International Repertoire and Local Practice: Parochial Music in Oslob, Cebu

Abstract

The paper presents initial findings from a documentation of a music collection found in Oslob, Cebu, Philippines. The research reveals that the music used in the parish was wide and diverse, consisting of works from Europe, the U.S., and the Philippines. There also existed in Oslob a practice of adding orchestral parts to compositions originally written for voice and piano or organ. This practice, if read as an indication of a local musical sensibility, may have been an inadvertent way of circumventing reforms on Catholic liturgical music in the 20thcentury.