MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/20 Dec) – Bukidnon State University president Victor M. Barroso and equipment owner Johnny “Ding” Cabreira led launching rites Monday of a university-based community recording studio, the first of its kind intended to prioritize music of indigenous peoples and local artists in the province.
Barroso and Cabreira signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly manage the facility, which will be located at the BSU Auditorium.
Cabreira, a composer and an award-winning videographer of marine life, previously made the equipment available for use in the inter-faith community in Cagayan de Oro but decided to locate it at BSU. “It (studio) finally found a home,” he added, citing he did it for his advocacies with the IP and the environment.
Cabreira did the videography in the 3D mapping of the ridge to reef project that covered Mt. Kitanglad to Macajalar Bay, Ma. Estherluna Canoy of the Kitanglad Integrated NGOs said.
In 2006, he won the 2nd Moonrise Film Festival’s best in the Marine and Aquatic Resources category for his film, “The Hidden Treasures of Agutayan”. The film showcased the rehabilitation of the Agutayan Reef in Jasaan, Misamis Oriental.
Mercibelle B. Abejuela, director of the BSU cultural affairs office, said in her presentation that the studio will serve as a repository of indigenous and original local music. She said the studio will not only cater to recording but also collection and archiving to prioritize work of the IPs and the province’s artists.
Abejuela said, however, that they will also cater to the general public’s recording needs. The studio, she said, will help develop the indigenous and local music scene especially with the holding of the annual Bukidnon Music Festival.
International performer and visual artist Waway Saway from the Talaandig tribe in Sungko, Lantapan, Bukidnon top billed the launch’s performances showcasing Bukidnon talents.
Saway played a tambuleleng, a two-stringed instrument, which he developed from the Talaandigs’ katyapi and dayuday. He dedicated his piece to his parents who managed to keep their tribe’s music even with simpler instruments. Saway also offered his performance to the victims and survivors of the flashfloods in Northern Mindanao brought by tropical storm Sendong over the weekend.
Saway told MindaNews they welcomed the opening of the studio especially for the indigenous and local artists. He said they previously needed to travel to other cities to pursue recording. It will make it easier for Bukidnon artists, he added, to develop their craft and for enthusiasts to access IP and local music.
Madelyn Sagayon Palasol, head of the Bukidnon Council of Baes and Tribal Women, which has a group of 12 cultural performers formed since 2006, said the studio has opened the door to opportunities for local performers.
The group has five original compositions in Binukid about life in Bukidnon, including a song that features the beauty of Mt. Kitanglad. They have long wanted to record their music, she added.
But Palasol said until they heard of the news of the local recording studio focusing on the Lumad, they thought it was not possible. Palasol and another performer from the group rendered Binukid translations of “Bayan Ko,” “Those were the days,” and other songs during the launch. The Bukidnon Daraghuyan Tribe and the BSU Chorale also performed. (Walter I. Balane / MindaNews)
