Guillermo Gómez Rivera
Encyclopedia
Guillermo Gómez Rivera is a Filipino
writer
, journalist
, poet
, playwright
, historian
, linguist
, dance instructor, and scholar of Spanish
and British
descent from the Province of Iloilo
.
Gómez Rivera is an academic director of the prestigious Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española (Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language
), the local branch of the renowned Real Academia Española
based in Madrid
, Spain
, and part of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (Association of Spanish Language Academies). He is a Premio Zóbel awardee and a former Commission on the Filipino Language Committee Secretary of the Philippine Constitutional Convention
(1971–73).
He is also a teacher of various Spanish dances, and is considered the undisputed maestro
of Flamenco
in the Philippines
.
In addition to his contributions to Philippine literature and history, Gómez is also an accomplished linguist and polyglot
. He speaks and writes fluently in his native Hiligaynon
as well as in English
and Tagalog
. Aside from being an acclaimed master of the Spanish language in the Philippines, he is also conversant in French
, Italian
, Portuguese
, Kinaray-a, and Cebuano
, and has made an extensive study of the Visayan
and Chabacano languages.
, Iloilo
on the southeast portion of Panay Island
. He is a product of the University of San Agustin
in Iloilo City
, where he earned degrees in Bachelor of Science
in Commerce
and Bachelor of Science in Education.
In 1967, he earned his Bachelor of Arts
degree from the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán
.
Gómez has been a staunch advocate of the Spanish language in the Philippines
all his life. Most of his written works argue in favor of the preservation of the Philippine-Hispanic identity of Filipinos, particularly the Spanish language, which was used by the original Filipino revolutionaries and writers, such as Jose Rizal
.
In Adamson University
, he gained notoriety as a teacher with strong convictions. It is claimed by some that he inspired true nationalism and Filipinism among several of his students, based on the original Hispanic identity of the Philippines.
While teaching in Adamson, he also worked for San Miguel Corporation
when the said conglomerate was still at the helm of Andrés Soriano III, a Filipino of Spanish descent.
He was also the National Language Committee Secretary of the Philippine Constitutional Convention
(1971–1973) during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos
. As part of the committee, he fought for Tagalog to become the country's national language. In the same convention, Gómez teamed up with other nationalists to preserve Spanish as one of the country's official languages. Spanish, however, later was made an optional language (together with Arabic) from the Freedom Constitution of 1987 when Corazón Aquino
took over from where former strongman Marcos had left.
He is a grandnephew of Guillermo Gómez Windham, a famous Filipino writer and former Philippine Customs Commissioner during the American Occupation. Gómez Windham was the first Filipino to have been awarded a Premio Zóbel medal in 1922. He has British descent.
Gómez has two children: Marién and Guillermo Gómez Ordóñez. He currently resides in Makati City. He has transformed his home into a virtual Spanish dance studio and library of Filipiniana
materials.
's English. Joaquín's body of written works were discreetly about the "Hispanic soul" of the Philippines brought about by three centuries of Spanish rule. Joaquín's stories in particular were sentimental, reminiscing the Philippine's Spanish past as well as its decline. Gómez wrote on the same theme, more thoroughly about the decadence of the country's "Hispanic soul," but his style was much frank and straight to the point—the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
s (WASPs) were the cause of Spanish decline in the Philippines. Also, unlike Joaquín, Gómez focused more on fiery essays than short stories.
He won a Premio Zóbel in 1975 "in recognition of his efforts to preserve the Spanish Language and culture in our country" as stated in a letter sent to the winner in his office at 'Nueva Era'(page 241, 81 years of Premio Zobel by Lourdes Brilliantes, Manila, 2006). He has since been a longtime master of ceremonies for the said award-giving body. Therefore it is not true that he won the award for his play "El Caseron" since the Premio Zobel was not strictly a literary prize winning contest in 1975. Prior to this, Gómez won second place in the Premio Manuel Bernabé for an essay on the historical and nationalistic value and importance of the Spanish language.
Much of the theme for Gómez's poetry, as well as his essays and short stories, lie mainly on the destruction of which he calls the "Filipino Cosmos," i.e., the destruction of Philippine languages
and culture
due to American neocolonization
.
Gómez is a somewhat belligerent writer, as can be gleaned by his scathing attacks in his Spanish weekly newspaper Nueva era against what he observed as local pro-compulsory "ONLY-English-language government officials" who he accuses as vile puppets of U.S.
WASP neocolonialism. Many of his writings boast of proofs against these people he accuses. Through his monumental body of literary works, he has advocated his Filipino readers to "rediscover" their Spanish past in order for them to gain knowledge of their true national identity.
Another way of doing this is through cultural dissemination, particularly through dance. Aside from sharing his knowledge of Flamenco, he has made several researches on Philippine songs and dances, especially those of Hispanic influence, which he was able to contribute to the internationally acclaimed Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company. In fact, most of the Spanish-influenced native songs and dances choreographed by the said group can trace their origins from Gómez's researches, which earned him the role of an adviser for Bayanihan.
He was also a recording artist, having recorded Filipino songs that were originally in Spanish, as well as Chabacano songs that were popular in areas were Chabacano used to be prevalent.
Gómez is also credited for reintroducing into the modern local film industry the now forgotten film Secreto de confesión
. It was the first film produced in the Philippines that was spoken and sung in Spanish (la primera película hablada y cantada en español producida en Filipinas).
Due to his tireless efforts in attempting to bring back the Filipino national identity based on Spanish, he is considered by some of his hispanist/nationalist friends, such as Edmundo Farolán, as El Don Quixote Filipino.
. Jiménez taught him at the age of four. Later in his life, he was able to choreograph dances. To date, he has a repertoire of more than a hundred choreographed dances, mostly for the Gypsy
and Andalusian
schools. Flamenco has six schools, namely: Escuela Andaluza (Andalusian), Escuela Bolera, Escuela Creativa (or de Fusión), Escuela Folklórica, Escuela Gitana (Gypsy), and Escuela Popular.
He also learned short courses from Spanish international dancers such as Los Chavales de España, Antonio (Ruiz)
, and José Greco
who visited Manila in the 1970s and 1980s.
Gómez has trained the likes of Manila socialites Marissa Aboitiz, Marités Cancio-Suplico, María Emma Estrada, Cecile de Joya, actress Maggie de la Riva
, former Philippine Basketball Association
coach Dante Silverio
, Perla Primicias (daughter of former Philippine Senator Cipriano Primicias), and daughter Marién Gómez de Lizares.
Throughout the years, Gómez has developed a five-level Flamenco course that has been proven effective. He has come up with an entertaining teaching system called "choreographic immersion" with preliminary drills in footwork, hands, and movements that also include the compás of fours and twelves. Many of his students also learn many of these dances with or without castanettes.
, Philippine history, and philosophy
in Adamson University
. For a time, he also served as the head of the Adamson's Spanish Department. He retired from the university in 2001, but he still teaches Flamenco in his home and in Steps Dance Studio in Makati. He occasionally offers Spanish language tutorials.
During his teaching stint, he was also the president of Corporación Nacional de Profesores en Español (CONAPE), an organization of Filipino educators who teach the Spanish language.
Aside from being the current editor of Nueva era, the only existing Spanish newspaper
in the Philippines today, he also edits The Listening Post and The Tagalog Chronicle. These three newspapers are published weekly and are only accessible via subscription.
Gómez also released an LP back in 1960 when he was still the producer of La Voz Hispanofilipina, a radio program of DZRH. He made research about some "lost" Filipino songs sung in Spanish during the Spanish colonization. He reintroduced the songs through recording. The successful LP was entitled Nostalgia Filipina. He was the one who sang in all of the songs. He was accompanied by a rondalla
.
In 1997, he was a segment host of ABS-CBN
's defunct early morning program Alas Singko Y Medya. In the said show, he hosted a five-minute Spanish lesson.
In 2006, he was urged by some friends to reproduce the said LP. The Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation funded this project. The LP, digitally mastered, was launched in Instituto Cervantes de Manila on 14 August 2006.
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, dance instructor, and scholar of Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
and British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
descent from the Province of Iloilo
Iloilo
Iloilo is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Iloilo occupies the southeast portion of Panay Island and is bordered by Antique Province to the west and Capiz Province and the Jintotolo Channel to the north. Just off Iloilo's southeast coast is Guimaras Province,...
.
Gómez Rivera is an academic director of the prestigious Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española (Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language
Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language
The Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language is the main Spanish-language regulating body in the Philippines. Its headquarters are located in Makati City. It was established in Manila on July 25, 1924....
), the local branch of the renowned Real Academia Española
Real Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
based in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and part of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (Association of Spanish Language Academies). He is a Premio Zóbel awardee and a former Commission on the Filipino Language Committee Secretary of the Philippine Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Convention (Philippines)
Constitutional convention or “con-con” is one of the three modes in which the "Constitution of the Philippines could be amended or revised. The other two modes are via a People's Initiative or "PI" and Constituent Assembly or "Con-Ass"....
(1971–73).
He is also a teacher of various Spanish dances, and is considered the undisputed maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
of Flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
In addition to his contributions to Philippine literature and history, Gómez is also an accomplished linguist and polyglot
Polyglot (person)
A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...
. He speaks and writes fluently in his native Hiligaynon
Hiligaynon language
Hiligaynon, often referred to as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian language spoken in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines.Hiligaynon is concentrated in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Capiz but is also spoken in the other provinces of the Panay Island group, including Antique,...
as well as in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
. Aside from being an acclaimed master of the Spanish language in the Philippines, he is also conversant in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Kinaray-a, and Cebuano
Cebuano language
Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...
, and has made an extensive study of the Visayan
Visayan languages
The Visayan languages of the Philippines, along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine languages...
and Chabacano languages.
Biography
Gómez, as he is fondly called by his friends, students, and contemporaries, hails from DingleDingle
Dingle is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic coast, about 49 kilometres southwest of Tralee and 71 kilometres northwest of Killarney....
, Iloilo
Iloilo
Iloilo is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Iloilo occupies the southeast portion of Panay Island and is bordered by Antique Province to the west and Capiz Province and the Jintotolo Channel to the north. Just off Iloilo's southeast coast is Guimaras Province,...
on the southeast portion of Panay Island
Panay Island
Panay is an island in the Philippines located in the western part of the Visayas. Politically, it is divided into five provinces: Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo, all in the Western Visayas Region. It is located southeast of the island of Mindoro and northwest of Negros, separated by the...
. He is a product of the University of San Agustin
University of San Agustin
The University of San Agustin is a private Catholic university in Iloilo City, Philippines, the first in Western Visayas.-History:Augustinian friars from Spain belonging to the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Philippines founded the University of San Agustin on July 15, 1904. They...
in Iloilo City
Iloilo City
The City of Iloilo is a highly urbanized city in the Philippines and the capital city of Iloilo province. It is the regional center of the Western Visayas, as well as the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area...
, where he earned degrees in Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in Commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
and Bachelor of Science in Education.
In 1967, he earned his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán
Colegio de San Juan de Letran
The Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Letran College, or simply Letran is a private Roman Catholic institution of learning located in Intramuros, Manila, in the Philippines. The college was founded in 1620. Colegio de San Juan de Letran has the distinction of being the oldest college in the...
.
Gómez has been a staunch advocate of the Spanish language in the Philippines
Spanish in the Philippines
Spanish was imposed as an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish rule since the times of Miguel López de Legazpi in the late 16th century, through American rule and independence, until the change of Constitution in 1973...
all his life. Most of his written works argue in favor of the preservation of the Philippine-Hispanic identity of Filipinos, particularly the Spanish language, which was used by the original Filipino revolutionaries and writers, such as Jose Rizal
José Rizal
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda , was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by...
.
In Adamson University
Adamson University
Adamson University is a private university Catholic university in Manila, Philippines, founded on June 30, 1932 by Greek immigrant George Lucas Adamson as the Adamson School of Industrial Chemistry...
, he gained notoriety as a teacher with strong convictions. It is claimed by some that he inspired true nationalism and Filipinism among several of his students, based on the original Hispanic identity of the Philippines.
While teaching in Adamson, he also worked for San Miguel Corporation
San Miguel Corporation
Established in 1890 as a brewery, San Miguel Corporation is Southeast Asia's largest publicly listed food, beverage and packaging company with over 17,000 employees in over 100 major facilities throughout the Asia-Pacific....
when the said conglomerate was still at the helm of Andrés Soriano III, a Filipino of Spanish descent.
He was also the National Language Committee Secretary of the Philippine Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Convention (Philippines)
Constitutional convention or “con-con” is one of the three modes in which the "Constitution of the Philippines could be amended or revised. The other two modes are via a People's Initiative or "PI" and Constituent Assembly or "Con-Ass"....
(1971–1973) during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...
. As part of the committee, he fought for Tagalog to become the country's national language. In the same convention, Gómez teamed up with other nationalists to preserve Spanish as one of the country's official languages. Spanish, however, later was made an optional language (together with Arabic) from the Freedom Constitution of 1987 when Corazón Aquino
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...
took over from where former strongman Marcos had left.
He is a grandnephew of Guillermo Gómez Windham, a famous Filipino writer and former Philippine Customs Commissioner during the American Occupation. Gómez Windham was the first Filipino to have been awarded a Premio Zóbel medal in 1922. He has British descent.
Gómez has two children: Marién and Guillermo Gómez Ordóñez. He currently resides in Makati City. He has transformed his home into a virtual Spanish dance studio and library of Filipiniana
Filipiniana
Filipiniana, based on the definition by Isagani Medina from “Collection Building: Filipiniana,” in his In Developing Special Library Collections, Filipiniana: Proceedings , refers to Philippine-related books and non-book materials...
materials.
Literature, history, and culture
Critics regard him as the Spanish equivalent to his friend Nick JoaquinNick Joaquín
Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila...
's English. Joaquín's body of written works were discreetly about the "Hispanic soul" of the Philippines brought about by three centuries of Spanish rule. Joaquín's stories in particular were sentimental, reminiscing the Philippine's Spanish past as well as its decline. Gómez wrote on the same theme, more thoroughly about the decadence of the country's "Hispanic soul," but his style was much frank and straight to the point—the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
s (WASPs) were the cause of Spanish decline in the Philippines. Also, unlike Joaquín, Gómez focused more on fiery essays than short stories.
He won a Premio Zóbel in 1975 "in recognition of his efforts to preserve the Spanish Language and culture in our country" as stated in a letter sent to the winner in his office at 'Nueva Era'(page 241, 81 years of Premio Zobel by Lourdes Brilliantes, Manila, 2006). He has since been a longtime master of ceremonies for the said award-giving body. Therefore it is not true that he won the award for his play "El Caseron" since the Premio Zobel was not strictly a literary prize winning contest in 1975. Prior to this, Gómez won second place in the Premio Manuel Bernabé for an essay on the historical and nationalistic value and importance of the Spanish language.
Much of the theme for Gómez's poetry, as well as his essays and short stories, lie mainly on the destruction of which he calls the "Filipino Cosmos," i.e., the destruction of Philippine languages
Philippine languages
The Philippine languages are a 1991 proposal by Robert Blust that all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi—except Sama–Bajaw and a few languages of Palawan—form a subfamily of Austronesian languages...
and culture
Culture of the Philippines
Philippine culture is related to Micronesian, Bornean, Mexican and Spanish cultures. The people today are mostly of Malayo-Polynesian origin, although there are people with Spanish, Mexican, Austro-Melanesian and Chinese blood. Geographically, the Philippines is considered part of Southeast Asia...
due to American neocolonization
Neocolonialism
Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization, and cultural forces to control a country in lieu of direct military or political control...
.
Gómez is a somewhat belligerent writer, as can be gleaned by his scathing attacks in his Spanish weekly newspaper Nueva era against what he observed as local pro-compulsory "ONLY-English-language government officials" who he accuses as vile puppets of U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
WASP neocolonialism. Many of his writings boast of proofs against these people he accuses. Through his monumental body of literary works, he has advocated his Filipino readers to "rediscover" their Spanish past in order for them to gain knowledge of their true national identity.
Another way of doing this is through cultural dissemination, particularly through dance. Aside from sharing his knowledge of Flamenco, he has made several researches on Philippine songs and dances, especially those of Hispanic influence, which he was able to contribute to the internationally acclaimed Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company. In fact, most of the Spanish-influenced native songs and dances choreographed by the said group can trace their origins from Gómez's researches, which earned him the role of an adviser for Bayanihan.
He was also a recording artist, having recorded Filipino songs that were originally in Spanish, as well as Chabacano songs that were popular in areas were Chabacano used to be prevalent.
Gómez is also credited for reintroducing into the modern local film industry the now forgotten film Secreto de confesión
Secreto de confesión (Philippine film)
Secreto de Confesión is the title of the first Filipino film in Spanish language, which was presented at the time as "la primera película hablada y cantada en español producida en Filipinas" ....
. It was the first film produced in the Philippines that was spoken and sung in Spanish (la primera película hablada y cantada en español producida en Filipinas).
Due to his tireless efforts in attempting to bring back the Filipino national identity based on Spanish, he is considered by some of his hispanist/nationalist friends, such as Edmundo Farolán, as El Don Quixote Filipino.
Flamenco
Much of Manila society knows Gómez as the country's leading instructor of Flamenco. He learned Flamenco as well as many other Spanish dances from his maternal grandfather José Rivera Franco's second wife, Rosa Jiménez, a Flamenco dancer from Sevilla, SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Jiménez taught him at the age of four. Later in his life, he was able to choreograph dances. To date, he has a repertoire of more than a hundred choreographed dances, mostly for the Gypsy
Roma music
Romani music is the music of the Romani people, who have their origins in Northern India, but today live mostly in Europe....
and Andalusian
Music of Andalusia
The Music of Andalusia is very diverse and includes many external influences such as Arabic, Romani, Sephardic, Roman, and Christian.-Influence of Andalusian music:...
schools. Flamenco has six schools, namely: Escuela Andaluza (Andalusian), Escuela Bolera, Escuela Creativa (or de Fusión), Escuela Folklórica, Escuela Gitana (Gypsy), and Escuela Popular.
He also learned short courses from Spanish international dancers such as Los Chavales de España, Antonio (Ruiz)
Antonio Ruiz
Antonio Ruiz Cervilla is a retired Spanish football midfielder and manager.-Playing career:...
, and José Greco
José Greco
Jose Greco was a flamenco dancer and choreographer.He was born in Montorio nei Frentani, Italy of Italian parents. He was raised in New York City from the time he was 10 years old. He began dancing in Brooklyn with his sister Norina at a young age.He made his professional dancing debut in 1937 at...
who visited Manila in the 1970s and 1980s.
Gómez has trained the likes of Manila socialites Marissa Aboitiz, Marités Cancio-Suplico, María Emma Estrada, Cecile de Joya, actress Maggie de la Riva
Maggie dela Riva
Magdalena T. dela Riva in the Philippines, is a Filipino movie actress, who has appeared in about 80 films.She is most widely known outside the Philippines for an incident in her early career , when she was abducted and raped. She gave evidence against her abductors, which resulted in the...
, former Philippine Basketball Association
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association , is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 10 company-branded franchised teams. It is the first and oldest professional basketball league in Asia and the second oldest in the world after the NBA...
coach Dante Silverio
Dante Silverio
Dante Lorna Silverio, better known simply as Dante Silverio, is a former Filipino basketball coach, and champion race car driver. He is best known as the coach of the Toyota Tamaraws in the Philippine Basketball Association. Silverio guided Toyota to five of its total nine PBA Championships. He...
, Perla Primicias (daughter of former Philippine Senator Cipriano Primicias), and daughter Marién Gómez de Lizares.
Throughout the years, Gómez has developed a five-level Flamenco course that has been proven effective. He has come up with an entertaining teaching system called "choreographic immersion" with preliminary drills in footwork, hands, and movements that also include the compás of fours and twelves. Many of his students also learn many of these dances with or without castanettes.
Educator
Gómez also spent several years teaching Spanish grammarGrammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, Philippine history, and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
in Adamson University
Adamson University
Adamson University is a private university Catholic university in Manila, Philippines, founded on June 30, 1932 by Greek immigrant George Lucas Adamson as the Adamson School of Industrial Chemistry...
. For a time, he also served as the head of the Adamson's Spanish Department. He retired from the university in 2001, but he still teaches Flamenco in his home and in Steps Dance Studio in Makati. He occasionally offers Spanish language tutorials.
During his teaching stint, he was also the president of Corporación Nacional de Profesores en Español (CONAPE), an organization of Filipino educators who teach the Spanish language.
Media
Gómez's career in journalism started with the magazine El maestro during the 1960s. The magazine's aim was to aid the predicament of the Filipino teacher in Spanish.Aside from being the current editor of Nueva era, the only existing Spanish newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in the Philippines today, he also edits The Listening Post and The Tagalog Chronicle. These three newspapers are published weekly and are only accessible via subscription.
Gómez also released an LP back in 1960 when he was still the producer of La Voz Hispanofilipina, a radio program of DZRH. He made research about some "lost" Filipino songs sung in Spanish during the Spanish colonization. He reintroduced the songs through recording. The successful LP was entitled Nostalgia Filipina. He was the one who sang in all of the songs. He was accompanied by a rondalla
Rondalla
The rondalla is an ensemble of stringed instruments played with the plectrum or pick and generally known as plectrum instruments. It originated in Medieval Spain, especially in Catalunya, Aragon, Murcia, and Valencia...
.
In 1997, he was a segment host of ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN
ABS–CBN Corporation is a Philippine-based media conglomerate. It is the Philippines' largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The corporation was the merger of Alto Broadcasting System which at that time owned by James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino, and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network ...
's defunct early morning program Alas Singko Y Medya. In the said show, he hosted a five-minute Spanish lesson.
In 2006, he was urged by some friends to reproduce the said LP. The Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation funded this project. The LP, digitally mastered, was launched in Instituto Cervantes de Manila on 14 August 2006.
External links
- THE FILIPINO STATE/EL ESTADO FILIPINO
- Influencia española en el tagalo (I)
- Influencia española en el tagalo (II): GRAMATICA.
- BAYANIHAN: The Treasure Chest of Filipino Dances and Culture
- EDITORIAL: HOMENAJE A GUILLERMO GOMEZ RIVERA
- Ang Pinanggalingan ng 'Tatarin'
- Forgotten Filipino sages and educators, article by Gómez Rivera, English and Spanish, published by the Canadian magazine La Guirnalda Polar, 2001.
- The evolution of the native Tagalog alphabet
- The evolution of the native Tagalog alphabet: Genocide
- The importance of the Tagalog 32-letter alphabet to the modern education of the youth