Around the world, people have used music to express their faith and joy to a higher power.
In the Philippines, one such musical monument to God still exists and it’s beautiful music is created by bamboo. In 1795, Padre Diego Cera was assigned to the town of Las Pinas in the Philippines. Cera, with his great love for music, previously built a piano-forte dedicated to the Queen of Spain and in 1798, he constructed a monumental organ for the church of his order in San Nicolas in Manila. Among the 33 stops on the organ was one made of bamboo and that inspired the building of the Bamboo Organ in his own parish. In 1824, the Bamboo Organ was completed and with the exception of the horizontal trumpets, it is made entirely of bamboo.
Cera chose to use bamboo not only because of its abundance in the Philippines but because of its ability to function in the humid Philippine climate. The bamboo plant is malleable enough to construct with and also porous enough to contract with the humidity of the area. And because of its material, organ enthusiasts and experts worldwide note that the bamboo organ has one of most distinctive sounds heard among organs.
While damaged by earthquakes, typhoons and the ravages of war, the bamboo organ has proved resilient. In 1972, through efforts of the priests of St. Joseph’s parish, the entire instrument went through a major restoration. Entirely dismantled and shipped, the organ was painstakingly rebuilt in Germany. So detailed was the restoration that they recreated the climatic conditions of the Philippines to ensure the unique sound quality was preserved. In March 1975, the Bamboo Organ made a triumphant return to the Philippines. Now the St. Joseph Parish Church is the site of many live music festivals including the International Bamboo Festival.
Perhaps the best way to sum up the brilliance of this instrument is to borrow the words of a man who has seen the organ up close and in all its glory.
“Men have immortalized their names in paint and marble, but it was left for Padre Diego Cera to build to himself a monument in bamboo, and a more interesting and unique memorial could scarcely be found.
He came to the Philippines to build organs, and when he arrived, there was neither metal, nor suitable wood, nor tanned leather, nor wire, nor pipes, nor keys, nor anything else with which organs were usually made; but with a genius worthy of an eighteenth century Edison, he rose to the occasion and built an organ of bamboo.”
George Miller, 1912
