There were too many happenings for me to consider them as merely coincidences. All having to do with Music.

The day I visited the Lucrecia Kasilag Memorabilia Room at Philippine Women's University and leafed through original musical scores, I began to wonder where the Music was leading me.

Just a few months earlier, Dr. Caroline Besana-Salido submitted her doctoral thesis for our consideration. The thesis was on the piano compositional style of Lucrecia Kasilag, the Philippines foremost living composer who long before she turned 85, was accorded the title, "National Artist." I had preferred a focal summary on one aspect of Salido's doctoral work, but the essay stalled and we transfer it to a forthcoming issue complete with a bibliography-compiled by Salido of Kasilag's compositions for future generations. This is one prolific artist! For a preview of the original and complete theses, click on
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1038863092

At about the same period, I was pulled into considering a tantalizing essay on the history of the Kundiman but at the last minute the writers could not complete the essay for this issue.

To add to this intrusive insistence by Music, our new essay-series, "Portrait of an Artist as Filipino," features 19-year old violinist, Stephen Shey, (on whom I bet my bottom dollar) a musical wonder nurtured in Concord, Massachusettts, who will blaze the continents with his repertoire of Philippine Classical Music. Young Shey will be mastering Kasilag's violin compositions for an upcoming concert abroad.

Whatever is leading us to the Music, we now defer to this insistent Muse by asking you our readers to bring us submissions for a future music issue in OUR OWN VOICE.

Remé-Antonia Grefalda
December 2003

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THE STAFF

EDITOR
Remé-Antonia Grefalda

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Nadine Sarreal

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR FOR THE ARTS
Eileen Tabios

EDITORIAL BOARD
Geejay Arriola
Seb Koh
Victoria Paz Cruz

GRAPHIC AND WEB DESIGNER
Geejay Arriola

PROOFREADER
Carla Stephanie Cadorniga

COPYRIGHT
2003