Book titles tell a story

Animate Earth, How Then Shall I live? A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness is my Original Instructions on Entering the Healing Ground: Ritual, Grief, and the Soul of the World. Indigenizing the Academy? A Global HIstory of Indigenous Peoples? Yes. Always Coming Home. Shamans and Priests knows The World Behind the Word. Because of this I am not Bright Sided. I am a Mystic Wanderer in the Land of Perpetual Departure, one of the Masses who Are Messiah Contemplating the Filipino Soul. My Pedagogies of Crossing searches my Fate and Destiny about Race and the Cosmos. They All Want Magic, you see.

As I scanned the stack of books next to my bed, I realized there's a story being told. Can you see it?

Grace Nono, 2012

I hope this finds you all shining! I have good news to share.

Grace Nono's new book, BABAYLAN VOICES, will be published by the Institute of Spirituality in Asia in Spring 2012.  Grace is currently preparing to defend her dissertation proposal in January and then she will be leaving New York end of January to return to the Philippines. She plans to return to the US around April 9 and will be available for about 4 weeks to share this new work via performances, book talks, or collaborative projects in the US (California, New York, and where there is interest).

Those of us who have been part of Grace's sojourn in the US know what a gift she is to our diasporic community. In her keynote lecture at the Babaylan conference and through her first book, The Shared Voice, we were introduced to primary babaylans, chanters, and oralists. Through her performances of our indigenous sacred chants, we created ceremony that brought us closer to one another and most of all, closer to the source of our indigeneity.

Would you be interested in being part of planning events with Grace Nono in the given window of time mentioned above? I also want to invite you to think of your own creativity and how you could create collaboration with Grace. Please, let's use this forum to talk amongst ourselves on how we can make beautiful things happen. We are all so resourceful, creative, and abundantly blessed by Kapwa and Loob.  I hope to hear from you soon.

Sending you warm rays of the sun and the crisp air of autumn,

Leny

Ang Grupong Pendong

Last night, I attended a Grupong Pendong concert in American Canyon with Venus, Frances, Lizae, Kriya, Ron, Alexis, Grace, Junice.
I didn't realize how much American Canyon has "grown up"...their high school theater was mah-velous!
The theater was almost full and the audience was enthusiastic and high spirited. I didn't realize that AGP had a huge following in American Canyon and Vallejo (or maybe folks drove up from the Bay Area).
It was good to be reintroduced to their folk and indigenous Filipino music fused with a bit of rock. Their songs stir the audience to appreciate their cultural roots, become aware of environmental issues, and heed the call for political awareness. They provided English sub-titles to their songs so the non-Filipino speakers in the audience understood what the songs were about.
They also introduced indigenous instruments to the audience: kulintang, kubing, gongs, faglong (two-stringed lute from B'laan tribe). A medley of folksongs was appreciated as the audience was asked to identify with the regional origins.
Frances danced to the Apo Sandawa song and it was palpable that the audience was deeply moved. A very young girl even came up to Frances after the concert to share her admiration for Frances' dance and her parents quickly took photos of both of them.
At some point, when Frances was back in the audience, she couldn't resist the temptation to dance and she pulled Lizae and Alexis to dance with her. The body just needs to dance....
What a great service AGP is doing to promote our indigenous cultures through their music!
I look forward to hearing more...