AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG - Oberture Festiva: "Sa Bago Filipinas"

Oberture Festiva: "Sa Bago Filipinas"
Overture to the Nation of the Philippines

(1944)

A group of Japanese soldiers yells banzai upon conquering the Philippines in 1942

During the Second World War, Akira Ifukube worked as a composer for the Japanese military. In 1941, just after being married to his wife, Aiko, Ifukube was sent Tomakomai, Hokkaido to teach soldiers how to sing military hymns. That same year, Japanese forces invaded and occupied the nation of the Philippines. Years later, the military asked Ifukube to compose a piece of music celebrating Japan's "liberation" of the Philippines islands. As a result, Ifukube wrote Oberture Festiva: "Sa Bago Filipinas".

Oberture Festiva: "Sa Bago Filipinas" has three parts. The first part is a rousing march, full of triumphant brass, syncopated rhythms and crashing cymbals. The middle section is slow and plaintive. The piece comes to a dramatic close with a reappearance of the initial march.

Oberture Festiva received its first performance on January 30, 1944.

Please use your browser's BACK button to return to the Music Library

Acknowledgments: Ifukube on Ifukube: Interview with Akira Ifukube by Ed Godziszewski, translated by Michiko Imamura, G-Fan Magazine, November/December 1995