when life is a mess: back to basics, back to roots

the Bible. i started reading it again. a rich treasure of simple facts and advice from our Maker. Free will. Babylon. Lamp. Path. Salt. Grace. Salvation.
Salvation not just from hell after life. But life on earth as well.
While philosophers problematize life, the Bible has already given a prescription for life on earth. A remedy, solution, a path. Read with a seeking mind, and the Spirit might just make us understand. yup, the Spirit, not the preachers on tv either asking for your bucks or out-reasoning each other on who among them is God's chosen messenger.

showbiz pookies

what else can kill a soul but the existence to be nothing else but a cookie in a jar.
and it kills me to unwillingly witness showbiz dudes and dudettes perform their designated pretentious eye twinkle, drawn manicured smiles. agh!

living to please, what else can kill creativity?
like a Barbie doll, originally made to tickle the lonely soldiers at war. smooth manufactured skin. hollow being.

one can be both an eye-catching beauty and a creative spirit--- bjork, sinead, sade, zap mama, sheila chandra, etc.

fame and fortune vs. soul and being? fake copies vs. raw creativity?
some have it all. but i will have no respect left for someone who simply fakes her/his act.
cherry gil: "you are nothing but a second rate, trying hard, copy cat!" --from the lips of a contravida, but most often words of truth.

mabuhay mga lahi ni bella flores.

credits for the UAAP opening

1. here... found the credits for the show

71st UAAP OPENING CEREMONY

Start:	Jul 5, '08 1:00p
Location:	Araneta Coliseum

UP Diliman hosted the 71st UAAP OPENING CEREMONY last July 5 at the Araneta Coliseum. The show featured performers from the UP Filipiniana, UP PEP Squad, UP Dance Company , UP Dancesport and the UP StreetDance. It was aired over ABS-CBN (yez, nationwide itish).

Artistic Director: Dexter M. Santos
Head Choreographer: Van Manalo
Choreographers: Lalaine Perena, Jerome Dimalanta, Jojo Carino
Production Designer: Tuxqs Rutaquio
Lighting Designer: John Neil Ilao Batalla
Music Design: Carol Bello
Scriptwriter: Sir Anril Tiatco
Technical Director: Voltaire de Jesus
Production Manager: Theresa Gonzalez

To add...
The live musicians, aside from myself, were:
Irish Pangilinan (my music design assistant, keyboards)
Diwa de Leon (Makiling Ensemble, hegalong)
Paul Zialcita (Pinikpikan, kali drum and mineral water bottle plus varied shakers)
Budeths Casinto (Pinikpikan, derbouka)
Raymond Panganiban (bass guitar)
Govinda (Kadangyan, djembe)
Frances Escape (Philippine-made derbouka)
Divine Leano (guitar)

Except for the "super rush and sleepless nights mode" of this project, since I came in as music scorer/designer two weeks only before the show, it was a pretty good experience. For the recorded music that accompanied live musicians, I was able to combine the kulittong (bamboo zither) with the agong and the paldong (bamboo flute) with the balimbing (i forgot what the great ethnomusicologist dr. Jose Maceda calls this in English, everyone interested in Filipino indigenous music should read his books. siya ang tunay na super lolo ng Pilipinong musika). The tungatong (bamboo poles), however, was not explored so much due to time constraints.

I was also elated that former U.P. president Dr. Jose Abueva's granddaughter (so royalty mode tayo ngayon), Julia Abueva gave a heart-warming rendition to my composition for the young athletes. The real title was Awit ni Lourdes (Song of Lourdes> name of my mother), but for the show, it was made into Awit para sa Kabataang Atleta (song for the young athlete).

Dinugo talaga ako sa rush na ito pero okay naman talaga sa karanasan.

potions, voice and healing

still some thoughts from the rainforest world music festival...
sarawak, known as the land of head hunters...
similar to what happened in the Cordillera, head hunting as a culture and way of life ceased when the christian missionaries came in. head hunting was replaced by the prevailing military and legal system , which in my view is just a more bureaucratic form of headhunting. i would not say that peace was the agenda for the end of head hunting. perhaps, this is one reason why civilization as we know it, is failing to "save" this world from man-made destructive activities.

back to my friend, the man is in his traditional wear, in a traditional hut, inside the sarawak cultural village that brings together displays of sarawak's rich and diverse culture. he was selling a powder antidote for snake bite and twigs that emit aroma that drives away evil spirits. just sad that i was not able to find him in his spot the next day to buy some of his stuff.


healing....
in the Voice of our People workshop, one from the audience asked if our songs and voices (indian, filipino, caribbean, portuguese) had something to do with healing... that was a thoughtful question.
all of us agreed and said yes, but more for the soul than medicinal or physical healing (we are not online sound healers who do marketing by the dollars, and we profess not to be tribal shamans who work wonders).

i also answered yes, it can be for the soul and the body... but strange that the dominant thought in me then at that time was that voice can be both for healing and destruction, in the same way that your parents can comfort you and scold or scar you depending on the words, timbre, pitch and overall "feel" of what comes out of their throats.

and sometimes, we have to be "destroyed" to heal within. death and resurrection of the self not only in the framework of christian salvation, but of improving one's self after a mistake or a defeat or shaming event in life. to scar and stumble, and get up again. on this note, healing and harm are not opposites that do not meet.

one singer said that to heal, you must first be able to heal yourself. that is true with him. but in my reality, i am sure we can still help others heal still even if the self is wounded, we can build even if depleted. we can always try, even if there is no glimmer of hope. i do sing and read the bible to my sick husband and so far, he is still alive even doctors are amazed. but of course, the doctors and nurses also do a lot of physical healing to my husband. and my husband does the greatest healing to himself. he is a happy and content human.

and if perfection is a pre-requisite to helping others, no one among us can ever qualify. much like if inner peace is a pre-requisite for world peace, we can consume all the time in the universe and still very few of us could claim to be perfect images of peace.

willingness, not perfection, is my preferred prerequisite to healing and peacemaking.

world hunger that satisfies

from the rainforest world music festival
sarawak, malaysia
11th to13th july 2008

... this was a workshop crowd. in the dark middle were workshop facilitators that included Pinikpikan bandmates Budeths, Gerry, Boygarro and Rene "Chong."

the three day festival of music from all over the world, attracting different races, creeds, faces, smells, tongues, etc demonstrates the state of world hunger for intellect- soul fulfillment and connection with nature via sound and music.

this is one kind of hunger i wish would strike everyone in this small and deteriorating earth.
like what i told one journalist, when i was asked about the purpose of my chants, one purpose is to continuously awaken us to the fact that we are puny humans... acting like we are so powerful when we cannot even make ourselves bigger than the mountains.

i was even asked how i do my chants... i almost forgot the answer, but i remembered. believe it or not, the chants were brought by some spirits that sang through my throat, entered the palms of my hands, and made me feel different sensations and states of being.

i am not a magical person. i do hope i am not an alien. but one thing for sure, i feel the connection with nature, a capacity to tap into that energy channel, like a lifetime free subscription for those who are "open."

peace pix fix

a stroll
through
damp
path
a mild breeze
a hint of dew
perfect.
tired,
rejuvenated.