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(Ruben Alcantara)
Sakada is a general term

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which means recruitment.

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And the Filipinos who were recruited
by the HSPA between 1906 and 1946

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considered themselves Sakadas.

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In other words, recruited workers.

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And they were recruited to Hawaiʻi
on a three year contract to work

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on the plantations.

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(male speaker #1)
In the Philippine islands,

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all us single men,
night time we go serenade for the girl.

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[laughter]

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[unintelligible]

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(female speaker #1)
Harana.

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(male speaker #2)
Harana, they call it.

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They call it harana.

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(Chris Conybeare)
So you might sing too, huh?

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Yeah, sing.

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(female speaker #2)
He'd sing to the girls.

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Sing to the girls so
that girl come to the window.

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[laughter]

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(Chris Conybeare)
Hawaiʻi had almost no Filipino girls

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to serenade.

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Labor recruiters hired single men.

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These lonely bachelors were willing to pay
for the privilege of just dancing

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with a woman.

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And at a dime a dance, they enriched
a growing entertainment industry.

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Good old capitalism, you know.

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All the--you can figure out how
to bring a service for some money

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to someplace, you're gonna do it.

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And they did have these, I guess it was
like a floating taxi dance corporation.

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It would bring these dance girls
from plantation to plantation,

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then they would dance with these Filipinos.

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And then go on to the next plantation
and do the same thing.

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It became a policy of the HSPA,
of the plantations to provide instruments.

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So that Filipinos could practice music
in the different camps.

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It was part of what the plantation called
welfare work.

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In other words, provide them movies,
provide them entertainment, keep them busy.

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So they stayed out of mischief, you know.
They don't go on strikes and so on.

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They also were very, very proud
of the fact that they could learn

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to play musical instruments.

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In fact, among Filipinos in the past,
one of the best ways to gain status

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in the camp was to be able
to play an instrument very well.

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(Ricardo Trimillos)
And this is really again, a continuation

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of a tradition in the Philippines
called the Maestro.

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Again, a Spanish word.

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I guess the resident barrio musicians,
savant, who is the master.

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That the little kids would be sent there
to learn how to play or would come

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under his guidance for things like music.

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And music in among the Filipinos
in Hawaiʻi, like it was in the Philippines

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was a very important part of social skills.

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It wasn't considered as much an important
thing because it was high class

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or because it got you a better job.

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But it was just important
because it was one of the ways

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for social interaction.

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People who are musicians were singled
out to go and play at parties

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or at fiestas.