Google today joined the City of Las Piñas for the 195th year celebration of its famed Bamboo Organ – the oldest, largest, and only known bamboo pipe organ in existence – through a special Doodle.
The world’s largest search engine featured the cartoon version of the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ on the home page of Google on November 24. Today marks the date in 2003 when the National Museum of the Philippines named the Las Piñas Bamboo Organ as a National Cultural Treasure.
The bamboo pipe organ, housed in St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Pinas in the south of Manila, was built beginning 1816 and completed in 1824 by Spanish priest Fray Diego Cera Dela Virgen Del Carmel.
It is composed of 1,031 pipes, 902 of which are made of native Filipino bamboo.
The organ was brought to Bonn in Germany for reconstruction in 1972 due to deterioration and damages due to natural disasters since the 1880s.
The Las Piñas Bamboo Organ was moved back to the Philippines in 1975 and is still operational for mass celebration to this day.
The Bamboo Organ Foundation oversees the annual celebrations where some of the most famous organists from around the world have come to perform. In the 44 years since the return to Las Piñas, the organ and festival in its honor have become synonymous with Filipino cultural expression.
In its Doodle notes Google writes, “A monument to sustainable building and technological sophistication, the Bamboo Organ stands as a symbol of what’s possible when design draws from native resources, labor, and the ingenuity of its nation’s people.”
The versatility and sustainability property of native Filipino bamboo has been making headlines for so many reasons and occasions.
At this moment, the country’s second bamboo organ is being constructed at the Betis Church in Pampanga and is expected to be launched in December for the traditional Simbang Gabi.
Filipino musical instruments made of bamboo are being improved using new technology through the collaborative project of Bamboo Musical Instruments (BMI) Innovation Research and Development Program, Department of Science and Technology, University of the Philippines – Center for Ethnomusicology and Philippine Normal University.
The Bulata National High School school canteen in Negros Occidental has been championing “Wala Usik” (zero-waste) by using mugs made of bamboo
while CUBO, a bamboo-based housing design of by Earl Patrick Forlales, won the RICS Cities for our Future competition in 2018.
Google Doodles paying tribute to Philippine icons have graced the home page of the popular internet browser, among them, the Puerto Princesa Underground River, Jose Rizal, and the Philippines’ Independence Day.
SEND cheers to Google for celebrating the iconic Las Piñas Bamboo Organ!
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