedition in Brazil.Upon his return,
under Dr. Maceda's guidance, fieldworkers were sent all over the Philippines-
Mindanao, Sulu, Palawan, the Visayas, Northern and Southern Luzon. Thus, the Music
Archives containing material ( tapes, photos, fieldnotes, translation and
transcriptions ) is today the largest collection of musical Filipiniana in the world.
FAMOUS WORKS IN THE FIELD PAGE 04
OF MUSIC

COMPOSITIONS
1. Ugma - ugma ( 1963)
2. Agungan(1965) - Features decays , densities, colors, sounds struck with stick ,
hands and sliding palms from six gong families: agung, gandingan, gangsa,
kulintang , tinurai agung.
3. Kubing (1966) - music from Bamboo percussion and Men's voice. In this work,
men's voices are treated in various ways- as percussion sounds in the form of
clicks and stops, glissandi, pitch levels of trills, whispers, and high-pitched level
calls . These voices are set against a background of low-volume attacks
produced by zithers and raspings of scappers with the sounds of bamboo tubes,
buzzers, and sticks serving as bridges between sections.
4. Pagsamba (1968) - was premiered at the U.P. Chapel of the Holy Sacrifice. It has
a mixed group of 100 voices uttering high and low pitches in dense and thin
combinations; 25 male voices grouped into fives chanting disjointed phones; 100
instrumentalists each playing on separate instruments- whistle flutes,
clappers, buzzers, scrappers and sticks; and 16 gongs ( eight agung , eight
gandingan) which provide the lower ranges as prolonged and short sound
attacks.
COMPOSITIONS PAGE 05

5. Cassettes 100- first performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines ( CCP) lobby in
1971. Was written for 100 participants carrying cassette recorders with pre-taped music
HISTORY
moving about in a simple choreography.
6. Ugnayan(1974) - consisted of prepared music aired by 20 radio stations. Contains a
message that means that even if we are separated , we are a Filipino and as one.
7. Udlot-Udlot (1975)- is a ritual open music in the open-air for hundreds of performers.
Performed with mixed percussion sticks( kalutang), balimbing, tongatong, ongiyong ,
pitu.
8. Aroding
9. Suling-Suling - performed with mixed 10 flutes, 10 bamboo buzzers, and 10 flat gongs.
10. Strata( 1988) - performed with mixed 10 buzzers, 10 sticks, 5 tam-tams, 5 flutes, 5
cellos and 5 guitars.
11. Ading
INSTRUMENTS
PAGE 06
 PAGE 07

* In the 80's , Dr. Maceda's work combine indegenous and western instruments.
*In the 90's , Dr. Maceda's compositions have utilized the piano. In music for Fire of
Pianos (1993)he uses octaves and filled-in octaves resonating together as a
composite of five sound boxes.
 PAGE 09

AWARDS
( NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL)

*Ordre Des Palmes Academiques from France, 1978

*U.P. Composers Award, 1985
*U.P. Outstanding Researcher Award, 1985
*John D. Rockefeller III Award by the Asian Cultural Council in New York, 1986
*Philippine National Science Award for Outstanding Researches in the Humanities,
1987.
*Tanglaw Ng Lahi Award from the Ateneo De Manila University,1987
*U.P. Professor Award, 1988
*Asian Prize for Culture, 1997
*The French National Order of Merit, Officer, 1997.
*Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities
Dr. Jose Montserrat Maceda has dedicated his life towards the promotion of
a national cultural identity, initiating and inspiring scholarly study of the
musics and culture of the Filipino minority groups. As a composer, his
experiments blazed the trial of a new trend in composition among younger
Filipino composers.

After his life long dedication to music, this renowned national artist died on
May 2004 in Quezon City at the age of 87.

# All information are based on the information by NATIONAL COMMISSION

OF CULTURE AND ARTS .
#