Orchestra flash mob delights Manila airport crowd

With the mouthful of a name, pricey tickets to their shows, and a tendency toward classical music, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) can be high-brow intimidating, just like the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), which is its home.

 

The CCP building on Roxas Boulevard is not exactly inviting, what with its grey, imposing façade and not-very-accessible main entrance.   

Also, because of its history (particularly, that it was spearheaded by glamour goddess Imelda Marcos and was seen as insensitive to the country’s poor), the building has come to be a symbol for the exclusive tendency of art and culture.

 

But the cultural institution cast aside its intimidating walls  Wednesday morning as it invoked the power of pop culture and celebrated their 43rd anniversary by way of flash mob.

 

Unsuspecting tourists gearing up to depart at NAIA’s Terminal 3 found themselves immersed in sublime sound when members of the PPO, led by Maestro Olivier Ochanine, appearing like fellow travelers carrying bags, broke out their instruments and played three pieces: a Sound of Music medley, the adrenalin-pumping William Tell overture, and Ryan Cayabyab’s OPM anthem, “Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika.”

 

By the third number, they were joined by CCP employees, who set their inner performers free as they sang and danced in time with the music.  

 

Ronnie Mirabuena of the audience development division of the CCP Arts Education Department said that they decided to do the flash mob for their anniversary as a way of living out their advocacy of broadening the audience for art and bringing it to the masses.

 

“Gusto namin madala yung sining at kultura closer to the people, so nakibagay din kami sa napapanahon ngayon,” Mirabuena told GMA News Online in a telephone interview, noting that flash mobs in the country are still a pop culture phenomenon.

 

Mirabuena also shared that the flash mob not only brought art to the general public, but also allowed the CCP employees themselves—who mostly don’t sing or dance—enjoy and experience the art that they are working to promote.

 

According to him, Wednesday’s affair isn’t going to be the last of the CCP flash mobs—they are currently thinking of new locations and themes for future flash mobs to extend their reach.

 

“We just want to bring art to the people,” Mirabuena said.  — ELR/HS, GMA News