The final night at the discussion den
It's June! Second month of Spring, and 2013 has been very kind to me in terms of giving me opportunities for pursuing projects. It all started when the generous people at the Whippersnapper Gallery had the brilliant idea to offer their space for free to individuals and groups who want to hold discussions. They called their project, aptly enough, Discussion Den Space. As a result, from February 13 to April 24, 2013, I held a bi-weekly discussion on readings on Filipino topics at the Whippersnapper Gallery. After deciding to take a break from academia and being also "free" from having formal work, I had a lot of time on my hands. It turned out to be a perfect time for learning much more about Filipino culture. We discussed academic and researched papers on everything from Filipino art, history, relationship with Mexico (through the Galleon Trade from the 16th-19th century), cuisine, and of course, culture. The discussion series is documented on its Facebook page. There are also some academic and researched papers available there for perusal. Also at the same place, I was able to do a lot of practicing of kulintang music every other week. I had intended it to be practice time for the whole ensemble, but unfortunately more often than not, it turned out to be just me playing alone. Nevertheless! It turned out to be a fruitful endeavour because being there by myself forced me to put up a Facebook status inviting people to come and join me if they want to learn the music. And that is how I came to be joined by two graduate students who have since become good friends of mine, Valerie Damasco, and Conely de Leon (we all have chapters in Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility, University of Toronto Press, 2012). Happily, the ensemble did come around, and we did rehearsals twice a week for a month at OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). Out of the efforts of playing kulintang on the regular, we were able to make connections with other artists in the community. Paul Limgenco is a visual artist and also a martial artist who practices arnis. Bea Palanca is a spoken word poet (we worked together on In:Transit). Pantayo, joined by newly-inducted-to-kulintang Valerie and Conely, performed beautiful music for the Roxana Ng Memorial Symposium at OISE on May 28. An excerpt of our performance, with Paul Limgenco doing arnis demonstrations, is available on our FB page. I feel very blessed to be able to do these things for myself and for my community. Salamat, Thank you, Miigwech. //
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Words, images, & fripperies by Christine Balmes unless otherwise stated. Archives
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