Press Release

The Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, represented by Consul Ella Karina R. Mitra and Cultural Officer Mary Joy Duran-Mortel, attended the Philippine Cultural Night on 10 April 2025 at the Wirtz Hall, Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb.

The event featured the “Cassettes 100,” the groundbreaking work of PH National Artist for Music Jose Maceda. Cassettes 100, as described by Dr. Ramon Santos, another PH National Artist for Music, showcases “taped natural sounds, as musical instruments, as well as dynamic configuring of sonic clouds as part of the musical realization.”

“Cassettes 100” was first performed in 1971 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and has since been staged in various venues such as the University of the Philippines, National Gallery Singapore, the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre, among others.

At NIU, the performance was participated in by 100 NIU students and members of the Filipino community in DeKalb. The participants circled around the campus while each holding MP3 players containing different sounds. The combination of the different sounds from the 100 MP3 players left the guests enthralled.

Following the staging of the Cassettes 100, students taking up Filipino language courses delighted the audience with poetry recitals and singing.

The event is the brainchild of Ms. Rhodalyne Gallo-Crail, Program Director, Philippine Youth Leadership Program (PYLP) and Instructor of Tagalog Language and Southeast Asian Literatures, with the support of NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.END