MUSIKANG BAYAN (PEOPLE’S MUSIC)
AND THE MILITANT-MATERIALISTPROGRESSIVE-NATIONALIST MUSIC1
Noe M. Santillan
Abstract
Music is a cultural Ideological State Apparatus (Althusser 1971, 143-
148). In such a lens, this paper proceeds in the manner of Althusser’s
argument, and the critique applies to popular music in the Philippines
vis-à-vis Gramsci’s cultural hegemony. With such a framework, this
paper looks into the albums of Musikang Bayan (People’s Music) from
2001 to 2019 and employs qualitative content analysis. In doing so, the
themes are dealt with vis-à-vis the Philippine socio-politico-economic
condition. The country’s socio-cultural atmosphere in the mainstream
music industry is “not so” critical since social institutions are part of the
relations of class domination (Althusser 2014, xxiv). Only if music is
oriented with the people’s struggle will it become scientific and carry
forward emancipatory politics transforming society. Musikang Bayan
encapsulates the militant-materialist-progressive-nationalist music
against the ‘fetish-character’ of today’s neoliberal capitalist ideology;
hence, it articulates the collective consciousness through music.
Keywords: base-superstructure, cultural Ideological State Apparatus,
Althusser, cultural hegemony, Gramsci
Link to the Article
doi.org/10.46992/pijp.23.1.a.11