Customer Reviews

Warrior Arts of the Philippines

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A excellent book covering all the main styles of Escrima, Balintawak, Arnis etc... It gives good examples of the styles philosophy, history and culture. I am a student of Grand Master Taboada of the Balintawak style and I felt they did a good job on sharing some info on Balintawak and its history.

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Rey Galang is now my favorite author on FMA subjects. In this book, just in "Masters of the Blade", he did a superb job of giving an excellent presentation of several chosen styles and their most respected exponents. This book is less "techically oriented" than the MOB book, i.e. there is more history and philosophy explined, as well as some methodology of training in various styles, while in the MOB book, every chapter featured an excellent training section too. Still, this is not a bad thing at all, cause like this one gets inspired in another way. I would even say that Mr. Galang has succeded in making the reader feel the "breath of old times" of FMA. After reading the conclusion, I can only regret that some of the people who were approached for the book did not take the opporunity to be part of something so good, but that again, nothing prevents me from hoping there might be the Part II... nad, just to make sure that there can still be improvements, I think that it might be better to skip someone from being presetned alltogether, than doing it like in the case of the late Sonny Umpad.

this book features some of the most influential and respected masters and styles that are spread far beyond their places of birth. rey galangand his associates have definitly and painstakingly done their research in publishing this soon to be classic body of work. no serious arnis or escrima practitioner would not have this masterpeice in their library.

This is a good book for those interested in FMA. It details multiple arts (some in more details than others)and has some great pictures. If your looking into a FMA school or just want to see what other arts intail, this is a book for you. On a side note, this book is not a how to book but rather a look of other FMA.

Having trained mostly in Japanese martial arts I was not very familiar with Filipino styles. This book gives a very good overview of both the different styles and the people instrumental in their development. Some of the photo sequences are better than others but don't expect to learn any FMA from this book. That is not an especially negative comment because you can not learn most martial arts from a book. Its strong point is that it may help you decide which style you would like to explore and give you direction as you look for a person to study under. This book is also a very nice tribute to the people who have expanded and preserved their native arts.

He has a great Mind, A wealth of expierance, and a sharp pencile. I hold this book as a treasure. I can find no other words to express the knowladge that Master Galang has. A Great Instructor.

Mike Tabor (Progressive KaliSilat, Charlotte, Mi.)