Tula sa musika

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I'm confused by the SA mark and the yet the Tula marking on it? Given the age of the rifle how should the SA mark be interpreted? In the 1980s I bought it at a yardsale for a few dollars.

The 1st, 5th, and 9th houses in a birth chart are considered the "holy trine" in Nadi astrology. These houses represent fundamental aspects of human existence:
1st House: Self, identity, physical body 5th House: Creativity, children, pleasure 9th House: Dharma (righteousness), father, long journeys, higher knowledge
Their strong placement in a birth chart is believed to be auspicious.
In the age-old wisdom of Nadi astrology, the 1st, 5th, and 9th houses are considered to be "MoolaTriKonam," prime and most pious, as well as an absolute necessity to sustain life in human form with an embodied body as a vehicle.
Vedanga Jyotish is from the Vedas, and the Vedic Gods, both in male as well as female archetypes, describe triplicity in a plethora of canons from Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwar, etc...
Nine planets in Vedic astrology are assigned with three nakshatras each, and the formulation of Vimshottrai nakshatra dasha years allocation is done 3 * 120° = 360° zodiac.
Vimshottri Dasha timekeeping relies on Earth's rotation to determine the passage of time (hours, minutes, seconds). Historically, the Moon's phases were used for timekeeping. The synodic month (time between full moons) is a natural unit that many cultures observed. However, modern timekeeping primarily relies on the Earth's rotation on its axis, which is a more consistent and precise measurement. Time is calculated using the space between 🌎 & Moon basis Moon's route. In Vedanga Jyotish, time is nothing but the passage of Moon along the dynamic always in the move Rashi Mandalam ♈ to ♓.
Nakshatras and the Moon's Path: The concept of nakshatras as fixed positions along the ecliptic (Moon's apparent path) is accurate. From Earth's perspective, the Moon appears to traverse these constellation layers too, beneath the dynamic zodiac layer. Rashi Mandalam is the static Nakshatra Mandalam. The Moon's elliptical path does make the time it takes to cross each nakshatra vary slightly. Twenty-seven nakshatras from the Moon's elliptical path from the point of view of Earth, any given nakshatra runs 24-27½ hours. For our practical purposes, we are using a 24-hour uniform day basis, UTC. Using latitude & longitude from a given point on our planet 🌎, if we map the Moon using Vedanga Jyotish, the nakshatras are fixed; this layer doesn't move, but the Moon's elliptical path passing through, not in a uniform manner from Earth's point of view. Thus, Vimshottrai dasha system has unequal year allocation to planetary dasha: Ketu 7 years, Venus 20 years, Sun 6 years, Moon 10 years, Mars 7 years, Rahu 18 years, Guru 16 years, Shani 19 years, Mercury 17 years.
Ashwini - Beta Arietis, Bharani - 35 Arietis, Krittika - Pleiades (also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45), Rohini - Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), Mrigashira - Lambda Orionis, Ardra - Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), Punarvasu - Castor (Alpha Geminorum), Pushya - Theta Cancri, Ashlesha - Epsilon Hydrae, Magha - Regulus (Alpha Leonis), Purva Phalguni - Delta Leonis, Uttara Phalguni - Beta Leonis, Hasta - Delta Corvi, Chitra - Spica (Alpha Virginis), Swati - Arcturus (Alpha Bootis), Vishakha - Alpha Librae, Anuradha - Delta Scorpii, Jyeshtha - Alpha Scorpionis, Mula - Lambda Scorpii, Purva Ashadha - Delta Sagittarii, Uttara Ashadha - Sigma Sagittarii, Shravana - Alpha Aquilae, Dhanishta - Alpha Delphini, Shatabhisha - Lambda Aquarii, Purva Bhadrapada - Alpha Pegasi, Uttara Bhadrapada - Gamma Pegasi, Revati - Zeta Piscium.
Here's where the logic gets a bit more complex: Vimshottri Dasha assigns varying lengths to planetary periods based on using latitude & longitude computing Moon position. We work our time in Earth-like ° ' ". Equal hours, minutes, seconds. So the point I am trying to underscore is if we compute from the Moon the distance using latitude and longitude of 27 nakshatras in our Milky Way from Earth's perspective, those emerging ° ' ", we get the logic behind Vimshottrai dasha splits duration in years. Here, if you can think in real-time of the Moon's position in the sidereal sky ° ‘ “ which is perceived as an elliptical clock for measurement 360° & this is what corresponds with HH:MM:SS with our human modern-day
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Hello! Sorry this took me so long. I’m here to try to answer the question of ALAMAT’s advocacy being performative or not. Buckle up because this is... very lengthy. (That’s why it took me so long to post it.) Please do not screenshot my post and share it on other platforms; I have extreme anxiety.
First off, let’s define the word “performative.” Merriam-Webster defines it as “(disapproving) made or done for show (as to bolster one’s own image or make a positive impression on others).” This definition is undoubtedly what is being meant when some people call ALAMAT’s advocacy performative.
So… what is their advocacy? This was their mission statement before:
“Sa pamamagitan ng musika, layunin ng ALAMAT ang ipagdiwang ang ating pagka-Pilipino at maitanim sa puso’t isipan ng mga kabataang Pinoy na hindi kailangan hubarin ang ating kultura’t pagkakakilanlan para lamang umangat at makilala sa pandaigdigang entablado.”
(Through music, ALAMAT’s mission is to celebrate our Filipino identity and to instill in the hearts and minds of the Filipino youth that we do not need to discard our culture and heritage in order to succeed and be recognized on the world stage.)
This is found in the description of their newer videos: “Alamat is a 6-member sing-rap-dance boy group from the Philippines that combines both traditional and modern Philippine cultural elements with Western/global influences in the various facets of their music, including dance, fashion, and iconography.”
I believe their newer statement is more in line with what they’re actually doing and puts less pressure on them. Their thing has always been taking precolonial cultural elements and modernizing them, and using indigenous elements but adding Western influences. It’s never been about “pure” representations, but infusing postcolonial, Westernized Filipino culture with precolonial or indigenous elements.
When some people call their advocacy performative, they are trying to say that:
1. ALAMAT’s concept of multiculturalism and embracing indigenous Philippine culture(s) is purely a gimmick. The members do not care about it, and neither does the creative director. Is that true? Let’s investigate:
I believe that it is possible for the members not to care about it if they were all pale-skinned, mestizo guys from Manila. However, all of them are probinsyanos, not all of them fit the dominant Eurocentric/East Asian-centric beauty standards, and most of them speak a different language (not Tagalog) as their mother tongue.
The director mentioned before that he specifically chose members who were short, because the industry favors taller men (despite the fact that the average height in the Philippines is considerably shorter than other countries’). Tomas alone is, in more than one way, the exact kind of person who can’t not care about ALAMAT’s advocacy: he is the shortest member, standing at around 5’5”, he’s moreno, and he’s a Bicolano speaker who has an accent when speaking in Tagalog. He talked about it here, all the way back in August 2021 pa. He said that he often got rejected in the acting industry because of his Bicolano accent.
Mo is visibly and proudly Blasian, Tomas is a short, moreno Bicolano, and Taneo is moreno and Indigenous on his father’s side. Even the members who fit the hegemonic beauty standards more — Jao with his tisoy/chinito looks, Alas with his pale skin and chinito looks, R-Ji who is fairly tall for a Filipino guy and has classically tisoy facial features a la Kyle Echarri — would struggle to fit in the industry for other reasons. Alas mentioned in the same interview as that one (more on that later) that he was often bullied for being Bisaya.
Hollywood actor Alex Mallari Jr. (Ginny & Georgia, The Adam Project) even Tweeted before that he wouldn’t be able to find acting work in the Philippines because he’s Kapampangan and moreno. (I can’t find the Tweet anymore because he deleted his account, sadly.)
The Philippine entertainment industry is highly colorist, highly favors Eurocentric and East Asian looks, and strongly discriminates against people from the probinsya, especially those whose first language isn’t Tagalog. My point here is that I would believe that these guys do not genuinely care about the advocacy/concept if they were the type of guys who could easily succeed in the industry without thinking about those things. But they are not.
Mo did a (really beautiful) interview with Mixed Asian Media, an independent online zine, not some prestigious, high-profile publication, in September 2023. He spoke about his mixed Black and Filipino identity. It is clear that this advocacy of promoting Filipino multiculturalism is highly personal to the members.
I’m not gonna lie — I think one of the main reasons that they have a reputation for “not being able to talk about their advocacy properly” is that a lot of people have unreasonable expectations regarding their speaking skills. They are young entertainers who simply have lived experiences that make the concept highly relevant to them. They are not academics and they are not diplomats. Not to mention that some of them aren’t confident when they speak in English or Tagalog.
They do explain their own emotional investment in the concept as well as they should reasonably be expected to explain it (“I care about it because I know how discrimination/lack of representation has affected me and the impact it’s had on people around me as well, so what we do makes me feel less insecure about my own cultural identity”).
You’ve got the members passionately speaking out about their own experiences (like here) and you’ve got academics for the more formal explanations. It’s not like they don’t invite academics to their platform, you know? An Akeanon professor who has published many relevant sociolinguistics studies spoke on one of their videos and they literally had a historian on their channel during their debut era.
As for their creative director, promoting multilingualism and multiculturalism has been this guy’s thing even before ALAMAT came to be. I know a lot of people aren’t huge fans of his, but we need to acknowledge that. I don’t get this idea that he’s just using this concept to make a quick buck because the Filipino entertainment industry and society still vastly favor Tagalog-centrism. Doing this concept was and is a risk.
He wrote the script for 2 Cool 2 Be 4Gotten (2016) and it features the Kapampangan language, even though it’s not directly related to the plot at all. Beauty Gonzalez was speaking in her native language, Cebuano Bisaya, in The Third Party (2016), even though it has no relevance to the plot or setting (a woman in Manila has to live with her bisexual ex and his boyfriend). His 2018 film, Bakwit Boys, heavily features the Kapampangan culture and language, inspired by his own upbringing.
As I’ve mentioned before, a few years ago, I found a research paper that included his blog post from 2007. To my amusement, he was credited simply as a “Filipino blogger,” but yeah… even in 2007, he was already speaking up about the discrimination against Bisaya folks, even though he himself is Kapampangan and not Bisaya.
2) They are only using Indigenous aesthetics, but don’t care about Indigenous peoples of the Philippines. Likewise, they use aesthetics from non-Tagalog cultures but don’t uplift non-Tagalog people.
To be honest, I believe that much of this is answered by the stuff above. However, putting aside the members’ own ethnic and cultural backgrounds, they definitely do work with and feature a lot of Indigenous and non-Tagalog talents on their platform. Some examples:

• They featured various Indigenous/non-Tagalog language speakers (besides the members) on one of their languages comparison video: https://youtu.be/KU0iUX6d7Ys
• They highlighted an Aeta tribe in “ABKD” and worked closely with them.
• A Maranao performer did a solo at their Pasulong album launch: https://youtu.be/oBTkIp7fu3Q?t=2675
• “say u love me” was co-written by Jin Chan, a Bisaya artist from Davao.
• “Day & Night” was co-written and co-composed by Therese Villarante-Langit, a Vispop artist who wrote Vispop songs like “My Morena Girl” (probably the most recognizable one).
• They also consistently give proper credit to the sources of their indigenous textiles. For example, you can easily find credits for Hanap Habi and Kandama Collective in the “Dagundong” MV description. They have worked with Hanap Habi and Kandama Collective for a long time now. Hanap Habi supports Indigenous female weavers in Benguet and Kandama Collective is owned by Victor Baguilat Jr., who is Ifugao.

Aside from that, they also publicly supported Indigenous rights at UP Fair this year:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNEQHkOa8AAvC9h?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GNEQHl6asAAUqrC?format=jpg&name=large
Predebut, Alas was also a youth coordinator for Let's Do It Philippines in Davao, which he talked about in their broadcast channel. LDIP is a grassroots coalition for environmental action, and he stated that his team helped Indigenous folks in Mindanao solve environmental issues.
Of course, there are always ways for the advocacy to be represented better. I myself have a major criticism of their MVs:
Their leading ladies are usually still very mestiza or chinita. There’s nothing wrong, of course, with having a mestiza/chinita leading lady. However, in “ABKD,” they show a young Aeta girl whose self-esteem is damaged by Eurocentric beauty standards and colorism. Yet their music videos often reinforce this beauty standard by almost always casting mestiza/fair-skinned chinita women as romantic leads. This beauty standard has an even greater impact on Filipina girls/women than men.
It’s sad, TBH, that “Maharani” is probably their only MV with naturalistic color grading among the ones that feature a romance storyline. Probably because Jhoanna is the only leading lady they’ve gotten so far* who actually registers as morena on-screen even without a filter that makes her look darker:
https://dryedmangoez.com/images/dryedmangoez/MUSICMONDAY012723.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GM-a-eabsAA3xkU?format=jpg&name=large
* I am aware that they featured Lyca Gairanod in their “ILY ILY” MV, but she was shown as the members’ classmate/sister(? unclear which), not in a romantic context.
I really hope they get morena leading ladies in upcoming MVs, especially after the “ABKD” MV condemned colorist beauty standards that damage the self-esteem of young girls especially. I know for a fact that Viva has morena talents, so even if they wanted to keep it in-house, they can still do better. Morena girls deserve to be shown as worthy of love. I hope the group features a more visually diverse set of leading ladies, as a part of their advocacy.
But yeah. Their advocacy is not perfect, but what we see indicates that the members’ and the creative team’s intentions are sincere. There are ways for it to be better, but they are definitely not performative and have already done so much great work in the few years that they have been a group.