Meanwhile, Back at Puerta Real Gardens: Reggae
Down a path and through a gate, you travel through time.
Puerta Real, Royal Gate, was built by the Spanish in 1636 for the Governor-General’s formal occasions and processions and stood until the British invasion in 1762. Rebuilt in a different location in 1780, the 1780 Puerta Real gate stood until the Battle of Manila devastated Intramuros and the rest of the city.
A Reggae Party in Intramuros
Today, my daughter, Hannah, and I are here for the Malasimbo music festival.
It’s a heady affair where a flock of beautiful, wealthy, hip, and/or reggae-pilled, convene for the last time before the show moves to exclusive, private Balesin Island next year, when the ticket prices double and the access cost becomes eye-wateringly high.
Jammin'
An odd fate for a musical genre described by Britannica as focused on “freedom, social justice, peace, and love. Born in Jamaica in the late 1960s, the genre acts as a voice for the oppressed, advocating for equal rights and resistance against systemic inequality, poverty, and colonialism.”
Somehow, the relentless forces of inequality conspire to take resistance music for the oppressed and offer it to the very wealthy. But the economics of a reggae festival in the Philippines probably consign the affair to the rich and their taste-makers.
In the Moment, though, we’ve passed through a gate that no longer guards into a garden of great music and beautiful people beatitudenous and dancing. I’m with my daughter on the eve of her 19th birthday.
