Tiples de Santo Domingo docu wins in Manhattan film fest

Tiples de Santo Domingo

The documentary “Papuri: The Tiples de Santo Domingo” won the award for best documentary short at the International Film Festival Manhattan New York, Spring Festival on May 28 to May 30.

The 20-minute docu revolves around the more than 400-year-old boys choir of Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City. Known as Tiples de Santo Domingo, the group is composed mainly of male sopranos (“tiple’ means boy soprano) age 7-16 years old.

Oldest choral group in PH

Founded in 1587 by the Dominicans to provide liturgical music in the original Santo Domingo Church in Intramuros, Manila, the Tiples is the oldest choral group in the country.

According to Fr. Roland Mactal, OP, the Tiples “have imbibed in their training (the) Dominican lifestyle and spirituality; they give importance to it not only through singing, but also through studies.”

“Papuri” coproducer Fr. Roland Mactal, OP

As the official boys choir of Santo Domingo Church, which hosts the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of La Naval de Manila, the Tiples dedicate themselves to providing choral singing and other liturgical musical forms for the church, the biggest in Metro Manila. Their singing is part of their “Marian devotion,” according to the movie.

Himself a Tiple in the 1970s, Mactal produced the documentary in 2019, together with fellow Dominican Fr. Roger Quirao and Vic Alcuaz.

The short film, directed by Rey Memije, documents the Tiples’s 2018 Christmas concert, which featured singers Dulce and Arthur Espiritu and acclaimed pianist Raul Sunico, former president of the Cultural Center of the Philppines and dean of the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). With them were the UST Symphony Orchestra and Tiples conductor Eugene delos Santos.

Woven along the concert highlights were the stories and testimonies of past and present Tiples, including that of Irineo Hernandez III, one of the last Tiples to experience staying in the Santo Domingo compound’s old Tiple house.

Hernandez recalled living in the Dominican friary together with other Tiples, an experience he would always treasure. Today, he is helping the choir as its pianist.

Other Tiples alumni interviewed in the documentary included a physician, an engineer, a pilot and a Dominican brother.

Tiples are drawn from UST Angelicum school in Quezon City, where they have scholarship benefits.

The awarding was held online (https://youtu.be/xtqO-8y4GPo)

In his acceptance speech, Mactal invoked the blessings of God through the intercession of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila upon benefactors and supporters of the Tiples through the years.

The documentary can be viewed here: (https://youtu.be/fYFczJR4yxg)