In 1904, the Philippine Constabulary Band was dubbed “the musical sensation of the World’s Fair.”
It was no mere hype: The group of about 80 Filipino musicians won the top prize in the fair’s musical competition — and even earned the acclaim of famed band leader John Philip Sousa as “the most wonderful military band he ever listened to.”
The details of those accolades, which were noted in an article published by the Milwaukee Journal three months into the fair, are featured in the opening pages of the book “Instruments of Empire” by professor Mary Talusan Lacanlale, an ethnomusicologist at California State University.
Lacanlale is the great-granddaughter of Pedro Navarro, a key member of the Philippine Constabulary Band. The piccolo player was 25 when he and his fellow musicians arrived in St. Louis in 1904.
“I'm sure everything was chaotic and new,” Lacanlale said on St. Louis on the Air. “The San Francisco Chronicle reported about how the Philippine Constabulary men just were in awe of all the big buildings, of their arrival to the U.S. It would have been exciting to them, but also, you know, quite anxiety-producing.”
It wasn’t just the distance from home that likely weighed on the mind of her great-grandfather. In a different part of the fair, visitors paid 25 cents to gawk at the Filipino inhabitants of a sprawling, 47-acre “Philippine Village,” which featured 1,200 Indigenous people who went about their lives in a display that was advertised as a chance to see “savages” in their native habitats.
When the different groups of Filipinos arrived in St. Louis for the 1904 fair, “a lot of [them], especially the Indigenous people, had no idea what they were getting into,” said Lacanlale.
At the same time, the Philippine Constabulary members were establishing themselves as the most popular musical act of the seven-month fair.
The band members “probably had no idea how they were going to be represented,” she said. “They had no knowledge of all these diverse peoples and tribal groups and people from all over the Philippines. That [situation] may have been unfamiliar to them. There was no national language there.”
That the fair featured two very different presentations of the Philippines was no accident. The U.S. was only a few years into its control of the Philippines as a colony, and so the country’s presence at the World’s Fair served a complementary role: demonstrating the supposed benefits of colonization.
“Not only did the American audience enjoy the actual music [of the Philippine Constabulary Band], but they also had a sense of satisfaction in colonizing Filipinos,” Lacanlale said. “The Philippine Village was all about, in a nutshell, proving to the American public that the U.S. made the right decision in colonizing the Philippines.”
Little is preserved in writing about the personal experiences of the band members, like Pedro Navarro, during their time in St. Louis. But Lacanlale said she grew up hearing stories of the fair from her grandmother — how her father eventually became the band’s conductor, toured the country and even performed during the inauguration of President William Howard Taft.
Lacanlale said her grandmother’s stories were “such a treat — and also, in some ways, really confusing.”
That confusion sparked Lacanlale’s exploration into the history of the Philippine Constabulary Band, which brought her to her great-grandfather’s journey to St. Louis 121 years ago.
“It was just incredible, almost unbelievable,” she continued. “That's how I got to know him, through her stories about him. I didn't believe them as a teenager, but later on, in grad school, I did some research. Surprisingly, her stories were true.”
On this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Mary Lacanlale also shared her reflections on the recent dedication of a memorial in Clayton to 17 people who died in the Philippine Village.
To hear the full interview about the Philippine Constabulary Band with professor Mary Talusan Lacanlale, including an excerpt of music performed by Pedro Navarro, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
