Religious Performing Arts in Quiapo District: Continuity, Transformation, and Cultural Memory from the Colonial Period to the Contemporary Era
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63931/ijchr.v8i1.608Keywords:
Quiapo, religious performing arts, Filipino religiosity, performance studies, urban sacred space, cultural memory, devotional music, Traslación, ethnomusicology, heritage studiesAbstract
This study examines the religious performing arts of Quiapo District, Manila, as evolving cultural expressions shaped by colonial history, urban transformation, multicultural exchange, musical traditions, and contemporary media practices. Using a qualitative descriptive-historical approach informed by performance studies, cultural memory theory, ethnomusicology, urban heritage studies, and scholarship on Filipino popular religiosity, the paper analyzes ritual performance, liturgical music, devotional theater, processional traditions, sacred soundscapes, and Islamic devotional practices from the Spanish colonial period to the present. Drawing from archival documents, church records, interdisciplinary scholarships, and field observations, the study argues that Quiapo functions as a performative sacred space where religion, commerce, politics, music, and urban life intersect.
The paper explores how Quiapo developed into one of Manila’s major religious and artistic centers through the convergence of church-sponsored music, zarzuela, processional bands, sacred chants, theatrical traditions, and multicultural ritual practices. Particular attention is given to the Pabasa ng Pasyon, Senakulo, the Traslación of the Jesus Nazareno, church choirs, brass band traditions, and Islamic devotional recitations associated with the Golden Mosque.
Findings reveal that Quiapo’s religious performing arts serve as living repositories of cultural memory and communal identity. These traditions preserve continuity with the colonial past while adapting to postwar urbanization, commercialization, globalization, and digital media technologies. The study contributes to scholarship in performance studies, Philippine cultural history, religious studies, ethnomusicology, urban anthropology, and heritage studies by foregrounding the relationship between performance, devotion, music, and urban sacred space.
References
Andrade, P. (2006). Quiapo in the history of the nation. In F. N. Zialcita (Ed.), Quiapo: Heart of Manila (pp. 40–69). Metropolitan Museum of Manila.
Bachorik, J. P. (2020). Emotion in congregational singing: Music-evoked affect in Filipino churches (Doctoral dissertation, Durham University). Durham E-Theses. https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/13497/
Baes, J. (2017). On the Estella-Santiago dispute: Sublation and crisis in intellectual property rights in 1930s Philippines. In Philippine modernities: Music, performing arts, and language, 1880 to 1941. University of the Philippines Press.
Bautista, J. (2021). On the personhood of sacred objects: Agency, materiality and popular devotion in the Roman Catholic Philippines. Religions, 12(7), Article 454. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070454
Beeman, W. O. (2002). Performance theory in an anthropology program. In N. Wimmer (Ed.), Performance studies as a discipline. Southern Illinois University Press.
Bonilla, C. M. (2006). Devotion to the Black Nazarene as an aesthetic experience. In F. N. Zialcita (Ed.), Quiapo: Heart of Manila (pp. 96–122). Metropolitan Museum of Manila.
Brillantes-Silvestre, M. P. (2008). Music in the heart of Manila: Quiapo from the colonial period to contemporary times. Ateneo de Manila University Press.
Brillantes-Silvestre, M. P. (2008a). Beneath the church bells: Hispanic influence in Philippine music. Diagonal: An International Journal of Ibero-American Music, 4(1), 1–18.
Brillantes-Silvestre, M. P. (2008b). Music in the heart of Manila: Quiapo from the colonial period to contemporary times: Tradition, change, continuity. Diagonal: An International Journal of Ibero-American Music, 4(1), 19–42.
Calano, M. J. (2015). The Black Nazarene, Quiapo, and the weak Philippine State. Kritika Kultura, (25), 115–141. https://doi.org/10.13185/kk2015.02511
Cannell, F. (1999). Power and intimacy in the Christian Philippines. Cambridge University Press.
Cornelio, J. S. (2014). Popular religion and the turn to everyday authenticity. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 62(3), 471–500.
Dioquino, C. C. (2004). Art music in the Philippines. Compendium of the Humanities of the Philippines: Musical Arts, 21–52. National Research Council of the Philippines.
Ileto, R. C. (1979). Pasyon and revolution: Popular movements in the Philippines, 1840–1910. Ateneo de Manila University Press.
Nasr, S. H. (1997). Islam and music: The legal and spiritual dimensions. In Islamic art and spirituality (pp. 37–46). Oxford University Press.
Nelson, K. (2001). The art of reciting the Qur'an. American University in Cairo Press.
Santiago, F. (1922). Ave Maria: Sacred song for high voice [Sheet music]. Theodore Presser Co. (Archived via International Music Score Library Project / IMSLP). https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/2/2c/IMSLP640103-PMLP1026396-Santiago,Francisco-_Ave_Maria.pdf
Schechner, R. (2013). Performance studies: An introduction (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Scribd. (2017, May 12). Ave María (Santiago) - High voice text arrangement [Digital sheet music tract]. https://www.scribd.com/document/347797253/Ave-Maria-Santiago-High-Voice
Scribd. (2021, November 28). Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno musical score by Lucio D. San Pedro (Manuscript dated November 11, 1984) [Digital sheet music tract]. https://www.scribd.com/document/546163436/Nuestro-Padre-Jesus-Nazareno-Lucio-D-San-Pedro
Smith, L. (2006). Uses of heritage. Routledge.
Tiongson, N. G. (1999). Kasaysayan at estetika ng sinakulo at iba pang dulang panrelihiyon. Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Turner, V. (1982). From ritual to theatre: The human seriousness of play. Performing Arts Journal Publications.
Wikipedia contributors. (2026, February 25). Francisco Santiago. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 28, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Santiago
Wong, A. (2015). The Muslim space in Quiapo: Migration, community building, and identity negotiation in Metro Manila. Philippine Sociological Review, 63, 85–110.
Zialcita, F. N. (Ed.). (2006). Quiapo: Heart of Manila. Metropolitan Museum of Manila.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jeanette P. Grajo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
