Loving's band

This week’s article is not about wedding rings, notwithstanding the fact that December is the most popular month for weddings in the Philippines. It is about a popular pre-war personality who fought an uphill battle to champion Filipinos; not in a boxing ring but in another arena, that of music. His name was Walter Howard Loving. He was a man of color, and his was a colorful story that involved taking a ragtag band of brown brothers and turning them into world-renowned celebrities a hundred years before Manny Pacquiao.

Loving was born in December 1872 to former slaves. His life was a struggle against racial barriers. What pulled him through was a God-given talent for music and dogged persistence once he chose a path for his chosen profession. Walter chose the military and his music. African-Americans were given opportunities in the US Army, although this was via segregated regiments. Loving joined the volunteer regiments and was assigned to the American west.

Stationed in Utah, his musical skills were honed in an army band. Music played a major role in the military back then. Military bands played for troops to keep morale up and to entertain them. Remember that radio, TV and iPods were decades into the future. The bands also played at civic events, which was always good PR and helped recruitment. After a stint in the army Loving took a break and furthered his musical skills at a conservatory in Boston. He then re-enlisted in the army as a new war was brewing.

Captain Walter H. Loving was a dashing figure. Denzel Washington could play him in the movie.”

Loving came over to the Philippines as chief musician of the 48th United States Volunteers, one of two African-American regiments organized for the Philippine-American war. That controversial war was also referred to as the Philippine Insurrection because technically Spain had ceded the islands to the United States for $20 million in 1898; bypassing the Filipino revolutionaries who had declared independence the same year.

That war lasted officially from 1899 to 1902, when the US declared hostilities were ended (similar to the ‘mission accomplished’ declaration in a recent war). Filipino fighters went up the hills (the boondocks) and put up resistance until as late as 1915. According to historical records over a hundred thousand American troops were sent over to “pacify” us. Over 4,000 American troops perished and several hundred thousand Filipino lives were lost in that forgotten chapter of America’s history.

According to a news feature from The Seattle Times of Sept. 19, 1909, Loving was “…an Afro-American (who studied at) Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music” and after his honorable discharge from the 48th regiment and signing on with the newly formed Philippine Constabulary “…first conceived the idea of a Filipino band.” 

Apparently Loving had noticed the Filipino “aptitude for music” and he proposed the setting up of a band to be composed of “native constabulary.” The article quoted Loving as discovering that “…this wonderful natural bent had enabled (the Filipinos), without any technical training, to master difficult classical music.

Loving and his band played at the San Francisco Treasure Island World’s Fair of 1939.

The first civilian governor of the Philippines was William Howard Taft. It was he who organized the Philippine Constabulary, initially a paramilitary force to maintain peace in the islands. Taft and his wife Nellie were lovers of music and it was not long when he heard that the constabulary had a band made of Filipinos led by a black officer named Loving. The band was enlisted to play at Malacañang Palace functions and immediately became favorites of the governor-general and his wife. They also found a regular venue at the Mehan Gardens and at a small gazebo at the old Luneta near where the Rizal monument now stands.

The Philippine Constabulary Band was sent to the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. Here the band took second prize in competition with the great bands of the world in an international contest. The story goes that as the band started to play their first piece, Rossini’s William Tell Overture, for the competition, a power cable snapped and all the lights at the fair went out. Nonplussed Lt. Loving quickly tied a white handkerchief to his baton and the band played on “without missing a beat.” They completed their pieces in complete darkness and the band became a sensation overnight.

The Philippine Constabulary Band was one of the two most popular attractions from the Philippines at the St. Louis fair. The other one was the Igorot Village. Four years later the band was invited by president-elect Taft to play at his inauguration, the first and only foreign band to do so (traditionally the Marine Corps band plays at every inauguration).

The band toured the United States and even got a paying gig in 1909 at the famous Young’s Pier in Atlantic City. Loving also took his band to his hometown and they played at Boston’s Symphony Hall. They also performed for the Japanese Emperor and Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani. By this time Loving made the rank of captain.

Loving’s PC Band played in three world’s fairs, to international acclaim.

One of these key appearances came at the inauguration of the Philippine pavilion at the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. There was no Igorot or tribal displays at this time. The Philippine pavilion was an ornate and elegant Neo-classic structure that housed natural and manufactured products. President Taft was the guest of honor. The resident commissioner for the Philippines at the time, Manuel L. Quezon was in attendance at a grand opening ceremony.

Several bands played at the exposition, which was built near the Presidio and where the Golden Gate Bridge would eventually be built. The famous band conductor and “The American March King” John Philip Sousa visited the exposition and was asked to rate the bands. He chose the Philippine Constabulary Band. Unfortunately when he heard them, Loving had gotten sick and was confined in a nearby military hospital. Sousa’s commendation and the success of the band led to Loving’s promotion to major.

Major Loving retired from the Philippine Constabulary in 1916. He wanted to return stateside and join the war effort — the First World War. He failed to get into combat but was recruited instead to act as a military intelligence officer stationed in the US until 1919.

Loving was missed in Manila, which was spared the consequences of the war. In 1920 he rejoined the constabulary and picked up the baton again for the PC band. Here he met his future wife Edith, daughter of another African-American working for the colonial government. Loving retired again in 1923, wishing to settle back home with his new wife. She gave birth to a son, Walter Jr., and they spent the next decade in relative comfort until the Depression hit.

In 1935 President Manuel L. Quezon was sworn in as head of the Philippine Commonwealth. He needed an army and convinced General Douglas MacArthur to come out from retirement and organize the Philippine Army. Quezon also remembered Major Loving and invited him back to reorganize the constabulary band into the Philippine Army Orchestra. The orchestra was a natural extension of the new commonwealth military. Loving was promoted to Lt. Colonel for this new stint.

In 1939 Quezon sent Col. Loving and his band to play at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. Loving and his orchestra were a hit once more and came home to Manila the next year. Their last concert was on Sunday, Dec. 15, 1940 at the Central Student Church, General Luna and San Luis Streets, in Manila. They presented Handel’s Messiah. Loving retired once more but this time, he and Edith stayed in Manila. A year later Japan invaded.

The Lovings were incarcerated in UST. Walter Jr. was caught by the war stateside. Walter Loving was old and the conditions of confinement made him infirm. Edith had to sell her diamond earrings to buy medicine for her husband. Because of their age, the Japanese released them to house arrest and they returned to their home in Ermita. Friends advised them to escape but they did not.

Liberation came in early 1945. In the madness and mayhem Edith was separated from her husband. Accounts state that she was taken to Bay View Hotel and survived; he was killed by Japanese. There were reports of people seeing his body lying at the Luneta.

I can’t find more formal information on what happened to him in the war aside from the fact that he was captured by the Japanese. The only hint I have is an unconfirmed story from someone who had been in attendance during my first and only walking tour of Manila (in late 2000).

He was reportedly held hostage with dozens of civilians in Manila Hotel. During the shelling their Japanese guards were distracted and the hostages made a run for it. Going down the stairs, they were met by some of the guards. Loving reportedly put himself in front of the group and took a bayonet in the chest, allowing the hostages to escape.

Edith returned to the States and to her son. Walter Jr. enlisted in the army in the later years of WWII. He served in Korea and went on to a full military career, retiring with the rank of general in the 1970s. No doubt his success, as with the advancement of other African-Americans in the US military, was paved by the efforts of officers like his father.

The Philippine Constabulary survived the war and later the martial law years. It was the precursor of today’s Philippine National Police, which is not exactly a popular institution today.

Philippine music also survived and has evolved from the initial successes of Loving’s band. Filipino musicians are now among the most respected in the world. National Artist for Music Antonino Buenaventura and Potenciano “Poten” Balladolid Gregorio Sr. are a few of many who benefited from Loving’s tutelage. Loving also promoted opera and jazz. Today, Lea Salonga, Charrise, Arnel Pineda and Manny Pacquiao are synonymous with musical excellence (well at least the first three).

December is the favorite month for nuptials. It’s a romantic time… and the start of the lead-up to Valentines Day. This month is a time for loving. God knows we are capable of extending our love beyond family and friends, fraternity brothers and members of clans, political bedfellows and business associates.

Walter Howard Loving always came back to his music and his band. We should, this season, band together and recover our political and social harmony. For what is Christmas without the spirit of reconciliation, without music and without love.

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Feedback is welcome. Please email the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com. My wife Twink is working on a script for “Loving: A Band of Brown Brothers.” Maybe Tom Hanks would be interested in producing. My choice for Loving is a young Denzel Washington or Jamie Foxx. For sources on Loving, refer to: Antonio C. Hila, Walter H. Loving and the Philippine Constabulary Band… (Manila: UST Publishing House, 2004), and Mary Talusan. Music, Race, and Imperialism: The Philippine Constabulary Band …. Philippine Studies. 2004. Vol. 52. Other sources on request and I also have secondary material and images from my own archival collections.