The Colonial Dept.

This faraway empire shows up in unexpected pages of our history. (Listen to S7E2 before this one.)

As the United States moves to take over Mindanao, both the Americans and the Moros invoke the name of the Ottoman Empire—seat of the Caliph—to support their campaigns. But in 1914, an actual Ottoman emissary arrives in Zamboanga. How will the American occupiers react to his visit? Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept [https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/] Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept [https://www.tiktok.com/@thecolonialdept] Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com [thecolonialdept@gmail.com] References: Dwight, H.D. (1915). Constantinople: Old and New. Charles Scribner’s Sons. Inanc, Yusuf Selman. “Abdulhamid II: An autocrat, reformer and the last stand of the Ottoman Empire.” Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/abdulhamid-ii-last-stand-ottoman-empire [https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/abdulhamid-ii-last-stand-ottoman-empire] Göksoy, Ismail Hakki (2024). “The Ottomans’ Shaykh Al-Islam of Philippines, Mehmet Vecih Efendi: His Life, Duties and Activities.” In Göksoy, Kadi (eds.), Studies on the Relations Between the Ottoman Empire and Southeast Asia, YTB Publications. Charbonneau, Oliver (2021). Civilizational Imperatives: Americans, Moros, and the Colonial World. Ateneo de Manila University Press. Amirell, Stefan Eklöf (25 August 2022). “‘An Extremely Mild Form of Slavery … of the Worst Sort’: American Perceptions of Slavery in the Sulu Sultanate, 1899–1904,” Slavery & Abolition, 43(3), pp. 517-532. Vatin, Nicolas (19 December 2017). “The Death of Ottoman Sultans.” Politika. https://www.politika.io/en/notice/the-death-of-ottoman-sultans [https://www.politika.io/en/notice/the-death-of-ottoman-sultans]

In the last decades of Spanish rule in the Philippines, pianos—both foreign and local—provided the tinkling music of the colony’s rising middle class. (Listen to S7E1 before this one.)

It’s the late 1800s, and all across the Pacific seaboard, in places like Singapore and Yokohama, Medan and Sengalor, the music of town bands drifts across the esplanades. Many of these groups proudly hail from one port of call: Manila. This is their story. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept [https://www.instagram.com/thecolonialdept/] Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept [https://www.tiktok.com/@thecolonialdept] Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com [thecolonialdept@gmail.com] Audio of “Wiener Schwalben Marsch” is from the Discography of American Historical Recordings. References:  Affan, Muhammad (2023). “From Riverside Hub to Urban Center: Understanding The Metamorphosis of The Sultanate of Deli's Capital Landscape.” Al-Tsaqafa: Jurnal Ilmiah Peradaban Islam, 20(2), pp. 194-203. “The history of Medan” (26 December 2020). Stories from Deli—Chinese coolies life in Deli. https://storiesfromdeli.com/2020/12/26/the-history-of-medan/ [https://storiesfromdeli.com/2020/12/26/the-history-of-medan/] Columbia matrix 87055. Wiener Schwalben Marsch / Kapelle Militär. (2025). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved May 15, 2025, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000112570/87055-Wiener_Schwalben_Marsch [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000112570/87055-Wiener_Schwalben_Marsch]. Birgit Krohn Albums, Vol. 2 (n.d.) “Porpourri Populaire, George Renaud (1835-1913).” Furman University Scholar Exchange. https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/krohn-album2/8/ [https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/krohn-album2/8/] Yamomo, Mele (2015). “Brokering Sonic Modernities: migrant Manila musicians in the Asia  Pacific, 1881-1948.” Popular Entertainment Studies, 6(2), pp. 22-37. Castro, Christi-anne (2018). “Colonized by Rote: Music Education at the Outset of the US Colonial Era in the Philippines.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 39-44. Chua, Maria Alexandra Iñigo. (2018). “The Appropriated Villancico Filipino in the Rituals of Philippine Christmas.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 91-99. Chua, Maria Alexandra Iñigo. (2018). “Music Printing and Publishing in Urban Colonial Manila, 1858-1942.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 215-223. Buenconsejo, Jose S. (2018). “Keyboards in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 234-242. Tan, Arwin Q. (2018). “Social Networking in Musicians’ Unions and Musical Associations.” In Tan, Arwin Q. (ed.), Saysay Himig: A Sourcebook on Philippine Music History, University of the Philippines Press, pp. 365-371. Jando, Dominique (n.d.) “Giuseppe Chiarini: Equestrian, Circus Entrepreneur.” Circopedia. https://www.circopedia.org/Giuseppe_Chiarini [https://www.circopedia.org/Giuseppe_Chiarini] “The Overseas Market for Filipino Entertainers (March 2004).” TESDA. https://www.tesda.gov.ph/About/TESDA/60 [https://www.tesda.gov.ph/About/TESDA/60] Ng, Stephanie Sook-Lynn (n.d.) “Overseas Filipino Musicians and the Geographies of Migrant Creative Labor.” Dissertation Reviews.  Yu Jose, Lydia N. (2007). “Why are Most Filipino Workers in Japan Entertainers?: Perspectives from History and Law.” Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, 22(1), pp. 61-84. Piquero-Ballescas, Ma. Rosario (1993). “The Various Contexts of Filipino Labor Migration to Japan.” Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, 8(4), pp.125-145.

Lousy pilots? Fierce storms? Rampaging currents? Some of these galleons never stood a chance. (Listen to S6E13 before this one.)