Inquirer 2/25/2010
Not only on Facebook. Human contact is the essence of the Filipino way of life, he says, announcing more intimate ‘Bravo’ JAIME ZOBEL DE Ayala thinks young Filipinos these days are on Facebook and YouTube too much that they may be forgetting how to communicate face-to-face.
“Filipino, by nature, is a one-by-one person... We want to communicate [face-to-face]. Human contact is the essence of our way of life, our understanding of each other. But everybody’s busy doing things like Facebook or YouTube,” he said wryly at a lunch on Tuesday to introduce Ayala Malls’ “Bravo Filipino” program for 2010.
Recalling his speech to the participants of the Ayala Young Leaders Conference, he added, “Of course, times require you to do these... It’s almost a contradiction. You say, we don’t have time. Well, look for time. Every now and then, take opportunity to communicate with people, that’s the essence and beauty of our nature.”
The best way to do this, he said, is through song and dance, poetry and other forms of visual and performance arts.
In 2008, Zobel and the executives of Ayala Group of Companies (Ayala Malls, Filipinas Heritage Library, Ayala Museum, Globe Telecom and Bank of the Philippine Islands) conceptualized a project to celebrate the immense Filipino talent, to coincide with the formal launch of Greenbelt 5. The new mall had a wing devoted entirely to Filipino designers and brands.
One of the highlights of the first “Bravo Filipino” was the homecoming show of Lesley Mobo, an Aklanon who had made it big in London designing Jasmine di Milo, a brand owned by a daughter of Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
This time, the headliner will be world-class pianist Cecile Licad, who will perform Filipino love songs and other well-loved pieces (March 18, 20 and 23 at Greenbelt, Alabang Town Center and TriNoma).
Early this year, in the run-up to the 2010 program, the Ayala Group embarked on an “experiment” to roll out “Bravo Filipino” in smaller, more intimate venues in the Ayala Malls.
Great feedback
When they held the “Harana” series of kundiman performances at the jazzed up Ayala Triangle Gardens in January, Zobel said they wanted to find out if passersby would stop, sit on the grass and listen. They did.
The series had great feedback from both young and old. Zobel and his team then decided to reach out to audiences in a “less structured way.”
“Let’s not structure it in such a way where, ‘you’re invited, you’re not,’” he told his team.
“Our intent is to roll it out in smaller audiences where there’s a sense of intimacy,” explained Antonio Aquino, president of Ayala Land Inc. “We want to take advantage of the mall venue to give Filipinos the chance to rediscover themselves through the arts.”
Zobel added, “It’s a pity that we love to copy and stop right there. We don’t know our roots, our origins and why.”
These “pockets of intimacy” in the malls, he said, are venues to connect people to the medium. The harana, for instance, required an intimate venue as it called for the audience to hear the words, the “curlicues that make the music Filipino, [to know that] it’s adapted but uniquely Filipino.”
Marivic Añonuevo, SVP of ALI and group head of Ayala Malls, said “Bravo Filipino” has already bagged several awards, including one from the International Council of Shopping Centers and the International Association of Business Communicators.
Celebrating women
On April 23, “Bravo Filipino” will also present a fashion show celebrating women, to be directed by designer Inno Sotto. In keeping with Zobel’s quest to involve his family in the project, daughters Bea Zobel Jr. and Sofia Elizalde will spearhead the show.
In 2008, he entrusted daughter-in-law and amateur shutterbug Kit Zobel to helm a group exhibit of photographers, herself included.
In May, the Zobel patriarch will be part of a group photo exhibit documenting Filipino handicrafts. In the group, only Zobel—self-described “jack of all trades”—is a seasoned photographer; the four others are amateurs.
The Ayala Corp. chair emeritus is confident his team isn’t overreaching. He believes art is intrinsic in the Filipino soul.
“In what [Filipino] home do you not have a guitar?” Zobel asked. “You sing songs you may not understand but you sing it so well... There’s great wealth in your life to explore before you copy someone else.”