This November, the second bamboo organ will be installed in Pampanga—195 years after the historic bamboo organ in St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas City was completed.
According to Cealwyn Tagle, founder of Diego Cera Organbuilders Inc., the new bamboo organ will be installed at the St. James the Apostle Parish Church in Betis, Pampanga. It is set to be completed in late November, and will be played for the first time on Dec. 15.
The new bamboo organ will stand 4.6 meters tall and 2.4 m wide, and will be 70% bamboo. The bamboo poles that will be used as pipes for the organ are locally sourced, and received modern preservation treatments to ensure that they will last a long time.
The Mirabilia Dei Foundation Inc. (MDFI), which is overseeing the project, notes that this is the church’s first major acquisition in decades. The bamboo organ cost more than P3 million, an amount raised by trustees and sponsors through musical concerts for over four years.
The bamboo organ is being constructed at the side altar of the church, which was declared a national cultural treasure in 2001.
Msgr. Greg Canlas, the musical director of the MDFI, notes that having the bamboo organ was like welcoming back priest Diego Cera, who completed the original bamboo organ in Las Piñas City and was a parish priest of Mabalacat from 1794 to 1797.