Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance-Vancouver/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada
Press Release

Filipino youth celebrate history and resistance through cultural performances

May 31, 2007

On Friday, May 25, the Auditorium at Sir Charles Tupper Secondary came alive with music, dance, poetry and politics as young Filipinos took the stage for Roots, Rhymes and Resistance X: Our Beautiful Struggle (RRR), organized by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/ the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA).

As a part of Vancouver’s Asian Heritage Month celebration ExplorASIAN, RRR was attended by over 120 people and continues to be the only progressive cultural showcase organized by Filipino Youth.

“It was a good cultural evening with diverse performers,” says event organizer and emcee Rain De Guzman. “And it is also a political event—one where [Filipino youth] can show we care about, and have opinions on the issues that affect us.”

The opening song was performed by the Sinag Bayan Cultural Arts Collective, a collective of activists and artists representing the different organizations based in the Kalayaan Filipino community centre. The song, “Ang Ating Awit” (Our Song) was about singing and continuing to fight for freedom, although it is a long road, and fit appropriately into the theme of “Our Beautiful Struggle”

Performances included poetry by Toronto-based poet Hari Alluri, who rhymed about commercialism, colonialism and identity. UKPC-member Mildred German had hard-hitting poetry about human rights violations and the struggles of the Filipino people. Surprising the audience was 11-year old Sol Diana, who wrote and performed a striking poem that challenged them to think why freedom and justice were rights that seemed denied to Filipino youth.

Between pieces, poet and Chair of UKPC National Carlo Sayo mentioned that it was the first year that RRR was done in a high school auditorium. “And at Tupper, this is a testament to the organizing and education that is being done in the community by Filipino youth,” says Sayo, noting the 2003 beating death of Tupper Student Mao Jomar Lanot.

Among the other performances were the hip hop duo On Point Collective (Jean Marc Daga and Arif Ali), who rapped about issues of migration and the burden of being brown men in today’s society—a twist on Rudyard Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden.” Daga also joined a soulful acoustic set by Jill Laxamana (accompanied by Jon Nieto and Niki Silva), who sang about questioning herself, and ultimately finding her place in the Filipino people’s movement for national liberation.

Other acts who participated in the evening were rock-rap group the Boombox Saints (who, despite having to adjust their set due to some technical difficulties, still managed to get the crowd excited and kept them lively), some pop songs by Sherry Lopez and Martina Reinprecht, and a solo hip-hop dance number by Carlie Lozano.

“It was a fun night, and that’s what we wanted,” says co-emcee Alexandra Bathan. “But more importantly, it was a great learning experience and celebration of the creativity of Filipino youth united to create change for the Filipino community.”