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This book reconnects the Philippines to current musicological discourse on the early modern Hispanic world. For two and a half centuries, the Philippine Islands were linked to Latin America and Spain through transoceanic relationships of politics, religion, trade, and culture. Manila, founded in 1571, represented a vital locus of intercultural exchange and a significant conduit for the regional diffusion of Western music. Within Manila's ethnically diverse society, imported and local musics played a crucial role in the establishment of ecclesiastical hierarchies in the Philippines, and the advancement of Roman Catholic evangelization in surrounding territories. The metaphors of European counterpoint and enharmony are used to critique musical practices within the colonial milieu, where multiple styles and genres coexisted according to strict regulations enforced by state and ecclesiastical authorities. This study argues that the introduction and institutionalization of counterpoint acted as a powerful agent of colonialism throughout the Philippine Archipelago, and that contrapuntal structures were reflected in the social and cultural reorganization of Filipino communities under Spanish rule. Active indigenous appropriation of Spanish music and dance constituted a significant contribution to the process of hispanization. Sustained “enharmonic engagement” between Filipinos and Spaniards led to the synthesis of hybrid, syncretic genres and the emergence of performance styles that could contest and subvert hegemony. Manila's religious institutions resounded with sumptuous vocal and instrumental performances, while an annual calendar of festivities brought together many musical traditions of the native and immigrant populations in complex forms of artistic interaction and opposition.

Writing Revolution examines the ways in which Spanish-language anarchist print culture established and maintained transnational networks from the late 19th through 20th centuries. Organized both chronologically and thematically, the chapters in this book explore how Spanish-speaking anarchists based in the United States, Latin America, and Spain promoted comprehensive social and economic reform, that is, the social revolution, while confronting an aggressively industrializing world that privileged authority vested in the state, capital, and church over the working class, specifically, and individual freedoms, generally. These chapters make it clear that anarchism—despite politically motivated attempts to define it differently—was not simply an ideology devoted to violently overthrowing the state but a movement that actively promoted free thought, individual liberty, and social equality. We show how Spanish-speaking anarchists developed a pervasive and vibrant transnational print network in which the United States was a major hub that enabled worker solidarity reinforced by a continuing emphasis on well-established enlightenment-era concepts of freedom, personal liberty, and social equality, through journalism and literature. Within this historical context of activism and culture production from below, the essays in this volume show how anarchist periodicals connected, fostered, and maintained Spanish-speaking radicals and groups in major metropolises including Barcelona, Brooklyn, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Havana, Los Angeles, Madrid, and New York City among many others, but also smaller urban areas such as Detroit, New Orleans, Tampico (México), Steubenville (Ohio), and Tampa.