Udlot-Udlot 2020

Conceived as ceremonial music, Dr. Jose Monserrat Maceda, National Artist for Music, composed this 40-minute piece in 1975 to challenge dominant notions of “music” by exploring how drone, color, and melody come together as independent elements in performance. This 2020 version of Udlot-Udlot is a 10-minute excerpt that made use of current technology to circumvent the circumstances brought about by the COVID-19. The ‘score’ was encoded digitally with an automatic counter with visual and sound cues that is easy to follow. Instead of performing this music with the prescribed musical instruments and playing them in an open-air space, participants used improvised instruments and/or household implements to produce similar sounds. 78 individuals from different musical backgrounds (from seasoned musicians to first time performers) from all over the world participated in the piece. Performers recorded themselves playing their instruments while following the cues for the duration of 10 minutes. The videos were later on rendered into this montage. The video begins with a listener's guide by Dr. Verne de la Pena, Dean of the College of Music of the University of the Philippines Diliman. Udlot-Udlot 2020 had its premiere performance as a LIVE video in   / upethno   on 30 June 2020 at 8:00PM.