Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival at Puerto Galera

MANILA, Philippines - It is a celebration of Puerto Galera’s eco-cultural heritage.

A two-day festival scheduled on Feb. 18 and 19, 2011 (coinciding with the full moon) to be held outdoors in a totally natural environment at the foot of Mount Malasimbo on the northern tip of the island of Mindoro, with a breath-taking view of Puerto Galera Bay, a member of the worldwide Club of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World. 

The festival aims to blend traditional and contemporary arts and culture together with music while working towards the protection and sustainability of the natural environment.

On Friday the 18th, the Festival will open with a unique art exhibit of both the old and the new, the indigenous art and culture of the Mangyan Tribes and the contemporary art installations that will blend with nature created by renowned artists led by Olivia d’Aboville, Dondi Katigbak, Denis Lagdameo and three other notable artists. A replica of a Mangyan village will showcase the houses of the seven different Mangyan Tribes showing their indigenous art and crafts such as hand-loom weaving, basketry, ethnic jewelry made of beads where all their handcrafted products will be available for sale.

The festival will also offer a yoga workshop and a massage spa where the travel-weary city dwellers from Manila can decompress with nature.

Some of the best local restaurants will provide food and native delicacies in the festival site.

The music part of the festival under the direction of an international entertainment director Miro Grgic will be held on Saturday, the 19th which will feature live performances of local and international artists that will surely appeal to the young and the young-at-heart from the afternoon all the way to midnight. The audience will be lounging on hand-woven mats or banig in the open-air amphitheater like natural terrain.

The Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival is the brainchild of Hubert d’Aboville and his family of the D’Aboville Foundation & Demo Farm of Puerto Galera in partnership with the Department of Tourism, the Municipality of Puerto Galera and several civic-minded NGOs led by TOSCA, EON, the White Helmets, Philippine Coast Guards Auxiliary, the NCIP, NCCA, Puerto Galera Yacht Club, with official endorsement from the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Health.

A substantial part of the proceeds from the tickets priced at P3,900 will go to a reforestation project. For every ticket sold, one tree will be planted that will carry the name of the ticket-buyer which will be maintained by the Iraya Mangyan community who will receive a monthly income for the maintenance of the trees for two years under the supervision of TOSCA.

This festival which will be a yearly event is a good example of the national government’s advocacy of the Public-Private-Partnership or PPP where the local and national governments and the public sectors are involved in developing tourism and at the same time aiming for the protection and sustainability of the natural environment as well as providing livelihood income for the Mangyan community.