Edru Abraham and Kontra-GaPi Leave Manila Rotarians in Awe

Professor Pedro Reyes Abraham, Jr., the multi-awarded performing artist whom everybody fondly calls “Edru,” the divergent, dark, middle eastern-looking man with an immaculately trimmed beard who spoke perfect Ibanag often clad in his signature Batik Indonesia shirt with white flared pants is, actually, a half-Lebanese-half-Cagayeño who exhibited unbridled passion for Filipino ethnic music and dance, with such unmatched, extraordinary ardor that eventually gave birth to the U.P. ethnic music-and-dance ensemble Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino, or more popularly known as Kontra-GaPi, an all-original Gamelan (i.e. traditional ensemble music of Javanese origins) group which he founded in 1989.

Together with twelve of his young adherents, he skillfully entranced a largely sexagenarian-cum-septuagenarian audience — many of whom clutter the country’s largest business and political firmament — with his evocative Hindu-Malayan-influenced rhythms of Mindanao’s “Singkil” and “Kapa Malong Malong” as well as Cordillera’s “Banga” and “Lumagen,” accompanied by the mesmerizing indigenous instrumentation comprising of the "dabakan," "kulintang," "gangsa" and "gambal" which largely re-imagined the influence and movement patterns of long-established ethnic dance forms in a theatrical framework, and within a cultural standpoint to create a compelling musical number.

Despite having officially retired as faculty from the premier state university since 2012, Professor Abraham nevertheless, continues to serve UP Diliman as a professorial lecturer in the Department of Art Studies of the U.P. College of Arts and Letters (CAL), where he teaches Performing Arts History, Visual Arts History, and Philippine Culture and Arts Studies. From the beginning of his professional performing career in the mid-sixties to the present, this Bachelor of Arts graduate in Speech and Drama and a Master’s degree holder of Arts in Art History from UP Diliman has participated in various capacities as actor and director; dancer and choreographer; musician; singer and composer; voice talent; narrator; announcer and host-presenter; concept-writer and producer in several hundred productions on stage, film, radio and television.

Truly, this “Pedro-of-All-Trades” is one of our country’s genuine national treasures, who, together with Kontra-GaPi, left Manila Rotarians in awe.