Instruments of Empire
Instruments of Empire
Filipino Musicians, Black Soldiers, and Military Band Music during US Colonization of the Philippines
At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States extended its empire into the Philippines while subjugating Black Americans in the Jim Crow South. And yet, one of the most popular musical acts was a band of “little brown men,” Filipino musicians led by an African American conductor playing European and American music. The Philippine Constabulary Band and Lt. Walter H. Loving entertained thousands in concert halls and world’s fairs, held a place of honor in William Howard Taft’s presidential parade, and garnered praise by bandmaster John Philip Sousa—all the while facing beliefs and policies that Filipinos and African Americans were “uncivilized.”
Author Mary Talusan draws on hundreds of newspaper accounts and exclusive interviews with band members and their descendants to compose the story from the band’s own voices. She sounds out the meanings of Americans’ responses to the band and identifies a desire to mitigate racial and cultural anxieties during an era of overseas expansion and increasing immigration of nonwhites, and the growing “threat” of ragtime with its roots in Black culture. The spectacle of the band, its performance and promotion, emphasized a racial stereotype of Filipinos as “natural musicians” and the beneficiaries of benevolent assimilation and colonial tutelage. Unable to fit Loving’s leadership of the band into this narrative, newspapers dodged and erased his identity as a Black American officer.
The untold story of the Philippine Constabulary Band offers a unique opportunity to examine the limits and porousness of America’s racial ideologies, exploring musical pleasure at the intersection of Euro-American cultural hegemony, racialization, and US colonization of the Philippines.
Mary Talusan’s book on the Philippine Constabulary (PC) Band is a superb study of the history and influence of this highly regarded musical ensemble. . . . This book is a must-read for all students of history, colonialism, media studies, race relations, and American popular music.
A critique of the US imperial moves in the Philippines and the racial divide with music as medium, Instruments of Empire is praiseworthy and highly commendable as its puts into spotlight aspects of Philippine history and the US-Philippine relations obscured from the consciousness of both countries.
Instruments of Empire is the first book-length study of the historic Philippine Constabulary Band, a military band (and, in their later years, an orchestra) led by African American US military officer and bandleader Lt. Walter H. Loving. Through close readings of archival documents, oral histories and interviews, secondary sources, and reimaginings of prior performances, Talusan brings music—its performers and performances—to the forefront. Her work beautifully lays out for us how these Filipino musicians and their work teach us to listen against the ‘imperial ear’ and, in the process, apprehend the deep significance of the Philippine Constabulary Band’s early twentieth-century musical and everyday performances until today.
Mary Talusan is assistant professor of Asian-Pacific studies at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She is coeditor of Our Culture Resounds, Our Future Reveals: A Legacy of Filipino American Performing Arts in California and performs with the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble.
