Palace honors Cebuano artists

CEBU, Philippines - Cebuano artists were honored by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts' (NCCA) 2nd Ani ng Dangal awards held last February 26 at the Rizal Hall of Malacañang Palace.

Choral groups University of the Visayas Chorale and the Mandaue Children's Choir, hip-hop group Dice & K9 Mobbstarr and photographer Erwin Lim were among the 41 awardees chosen from the different fields in the arts –12 in music, nine in film, seven in multidisciplinary arts, six in visual Arts, four in dance, and two in literature. The awardees were given the Ani ng Dangal for their exemplary performances in the global stage. All of them won gold medals and topped international competitions from November 2008 to November 2009.    

The UV Chorale was named into the prestigious roster after winning three golds at the Tomohon International Choir Competition in North Sulawesi Indonesia June of 2009.  

The Mandaue Children's Choir, on the other hand, was included after emerging as champion in the Children’s Choir Category of the First World Choir Championships in Gyeongnam Province, Republic of Korea in July of 2009.

Dice & K9 Mobbstarr was the only hip-hop artist that made it to this year's awardees after being named Best Hip-Hop Group, tying with Thailand’s biggest hip-hop act, Thaitanium, in the first Independent Asian Music Awards (AVIMA) in Malaysia in March of 2009. Dice & K9 Mobbstarr is comprised of Dice (Wolfren Rosaroso), Hi-C (Honeyleen Concepcion-Rosaroso) and Klumcee (Lester Van'o).

Meanwhile, photographer Erwin Lim was included in the visual artists list as the ASEAN Tourism Association Awards for Excellence (held in Vietnam last year) awarded a photograph he did for PAL as the best tourism shot.

All four Cebuano awardees were joined in the award ceremonies by such notable artists as Brillante Mendoza (62nd Cannes Film Festival–Best Director for Kinatay), Pepe Diokno (66th Venice International Film Festival–Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurentiis Awardee for a Debut Film, and Orizzonti Award Best Film for Engkwentro), Gina Pareño (3rd Asian Film Awards–Best Supporting Actress for Serbis), and Rhap Salazar (13th World Championships of Performing Arts–Grand Champion Performer of the World, and Champion, Vocal–Junior Division).

The Ani ng Dangal Awards was the culmination of the National Arts Month of February, wherein the works and awards of the honorees were put in a display in a month-long exhibit organized by NCCA. – Nathalie Tomada   (FREEMAN NEWS)