Hi, me and my classmates Lloyd, Roger, Kenneth, and Dan made a blog about the culture of Italy and the culture of the Philippines.About this blog you will see both of the countries literature and  other stuff.We start at Italy because it is our  second favorite country.

ITALY

Italy was considered as the central place of Western culture and the starting point of worldwide phenomena such as the Roman Empire, Roman Catholic Church, cultural and educational reform and new beginning. During this period, Italy gave birth to a number of famous painters, sculptors, poets, musicians, mathematical and architects those created a niche of their own in history.Both the internal and external facets of Western culture were born on the Italian peninsula, whether one looks at the history of the Christian faith, civil institutions, philosophy, law,^[1] art, science, or social customs and culture. Furthermore, the country played a leading role in the fight against the death penalty.Italy was home to many well-known and influential civilizations, including the Etruscans, Greeks, and the Romans. For more than 2,000 years Italy experienced migrations, invasions and was divided into many independent states until 1861 when it became a nation-state.^[2] Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian peninsula, many traditions and customs that are now recognized as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe remain immense.

The famous elements of Italian culture are its art, music, fashion, and iconic food. Italy was the birthplace of opera,^[3] and for generations the language of opera was Italian, irrespective of the nationality of the composer. Popular tastes in drama in Italy have long favored comedy; the improvisational style known as the Commedia dell'arte began in Italy in the mid-16th century^[4] and is still performed today. Before being exported to France, the famous Ballet dance genre also originated in Italy.

The country boasts several world-famous cities. Rome was the ancient capital of the Roman Empire and seat of the pope of the Catholic Church. Florence was the home of many artists of the Renaissance, a period of great achievements in the arts.^[5] Other important cities are Turin, which used to be the capital of Italy, is now one of the world's great centers of automobile engineering. Milanis the industrial, commercial and financial capital of Italy. Venice, with its intricate canal system and rich cultural history, attracts tourists from all over the world.

Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (47) to date,^[6][7] and one estimate says that the country is home to half the world's great art treasures.^[8] According to the Court of Auditors, Italy has 3,430 museums, 409 of which are in Tuscany, 380 in Emilia-Romagna, 346 in Lombardy and 302 in Lazio. Then there are 216 archaeological sites, 10,000 churches, 1,500 monasteries, 40,000 assorted castles, towers and fortresses, 30,000 stately homes, 4,000 gardens, 1,000 major historic town centers.

Architecture

Architectural ruins from antiquity throughout Italy testify to the greatness of cultures past. The history of architecture in Italy is one that begins with the ancient styles of the Etruscans and Greeks, progressing to classical Roman,^[10] then to the revival of the classical Roman era during the Renaissance and evolving into the Baroque era. During the period of the Italian Renaissance it had been customary for students of architecture to travel to Rome to study the ancient ruins and buildings as an essential part of their education.

Old St. Peter's Church (begun about A.D. 330) was probably the first significant early Christian basilica, a style of church architecture that came to dominate the early Middle Ages. Old St. Peter's stood on the site of the present St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The first significant buildings in the medieval Romanesque style were churches built in Italy during the 800's. Several outstanding examples of the Byzantine architectural style of the Middle East were also built in Italy. The most famous Byzantine structure is the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice.

The greatest flowering of Italian architecture took place during the Renaissance. Filippo Brunelleschi made great contributions to architectural design with his dome for the Cathedral of Florence. Leon Battista Alberti was another early Renaissance architect whose theories and designs had an enormous influence on later architects.

Comics

The official birth of Italian comics is December 27, 1908, when the first issue of the Corriere dei Piccoli hit the stands. Attilio Mussino has produced for this weekly, an astonishing range of characters, including a little black child, Bilbolbul, whose almost surrealist adventures took place in a fantastic Africa.

In 1932 publisher Lotario Vecchi, had already begun publication of Jumbo magazine, using exclusively North American authors.^[13] The magazine reached a circulation of 350.000 copies in Italy, sanctioning comics as a mainstream medium with broad appeal. He moved to Spain three years later, bringing the same title.

In December 1932, the first Disney comic in Italy, Mickey Mouse, or Topolino in Italian, had been launched by the Florentine publisher Nerbini. The Disney franchise was then taken over by the Mondadori subsidiary, API, in 1935.

In 1945, Hugo Pratt while attending the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, created, in collaboration with Mario Faustinelli and Alberto Ongaro, Asso di Picche. Their distinctive approach to the art form earned them the name of Venetian school of comics.

In 1948 Gian Luigi Bonelli initiated a long and successful series of Western strips, starting with the popular Tex Willer. This comics would become the model for a line of publications centered around the popular comic book format that became known as Bonelliano, from the name of the publisher.

Some of the series that followed Tex Willer were Zagor (1961), Mister No (1975), and more recently, Martin Mystère (1982) and Dylan Dog (1986). These comic books presented complete stories in 100+ black-and-white pages in a pocket book format. The subject matter was always adventure, whether western, horror, mystery or science fiction. TheBonelliani are to date the most popular form of comics in the country.

Literature

Italian literature began after the founding of Rome in 753 BC. Roman, or Latin literature, was and still is highly influential in the world, with numerous writers, poets, philosophers, and historians, such as Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid andLivy. The Romans were also famous for their oral tradition, poetry, drama and epigrams. Even though most of these were inspired from the Ancient Greeks, Roman epigrams were usually far more satyrical, sometimes using obscene language to give them an exciting effect. Most of the Roman epigrams were inscriptions or graffiti.

The basis of the modern Italian Literature in the Italian language, strictly speaking, begins with the early years of the 1200s. Among the influences at work in its formation must first be mentioned the religious revival wrought by St. Francis of Assisi. Therefore, it is considered the first "Italian voice" in literature.

Another Italian voice originated in Sicily. At the court of emperor Frederick II, who ruled the Sicilian kingdom during the first half of the 1200s, lyrics modeled on Provençal forms and themes were written in a refined version of the local vernacular. The most important of these poets was the notary Giacomo da Lentini, reputed to have invented the sonnet form.

Guido Guinizelli is considered the founder of the Dolce Stil Novo, a school that added a philosophical dimension to traditional love poetry. This new understanding of love, expressed in a smooth, pure style, influenced some Florentine poets, especially Guido Cavalcanti and the young Dante Alighieri. Dante's The Divine Comedy is a masterpiece of world literature, helped create the Italian literary language. Furthermore, the poet invented the difficult terza rima for his epic journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.

The two great writers of the 1300s, Petrarch and Boccaccio, sought out and imitated the works of antiquity and cultivated their own artistic personalities. Petrarch achieved fame through his collection of poems, the Canzoniere. Petrarch's love poetry served as a model for centuries. Equally influential was Boccaccio's Decameron, one of the most popular collections of short stories ever written.

Italian Renaissance authors produced a number of important works. Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince is one of the world's most famous essays on political science. Another important work of the period, Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, is perhaps the greatest chivalry poem ever written. Baldassare Castiglione's dialogue The Book of the Courtier describes the ideal of the perfect court gentleman and of spiritual beauty. The lyric poet Torquato Tasso in Jerusalem Delivered wrote a Christian epic, making use of the ottava rima, with attention to the Aristotelian canons of unity.

In the early 17th century, some literary masterpieces were created, such as Giambattista Marino's long mythological poem, L'Adone. The Baroque period also produced the clear scientific prose of Galileo as well as Tommaso Campanella's The City of the Sun, a description of a perfect society ruled by a philosopher-priest. At the end of the 17th century, the Arcadians began a movement to restore simplicity and classical restraint to poetry, as in Metastasio's heroic melodramas. In the 18th century, playwright Carlo Goldoni replaced Commedia dell'arte with full written plays, many portraying the middle class of his day.

The Romanticism coincided with some ideas of the Risorgimento, the patriotic movement that brought Italy political unity and freedom from foreign domination. Italian writers embraced Romanticism in the early 19th century. The time of Italy's rebirth was heralded by the poets Vittorio Alfieri, Ugo Foscolo, and Giacomo Leopardi. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni, the leading Italian Romantic, was the first Italian historical novel to glorify Christian values of justice and Providence. In the late 1800s, a realistic literary movement calledVerismo played a major role in Italian literature. Giovanni Verga was the leading author in this movement.

A movement called Futurism influenced Italian literature in the early 1900s. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti wrote The Futurist Manifesto. It called for the use of language and metaphors that glorified the speed, dynamism, and violence of the machine age. Among the Italian literary figures of the early 20th century, Gabriele d'Annunzio, Luigi Pirandello, and Grazia Deledda achieved international renown. Leading writers of the postwar era are Ignazio Silone, Alberto Moravia, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Dario Fo, and the poets Salvatore Quasimodo and Eugenio Montale.

Sculpture

The art of sculpture in the Italian peninsula has its roots in ancient times. In the archaic period, when Etruscan cities dominated central Italy and the adjacent sea, Etruscan sculpture flourished. The name of an individual artist, Vulca, who worked at Veii, has been identified. He has left a terracotta Apollo and other figures, and can perhaps claim the distinction of being the most ancient master in the long history of Italian art.

But a great development of this art there was between the 6th century BC and 5th century AD during the growth of the Roman Empire. The earliest Roman sculpture was influenced by the Etruscans to the north of Rome and by Greek colonists to the south. During the Empire period, the pure realism of the Republican period portrait busts was joined to Greek idealism. The result, evident in Augustus of Primaporta, was often a curious juxtaposition of individualized heads with idealized, anatomically perfect bodies in Classical poses.

During the Middle Ages, artistic production was largely religious, and chiefly applied to objects used in Christian worship services. Carolingian artists (named after Charlemagne's family) created sculpture for covers of Bibles, as decoration for parts of church altars, and forcrucifixes and giant candlesticks placed on altars. Lacking other models, sculptors imitated miniatures painted on religious manuscripts.

In the late 1200s, Nicola Pisano and his son Giovanni began the revolutionary changes that led up to the Renaissance in Italian sculpture. Both are noted for their reliefs and ornamentation on pulpits. The Massacre of the Innocents by Giovanni Pisano is an example. The actual carving remains in the medieval Gothic style, however.

The greatest sculptor of the early Renaissance was Donatello.^[30] In 1430, he had produced a bronze statue of David. This statue reestablished the classical idea of beauty — the naked human body. Conceived fully in the round and independent of any architectural surroundings, it was the first major work of Renaissance sculpture. Among the other brilliant sculptors of the 1400s were Jacopo della Quercia, Michelozzo, Bernardo and Antonio Rossellino, and Agostino di Duccio.

The great flood of Italian genius crested in the early 1500s in Michelangelo Buonarroti. His great brooding sculptures, including the figures of Night and Day on the Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici in Florence, carry the observer beyond earthly reality. The his David, is perhaps, the most famous sculpture in the world.^[31] It differs from previous representations of the subject in that David is depicted before his battle with Goliath and not after the giant's defeat. Instead of being shown victorious over a foe much larger than he, David looks tense and ready for combat.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini was probably the most important sculptor of the Baroque period.^[32] He has combined emotional and sensual freedom with theatrical presentation and an almost photographic naturalism. Bernini's saints and other figures seem to sit, stand, and move as living people — and the viewer becomes part of the scene. This involvement of the spectator is a basic characteristic of Baroque sculpture. One of his most famous works is Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.

The neoclassical movement arose in the late 1700s. The members of this vast international school restored what they regarded as classical principles of art. They were direct imitators of ancient Greek sculptors. They emphasized classical drapery and the nude. The leading Neoclassical artist in Italy, was Antonio Canova. His ability to carve pure white Italian marble has seldom been equaled. Most of his statues are in European collections, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City owns important works, including Perseus and Cupid and Psyche.

In the 1900s, many Italians played leading roles in the development of modern art. Futurist sculptors tried to show how space, movement, and time affected form. These artists portrayed objects in motion, rather than their appearance at any particular moment. An example is Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space.

Theatre

Italian theatre can be traced back into the Roman which was heavily influenced by the Greek tradition, and, as with many other literary genres, Roman dramatists tended to adapt and translate from the Greek. For example, Seneca's Phaedra was based on that of Euripides, and many of the comedies of Plautus were direct translations of works by Menander.

Opposition from the early church was one of the reasons for the decline of the Roman theater that began in the 4th century AD. Early Christians saw a connection between theatre and pagan religions, and the church fathers argued that the evil characters portrayed onstage taught immorality. For this reason, large theatrical performances disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Ironically, the earliest recorded drama in all parts of Western Europe was the Liturgical drama of the Church. In fact, during the medieval period, the Church began to act out particular Bible passages. These dramatizations grew into staged Christmas and Easter stories so that the illiterate masses could understand the Latin liturgy. Regions in France, Germany, and England showed the most activity of Liturgical drama. The Catholic Church thus made a more concerted effort to utilize drama and theatre in the propagation of the gospel.

During the 16th century and on into the 18th century Commedia dell'arte was a form of improvisational theatre, although it is still performed today. Travelling teams of players would set up an outdoor stage and provide amusement in the form of juggling, acrobatics, and, more typically, humorous plays based on a repertoire of established characters with a rough storyline, called canovaccio.

Italian theatre has been active in producing outstanding contemporary European work and in staging important revivals, although no native playwright has produced works that can rival those of Luigi Pirandello from the early 20th century. In the late 20th century Dario Fo received international acclaim for his highly improvisational style.

Visual art

The history and development of art in Western culture is grounded in hundreds of years of Italian history. In Ancient Rome, Italy was the centre for art and architecture. There were many Italian artists during the Gothic and Medieval periods, and the arts flourished during theItalian Renaissance. Later styles in Italy included Mannerism, Baroque, and Macchiaioli. Futurism developed in Italy in the 20th century. Florence, Venice and Rome, in particular, are brimming with art treasures in museums, churches, and public buildings.

The Italian Renaissance produced many of the greatest painters in art history. They were all influenced by the work of Giotto di Bondone in the late 1200s. One of the most influential artists who ever lived,^[33] Giotto changed the course of Western art by painting in a new realistic style.

Florence became the center of early Renaissance art. The great Florentine masters of painting included Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Andrea Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli, and Paolo Uccello. The greatest artist of the 1400s was probably Leonardo da Vinci. His portrait Mona Lisa and his religious scene The Last Supper are among the most famous paintings in history.

The later Renaissance was dominated by Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael painted balanced, harmonious pictures that expressed a calm, noble way of life. Michelangelo achieved greatness both as a painter and sculptor. In Venice, a number of artists were painting richly colored works during the 1500s. The most famous Venetian masters included Giorgione, Titian, and Tintoretto.

Italian painters dominated the Baroque period. Annibale Caracci and Caravaggiowere the most important early Baroque painters.

In the 1900s, many Italians played leading roles in the development of modern art. Giorgio de Chirico gained fame for his haunting paintings of empty city squares. Amedeo Modigliani won renown with a series of portraits.

History

Italy is the wellspring of Western civilization and has been a world crossroads for over 2,000 years.^{[nb 1][nb 2]} Continuous learning, creativity, and technological advancement on the Italian peninsula have shaped virtually every aspect of Western culture.

Though its archaeological record stretches back tens of thousands of years, Italian history begins with the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that rose between the Arno and Tiber rivers. The Etruscans were supplanted in the 3rd century BC by the Romans, who soon became the chief power in the Mediterranean world and whose empire stretched from India to Scotland by the 2nd century AD.^[46] The empire influenced the government, the arts, and the architecture of many later groups of people.

With Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in 312, Rome became the open and official seat of the Catholic Church, and Italy has had a profound effect on the development of Christianity and of Western concepts of faith and morality ever since.^[47] Like the other works of Christian charity, the care of the sick was from the beginning a sacred duty for each of the faithful, but it devolved in a special way upon the bishops, presbyters, and deacons. According to historian William Lecky, the hospitals were unknown before Christianity.^{[nb 3]} After the fall of Rome in the AD 400s, the Italian peninsula was divided among many different rulers. However, theEastern emperors, residing at Constantinople, never renounced their claim to Italy and to succession to the West.

During the Middle Ages, which lasted from about the AD 400s through the 1400s, the Roman Catholic Church replaced the Roman Empire as the unifying force in Europe.^[49] It used the Latin language and preserved the classics of Latin literature. In addition, the influence of the Church on the spread of literacy, has had a significant impact on European society. Günther S. Wegener has carefully documented the correlation between Bible translation and the spread of literacy in European languages.^[50] In fact, during the Middle Ages, the most important branch of learning was theology (the study of God). This new intellectual approach has been calledScholasticism. Italy, in virtue of this, became a seat of great formal learning in 1088 with the establishment of the University of Bologna, the first university in Europe. Other Italian universities soon followed.^{[nb 4]} About the same time, Italy saw the rise of theMaritime Republics.

In Italy medieval communes were sworn associations of townsmen that arose during the 11th century to overthrow the rule of the local bishop or feudal magnates. The communal experience of medieval Italy was somehow salient for the origins of modern democracy.^{[51][nb 5]} Many cities — especially Florence, Genoa, Pisa, Milan, and Venice — became powerful and independent city-states. An intellectual revival, stimulated in part by the freer atmosphere of the cities and in part by the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Latin writings, gave rise to the humanist attitudes and ideas that formed the basis of the Renaissance.

Renaissance period saw a rebirth of many interests, particularly in the arts.^[52][53] By the early 15th century, in Florence, a circle of architects, painters, and sculptors have sought to revive classical art. The leader of this group was an architect, Filippo Brunelleschi. He designed churches reflecting classical models. To him we also owe a scientific discovery of the first importance in the history of art: the rules of perspective. In painting, Leonardo da Vinci and other Italian painters used a technique called sfumato that created softness in their portraits. At the same time, Italy witnessed the revival of the fresco. In music, both the small-scale madrigal and the large-scale opera were inventions of the period with a long future. Italian cities invented the modern conservatory to train professional musicians, as they invented the art academy as a place to master the techniques and the theory of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Rome and Venice witnessed the emergence of the first art "market" where buyers and sellers exchanged artworks as commodities.^[45]

It was no accident that the origin of the European system of banks was born in Renaissance Italy. By the 1430s, the Medici familydominated the ruling class of Florence. The family controlled the largest bank in Europe and was headed by a series of talented and ambitious men. Under Medici domination, the Florentine republic in some ways resembled a signorial government.

Some of the greatest explorers of the late 1400s and early 1500s were Italians exposed to the traditions of the Renaissance.Christopher Columbus — like such other Italian explorers as John Cabot, Giovanni da Verrazzano, and Amerigo Vespucci — was willing to take enormous risks to achieve results that people had never dreamed of. In a sense, Columbus's arrival in America in 1492 was one of the greatest achievements of the Renaissance.

In general terms, the Baroque era is sometimes called the era of genius, since it was at this time in history that the scientific revolution that established the foundations of modern science was launched. In the pantheon of the scientific revolution, Galileo Galileitakes a high position because of his pioneering use of quantitative experiments with results analyzed mathematically.

The intellectual dynamism in 18th century Italy was considerable, across the gamut of genres. Italian elites became conversant with French Enlightenment principles and with English ideas, too, spread by young aristocrats on the grand tour. By the 1760s and 1770s, the Italian authors who were members of academies and contributors to philosophical and literary journals began to disseminate their ideas close to the realm of power in Milan and Turin, Parma and Modena, Florence and Naples. Inspired by Cesare Beccaria's theses — on liberal ideas and humanitarian sentiments — the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was the first state in the world to abolish the death penalty in 1786.^[54] Italy continued its leading cultural role through the Romantic period, when its dominance in painting and sculpture diminished and it reestablished a strong presence in music.

Italian artists have been quite influential in the 20th century, and some of the Italian exponents of Modernism in the 1920s and 1930s continue to have a strong presence in the international contemporary art market. Known in many circles as the father of the Atomic Age, Enrico Fermi was an Italian who bore witness to the discovery, control, and use of atomic power. Following World War II, Italian neorealism became an important force in motion pictures,^[19] and by the 1960s, Italy had established itself as one of a handful of great European film cultures. Today Italy is one of the international leaders in fashion and design.

Now that were done at Italy, We now then go to our favorite country the Philippines.

PHILIPPINES

The Philippines was first settled by Melanesians; today they preserve a very traditional way of life and culture, although their numbers are few. After them, the Austronesians or more specifically, Malayo-Polynesians, arrived on the islands. Today the Austronesian culture is very evident in the ethnicity, language, food, dance and almost every aspect of the culture. These Austronesians engaged in trading with China, India, Japan, the Ryukyu islands, the Middle East, Borneo, and other places. As a result, those cultures have also left a mark on Filipino culture.^[1]

When the Spanish colonized the islands, after more than three centuries of colonization, they had heavily impacted the culture. The Philippines being governed from both Mexico and Spain, had received a little bit of Hispanic influence. Mexican and Spanish influence can be seen in the dance and religion many other aspects of the culture. After being colonized by Spain, the Philippines became a U.S. territory for about 40 years. Influence from the United States is seen in the wide use of the English language, and the modern pop culture.

Religion

The Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic nations in Asia-Pacific, the other being East Timor. From a census in 2000, Catholicsconstitute 80.9%, with Aglipayan followers at 2%, Evangelical Christians at 2.8%, Iglesia Ni Cristo at 2.3%, and other Christian denominations at 4.5%.Islam is the religion for about 5% of the population, while 1.8% practice other religions. The remaining 0.6 did not specify a religion while 0.1% areirreligious.^[2]

Before the arrival of the Spaniards and the introduction of Roman Catholicism and Western culture in the 16th century, the indigenousAustronesian people of what is now called the Philippines were adherents of a mixture of shamanistic Animism, Islam, Hinduism andVajrayana Buddhism.^[3]

Filipino arts

Arts of the Philippines cover a variety of forms of entertainment. Folk art and ethnographic art consist of classic and modern features that flourished as a result of European and Indigenous influences.

Literature

The literature of the Philippines illustrates the Prehistory and European colonial legacy of the Philippines, written in both Indigenous and Hispanic writing system. Most of the traditional literatures of the Philippines were written during the Mexican and Spanish period. Philippine literature is written in Spanish, English, Tagalog, and/or other native Philippine languages.

Visual arts Painting

Early Filipino painting can be found in red slip (clay mixed with water) designs embellished on the ritual pottery of the Philippines such as the acclaimed Manunggul Jar. Evidence of Philippine pottery-making dated as early as 6,000 BC has been found in Sanga-sanga Cave, Sulu and Laurente Cave, Cagayan. It has been proven that by 5,000 BC, the making of pottery was practiced throughout the country. Early Filipinos started making pottery before their Cambodian neighbors, and at about the same time as the Thais as part of what appears to be a widespread Ice Age development of pottery technology.

Further evidences of painting are manifested in the tattoo tradition of early Filipinos, whom the Portuguese explorer referred to asPintados or the 'Painted People' of the Visayas.^[4][5] Various designs referencing flora and fauna with heavenly bodies decorate their bodies in various colored pigmentation. Perhaps, some of the most elaborate painting done by early Filipinos that survive to the present day can be manifested among the arts and architecture of the Maranao who are well known for the Naga Dragons and the Sarimanokcarved and painted in the beautiful Panolong of their Torogan or King's House.

Filipinos began creating paintings in the European tradition during 17th century Spanish period. The earliest of these paintings were Church frescoes, religious imagery from Biblical sources, as well as engravings, sculptures and lithographs featuring Christian icons and European nobility. Most of the paintings and sculptures between the 19th and 20th centuries produced a mixture of religious, political, and landscape art works, with qualities of sweetness, dark, and light.

Early modernist painters such as Damián Domingo was associated with religious and secular paintings. The art of Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo showed a trend for political statement. The first Philippine national artist Fernando Amorsolo used post-modernism to produce paintings that illustrated Philippine culture, nature and harmony. While other artist such as Fernando Zóbel used realities and abstract on his work. In the early 1980s, other unique folk artist exist one of these is Elito Circa as amangpintor the famous Filipino folk painter. He uses his own hair to make his paintbrushes, and signs his name with his own blood on the right side of his paintings. He developed his own styles without professional training or guidance from masters.

Indigenous art

The Itneg people are known for their intricate woven fabrics. The binakol is a blanket which features designs that incorporate optical illusions. Woven fabrics of the Ga'dang people usually have bright red tones. Their weaving can also be identified by beaded ornamentation. Other peoples such as the Ilongot make jewelry from pearl, red hornbill beaks, plants, and metals.

The Lumad peoples of Mindanao such as the B'laan, Mandaya, Mansaka and T'boli are skilled in the art of dyeing abaca fiber. Abaca is a plant closely related to bananas, and its leaves are used to make fiber known as Manila hemp. The fiber is dyed by a method called ikat. Ikat fiber are woven into cloth with geometric patterns depicting human, animal and plant themes.

Music

The early music of the Philippines featured a mixture of Indigenous, Islamic and a variety of Asian sounds that flourished before the European and American colonization in the 16th and 20th centuries. Spanish settlers and Filipinos played a variety of musical instruments, including flutes, guitar, ukelele, violin, trumpets and drums. They performed songs and dances to celebrate festive occasions. By the 21st century, many of the folk songs and dances have remained intact throughout the Philippines. Some of the groups that perform these folk songs and dances are the Bayanihan, Filipinescas, Barangay-Barrio, Hariraya, the Karilagan Ensemble, and groups associated with the guilds of Manila, and Fort Santiago theatres. Many Filipino musicians have risen prominence such as the composer and conductor Antonio J. Molina, the composer Felipe P. de Leon, known for his nationalistic themes and the opera singerJovita Fuentes.

Modern day Philippine music features several styles. Most music genres are contemporary such as Filipino rock, Filipino hip hop and other musical styles. Some are traditional such as Filipino folk music.

Dance

Philippine folk dances include the Tinikling and Cariñosa. In the southern region of Mindanao, Singkil is a popular dance showcasing the story of a prince and princess in the forest. Bamboo poles are arranged in a tic-tac-toe pattern in which the dancers exploit every position of these clashing poles.^[6] Guide to Philippine Cultural and Folk Dances

Cinema and television

The advent of the cinema of the Philippines can be traced back to the early days of filmmaking in 1897 when a Spanish theater owner screened imported moving pictures.The formative years of Philippine cinema, starting from the 1930s, were a time of discovery of film as a new medium of expressing artworks. Scripts and characterizations in films came from popular theater shows and Philippine literature.

In the 1940s, Philippine cinema brought the consciousness of reality in its film industry. Nationalistic films became popular, and movie themes consisting primarily of war and heroism and proved to be successful with Philippine audiences.

The 1950s saw the first golden age of Philippine cinema,^[7][8] with the emergence of more artistic and mature films, and significant improvement in cinematic techniques among filmmakers. The studio system produced frenetic activity in the Philippine film industry as many films were made annually and several local talents started to gain recognition abroad. Award-winning filmmakers and actors were first introduced during this period. As the decade drew to a close, the studio system monopoly came under siege as a result of labor-management conflicts. By the 1960s, the artistry established in the previous years was in decline. This era can be characterized by rampant commercialism in films.

The 1970s and 1980s were considered turbulent years for the Philippine film industry, bringing both positive and negative changes. The films in this period dealt with more serious topics following the Martial law era. In addition, action, western, drama, adult and comedy films developed further in picture quality, sound and writing. The 1980s brought the arrival of alternative or independent cinema in the Philippines.

The 1990s saw the emerging popularity of drama, teen-oriented romantic comedy, adult, comedy and action films.^[8]

The Philippines, being one of Asia's earliest film industry producers, remains undisputed in terms of the highest level of theater admission in Asia. Over the years, however, the Philippine film industry has registered a steady decline in movie viewership from 131 million in 1996 to 63 million in 2004.^[9][10] From a high production rate of 350 films a year in the 1950s, and 200 films a year during the 1980s, the Philippine film industry production rate declined in 2006 to 2007.^[9][10] The 21st century saw the rebirth of independent filmmaking through the use of digital technology and a number of films have once again earned nationwide :)recognition and prestige.

With the high rates of film production in the past, several movie artists have appeared in over 100+ roles in Philippine Cinema^[11] and enjoyed great recognition from fans and moviegoers.

Architecture

The Nipa hut (Bahay Kubo) is the mainstream form of housing. It is characterized by use of simple materials such as bamboo andcoconut as the main sources of wood. Cogon grass, Nipa palm leaves and coconut fronds are used as roof thatching. Most primitive homes are built on stilts due to frequent flooding during the rainy season. Regional variations include the use of thicker, and denser roof thatching in mountain areas, or longer stilts on coastal areas particularly if the structure is built over water. The architecture of other indigenous peoples may be characterized by an angular wooden roofs, bamboo in place of leafy thatching and ornate wooden carvings.

The Spaniards introduced stones as housing and building materials. The introduction of Christianity brought European churches, and architecture which subsequently became the center of most towns and cities. Spanish architecture can be found in Intramuros, Vigan,Iloilo, Jaro and other parts of the Philippines. Islamic and other Asian architecture can also be seen depicted on buildings such asmosques and temples.

The Coconut Palace is an example of Philippine Architecture.

Contemporary architecture has a distinctively Western style although pre-Hispanic housing is still common in rural areas. American style suburban-gated communities are popular in the cities, including Manila, and the surrounding provinces.oten kiki.

End of Blog

Leader: Julius Earl Deniega

Members:

            Lloyd Thomas

            Roger Ducay Jr.

            Kenneth Deterala

            Dan Roque Variacion