AFRO-ASIAN

John Mark C. Bayabayn

(BSED-III)

Eleazar Evangelista

(Instructor)

The Ramayana
Born during an age when the demon Ravana terrorized the world, Rama is the virtuous, wise,
and powerful prince of Ayohya. As a young man, he is able to accomplish what no other man has
ever done: he lifts and strings the bow of Siva, and by so doing her earns the right to marry the
beautiful Sita.
Just when he is about to ascend the throne of Ayodhya, his father Dasaratha is forced to exile
him for fourteen years to the forest due to a vow made long ago. Unruffled, Rama accepts his
exile; his wife Sita and his loyal brother Lakshmana accompany him. In the forest, the princely
brothers kill many demons and visit many wise men and women.
The evil demon Ravana hears of Sita's beauty, and kidnaps her. He has fallen in love with her
and tries to seduce her, but she rebuffs his advances for nearly ten months.

Desperate to win her back, Rama and Lakshmana form an alliance with the monkey
king Sugriva, and invade Lanka with an army of monkeys. After many violent battles, Rama
defeats Ravana and wins back Sita. He is concerned that she has been unfaithful during her long
captivity, and so Sita undergoes a trial by fire to prove her chastity. Rama takes her back, and
they return to rule Ayodhya for many wonderful years.
In another version of the tale, Rama hears his people gossiping about Sita's imagined
indiscretions, and he banishes her to the forest, where she gives birth to Rama's twin sons. Sita
and the children confront him years later; he tries to explain his harsh actions to Sita, but she
vanishes into the earth to escape him.
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil
and Richard Maltby, Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly
tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her
American lover.

Geisha
Geisha, geiko, or geigi are Japanese women who entertain through performing the ancient
traditions of art, dance and singing, and are distinctively characterized by their wearing of
kimono and oshiroi makeup. Some people believe that geisha are prostitutes, this however is
false. The term "geisha" is made of two Japanese words, 芸 (gei) meaning "art" and 者
(sha) meaning"person who does" or "to be employed in". A symbol of beauty and mystery,
wrapped in a vibrant colorful kimono, she is slender in build and wears white makeup and a
black wig or extensions. The geisha represents feminine power, intrigue, and mystery.

Aladdin
Aladdin is a folk tale of Middle Eastern origin. It is one of the tales in The Book of One
Thousand and One Nights (The Arabian Nights), and one of the best known—despite not
being part of the original Arabic text. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by
the Frenchman Antoine Galland, who attributed the tale to a Syrian storyteller, Youhenna
Diab.[2]
Since it first appeared in the early 18th century "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" has been
one of the best known and most retold of all fairy tales.
Aladdin is a street urchin who lives in a large and busy town long ago with his faithful
monkey friend Abu. When Princess Jasmine gets tired of being forced to remain in the
palace that overlooks the city, she sneaks out to the marketplace, where she accidentally
meets Aladdin. Under the orders of the evil Jafar (the sultan's advisor), Aladdin is thrown
in jail and becomes caught up in Jafar's plot to rule the land with the aid of a mysterious
lamp. Legend has it that only a person who is a "diamond in the rough" can retrieve the
lamp from the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin might fit that description, but that's not enough
to marry the princess, who must (by law) marry a prince.