Exploring the development of music, performing arts and language in the Philippines from 1880 to 1941, this book contributes significantly to the global discussion of the complexities of modernity and how a study of the arts can enhance research on the cultural history of postcolonial nations. Spanish and American colonialism brought modern ideas as well as new print and media technology that resulted in rapid sociopolitical and economic transformations in the Philippines. New forms of cultural entertainment staged by foreign travelling troupes induced the production of local transcultural arts genres and the rise of modern concerns such as nationhood and national identity. Challenging the Eurocentric interpretation of modernity that is associated with the Enlightenment, the authors show that multiple and alternative modernities evolved in the Philippines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The first few chapters examine the consequences of the commodification of music that emerged with the introduction of the market economy during Spanish rule in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. José Buenconsejo analyses the publication of Diego Perez's piano arrangement entitled Recuerdos de Filipinas (1886), comprised of 19 folk songs and dances from the various islands of the Philippines. This medley marked the beginning of music consumerism among the middle class and the addition of composers’ names to printed scores. Arwin Tan illustrates how music commodification led to social mobility among musicians who became wage earners. It was during this period that musicians were first employed by urban entrepreneurs who invested in musical theatre shows. With their performance skills and ability to read music scores, musicians from the Philippines were exported to cities such as Singapore and Shanghai, a trend that has continued to the present day.

The second part of the book brings to light the strategies of the Americans who attempted to colonise the Filipinos through the English language, theatre and print media in the early twentieth century. By examining the guidebooks for classroom learning, Christi-Anne Castro shows that singing was used to teach English, the language of the new colonisers. Similarly, Raul Navarro argues that compulsory English education and school songbooks such as the Progressive Music Series helped to influence the hearts and minds of Filipinos. Mary Talusan highlights the musical skills of the members of the Philippine Constabulary Band, which toured the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Yet, the American press attributed the Band's impressive musical standard to America's ‘civilising’ mission in the Philippines rather than the abilities and diligence of the musicians themselves (p. 171). From the local viewpoint, Rhodora Ancheta stresses that some American cultural forms allowed the voices of the locals to be heard. The vaudeville performer Katy De La Cruz's bodabil (American vaudeville) satirical comic songs and rowdy live performances challenged conventional morality in Manila in the 1930s.

Another important modern concern during the Spanish and American colonial periods was the development of a national consciousness and sense of belonging among the diverse peoples of the Philippines. But the search for national identity was complicated, and differences occurred. Ramon Santos spotlights the mission of the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (started in 1916) in the Filipinisation of Western classical music and the creation of a Philippine national music culture through professional composition and instrumental performance. Esteban Villaruz interrogates the mission of Francisca Reyes who attempted to create a national dance identity through her research and collection of folk dances. Isidora Miranda questions the stereotyping of the Moslems of the South as Others in the music and text of the zarzuela performance of Minda Mora (1904). In his essay on the transformation of the foreign musical film genre from the live sarsuwela (indigenised zarzuela) to the filmed sarsuwela of the 1920s and to the national sarsuwela films of the 1930s, Nick Deocampo eloquently articulates that national identity was a product of the process of adapting Hispanic, American and Filipino influences.

At the same time, alternative modernities from the grassroots emerged. Two examples include San Juan's discussion of the oppositional writings of nationalist-populist writers in the vernacular language from the 1890s to the 1920s and Teresita Maceda's proposition of the urban proletariat and peasant songs as modern ways of expressing class solidarity and rights in the 1930s. Finally, Ma. Patricia Silvestre and Pamela Constantino illustrate that the contemporary press provided the platform for the debate about what it meant to be Filipino through language, music and the arts. In 1937, Filipino based on the vernacular Tagalog was institutionalised as the national language.

This engaging book is 523 pages in length, but has only a few pages of music scores and programme notes. Old photographs of performances and performers, and newspaper advertisements of shows and other illustrations would help to enhance the wealth of information about music, language and the performing arts in the colonial era of the Philippines. I would also have liked to read about how sonic modernity was impacted by the advent of the gramophone and radio, two modern inventions that came to Southeast Asia in the early twentieth century. Nonetheless, this book is an exemplary and detailed account of the cultural history of the Philippines and should appeal to historians, anthropologists, musicologists, dance ethnologists and cultural theorists.