My interest in the Indigenous:
My interest in the indigeneity movement of Filipinos within the diaspora started when I attended The First International Babaylan Conference in Sonoma County, California in 2010. There, I was linked with artists and academics within the U.S. and Canada who were similarly interested in the possibilities for what Leanne Simpson calls the "recreation, resugence and new emergence" within an indigenizing project. I sensed a general trend in the people, events, and ideas around me regarding a return to the indigenous. I kept track of the articles, learnings, and other media I found having to do with the Indigenous in a tumblr site called Rights of Nature. 2012 is the year when this interest bore fruit, through the Kapwa Collective, a newly formed group of Filipino Canadian artists, critical thinkers, and healers who are interested in bridging the narratives between the Indigenous and the Diasporic, and the Filipino and the Canadian. We facilitate links among academic, artistic, activist, and other communities in Toronto. The members of this collective are Jennifer Maramba, Jo SiMalaya Alcampo, Mykelle Pacquing, Kristen Sison, Aimee Gomez, and myself.
In October 2012, we held our first event for the public, Batok Kalinga Tattoo: Markers of Identity, From Indigenous to Diasporic.
Since then, we have co-sponsored a film screening of Baybayin, a film by Filipino Indigenous filmmaker Kanakan Balintagos (Aureus Solito), at the ImagineNative Film festival (2013). We also co-sponsored a visit by Filipino musician and scholar Grace Nono to Toronto (2014). Finally, we facilitated a month-long residency by three T'boli women culture bearers from Lake Sebu, South Cotabato to Toronto: musician Maria "Oyog" Todi, her daughter dancer and musician Andrea "Andi" Todi, and master weaver of T'nalak, Barbara "Buwat" Ofong.
For more information about our projects, visit kapwacollective.tumblr.com or Facebook.com/KapwaCollective
Kulintang musician:
I learned kulintang music while I was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor from ethnomusicology professor Dr. Fe Prudente. When I returned to Toronto, I became a founding member of Santa Guerrilla, a performance collective of musicians and dancers that used kulintang instruments, lyrics in Filipino and English, and electronic instruments in our artistic creations. We were active from 2009-2010 and played in venues such as the Theatre Centre, Yonge-Dundas square, and the Drake Hotel.
In 2010, I flew to San Francisco with some friends from Santa Guerrilla to learn from 1995 U.S. National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Awardee Danongan Kalanduyan.
In 2011, I visited Dadiangas (General Santos City) in South Cotabato, Philippines, where my father is from. My uncle Ferdinand Balmes, a visual artist and architect, was then constructing his home. Knowing about my interest in kulintang music, he invited musicians Babo Tihawa Amal, Babo Salambay Amal, and Datu Roy Abas from Brgy. Batumilong, General Santos City, Philippines to play at his home. I joined them for a full day of exhilarating music-making.
In 2012, I co-founded the Pantayo Kulintang Ensemble, an all-women musical collective. Our music is grounded in traditional kulintang music of the Maguindanaon and T'boli peoples of the Philippines, but explores the possibility of kulintang music influenced by our identities as diasporic Filipinas. I am in this ensemble with Michelle Cruz, Kat Estacio, Katrina Estacio, Marianne Grace Rellin, and Joanna De Los Reyes.
Pantayo's creative collaborations include:
-Severed (Drinkbox Studios) video game soundtrack, with YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN
-Gurendaiza and the Grand Gongs at Les Rues des Refusés (Off-program Nuit Blanche - Toronto), with comic book artist Vince Sunico
-Labour + Love at the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, with Kwentong Bayan
- Roxana Ng Memorial Symposium, with Arnis martial artist Paul Limgenco
We have also participated and performed at various events and workshops such as: Taking Place Concert w/ WhipperSnapper Gallery, Kultura Filipino Arts Festival, Santa Guerrilla Vinyl Release Party, Canada Philippine Fashion Week, Cordillera Day Celebration with Binnadang-Migrante.
Social entrepreneur:
I work with the online store, Pinoyculture.flyingcart.com
Pinoy Culture sells bilingual children's books in English and Filipino. The books are original stories about Filipino culture and illustrated by various Philippine artists. Some of the themes are Filipino legends and stories about its animals, plants, and people.
We also carry books for adults on Filipino topics such as history, culture, and arts. We also sell other Filipino products such as indigenous products (e.g. jewelry, home decor, martial arts products, textile, clothing etc.). These materials are imported from the Philippines and created by Indigenous people or are otherwise crafted by artisans using Filipino materials.
We frequently team up with Kapwa Collective at pop-up markets around the city such as the Halo Halo Festival (2014) and Kultura Arts Festival (2012-2014). Our customers are Filipino Canadians who are interested in reconnecting with their heritage and people who are interested in Filipino culture in general. Filipinos are the fourth largest ethnic group in the city, and in Toronto alone, there are above 200,000 Filipinos living in the city, and many more continue to arrive.
In Canada, Filipino culture is underrepresented in the mainstream. There are hardly any stores that sell Filipino products other than food products. Currently, there are no places that sell Filipino books and cultural products in the city. As the Filipino community gains more visibility in the city and as immigrants grow older and begin to start their own families, they will begin to search for a way to connect to their heritage and find out more deeply about their roots. Pinoy Culture will provide the materials and education that they need to do that.
Filipino language instructor:
I developed a Filipino language curriculum that aimed to teach conversational language skills to adults using role-plays, games, songs, pair work, and writing exercises. I taught this class for three years in 2009-2011 at a community-based arts organization, the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture in Toronto. Aside from providing my students with the proper speaking, reading, and writing skills, my language classes also aimed to bridge the gap between first-/second-generation Filipino Canadians and newly immigrated Filipinos. I accomplished this by inviting native-speakers to volunteer for each class.
Bilingual poet:
I have written and performed poetry in Filipino and English, at times in collaboration with Ji-an Manalo and Haniely Pableo. As a trio we were known as the Super Indays. I have performed in community settings, most notably in the Kamalayan launch (2009), an event by Migrante Youth; Kultura Festival (2011) by Kapisanan Philippine Centre, and at the Mayworks Poetry Marathon (2011). A poem I wrote and performed came out in 2012 on the album In:Transit.
Scholar focusing on Filipino Canadian arts and artists:
I spoke at Spectres of (In)Visibility: Filipina/o Labour, Culture and Youth in Canada conference held at University of Toronto (2009) about the emergence of a movement of Filipin@ artists in Toronto resignifying Filipino identity.
A research study I did on the Filipino Canadian arts and artists through the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture is published in the book Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility --a collection of research and essays on Filipinos in Canada, by the University of Toronto Press in 2012.
I spoke at a panel called "Performing Sexuality, Collectivity, and Indigeneity" about my work with Kapwa Collective as part of the
DIASPORIC INTIMACIES: QUEER FILIPINOS/AS AND CANADIAN IMAGINARIES events held at the OCADU. I performed with Pantayo in the opening reeception. I also spoke at an artist talk with Pantayo about our music, our ensemble, and our multiple identities. We performed in the opening reception with the fabulous performer Sofanda Cox.
Last Updated: January 2015.