Uni at Ugat : Northern Mindanao Rhythms

House of Gongs presents Uni at Ugat: Northern Mindanao Rhythms. An offering to the Oahu community to connect and interact with Northern Mindanao Master Artists Waway Saway, Balugto and Joel Ganlal from Bukidnon and Lake Sebu, Philippines.

The evening is a space for music workshop, conversations and performances on ancestral instruments. Boat-lute instruments are common among Talaandig and T'boli communities in the Philippines. Their music mimic the nature around them. Accompanied by tambul handmade by the Necosia brothers and flutes Indigenous to each of their communities.

ARTISTS:

Datu Waway Saway is a Talaandig master artist and community leader. He is the father of many youth in Sungco, Bukidnon, Mindanao, empowering them through art and embodying the Talaandig values in their craft. The Talaandig culture is well known for its artistry in the performing arts and soil painting. He has led his community by using art to educate the youth.

A teacher at the Talaandig School of Living Traditions in the highlands of Sungko, Lantapan, Bukidnon, Waway lives on his tribe’s music and art. With a group of well-established artists in Songco and many young Talaandig eager to follow in his footsteps, Waway takes his passion for the arts to a different level. He is now working toward discovering and documenting Bukidnon traditional arts outside his tribe and teaching the art he knows to other indigenous youth.

Marcelino Balugto P Necosia Jr, known as “Balugto” is a Talaandig soil painter, musician and a traditional instrument maker. Balugto recorded a compact disc, which features his musical talents as a percussionist. As to the visual arts, he has been creating art since 1997, a practice that includes painting, bead working, crafting clay ornaments, and making the best sounding drums in the community.

Balugto prefers to use natural pigments, and pen and ink in his paintings. Thus, the mountain soil itself provides him with a vast variety of hues for his palette. Part of the process of working toward his dream of becoming a successful, multi-dimensional artist, is sharing his talents, thoughts, vision and ideas with the young artists of the Talaandig tribe. In addition to performing at the opening and award ceremonies for the Second Annual Indigenous Peoples’ Visual Art Exhibition in Davao, Balugto’s piece “The Unseen World '' won a prize in the juried competition. The same piece also won an award at the recent regional Philip Morris Arts Competition which qualified him for the national level competition in January 2008.

Balugto, together with Datu Waway Saway, was able to share our music, art and culture in different places such as San Francisco California, Singapore, South Korea, New York, Virginia Beach, to name a few, showcasing their wonderful gift of talent and artistry.

Joel Ganlal, T’boli culture bearer, healer, and master artist in t’nonggong drum, s’loli flute, hegalong lute, and dance, was the Special Guest in “Utom.” He has performed internationally with the Helogong Cultural Troupe and for projects by the National Commission for Culture and Arts in California, New York, and Taiwan.

The event is open to all ages. A $15 ticket is asked to support House of Gongs' continuous programming to connect culture bearer from the Philippines with the Filipinx diasporic community.

Performances by:

Waway Saway and Balugto

Ashton Obrero

The ticket grants complete access to "Uni at Ugat: Northern Mindanao Rhythms" event presentations and performances, an opportunity to engage with Indigenous Master Artists, and participation in a panel discussion. Light refreshments provided.

Host or Publisher House of Gongs