Composing our own symphony

Tinig is a voice. That voice comes from an enchantress who sings, ululates, wails, prays, meditates. It focuses on the world without and within, summoning the forces that should bring the sense of order, acknowledging the chaos and the ruptures, embracing the dawn and silences.

The voice is Grace Nono. And she says:

“For many years now, I have been drawn to the study of chanted prayers from elders in many different parts of the Philippines. More than the search for intellectual understanding of my heritage as a Filipino, I see it as signifying a point in my journey as artist, where there is nothing more meaningful, nothing more satisfying, than to use my voice, to allow me, and hopefully those around me, to enter such state of connectedness, humility and grace.”

And there are other voices too, of a different kind. Naomi Matsumoto, Shoko to those who know her well, the force behind the Sinag Arts Foundation and its Sinag Arts Studio, was looking for content for her workshop on light design when Grace came looking for ideas–set design and lights and sounds–for a concert or a presentation that she felt then must be done–now. Shoko decided to make Grace Nono, her music and her aspirations, as the core of a week-long master class/workshop dubbed Awareness of Light.

Shoko collaborates with participants in a series of exercises aimed at anyone whose job requires working with lights and their possibilities, in theaters and other areas. For this master class, the students and practitioners will put Grace Nono, her songs and her person and her thoughts at the core of their activities. Set, sounds and lights design will be created with the aim of providing an art framework for Grace Nono’s performance.

Out of this laboratory will be distilled the experimentations and creative risks, the proposals and imaginations of light and sound designers, carried onto the stage to be incarnated in a show that is no more a concert than an act of faith. The experience is called Tinig–Sacred Chants and Intimations.

Grace says there will nature symbols, invocation, catharsis and silence, accepting the graces, expression of gratitude, blessing, too, and celebration. It will be a night of music when music is merely returned to its roots of communing with Nature and the Divine. Some parts of the repertoire for the concert were premiered last year in Monte Carlo, New York and Los Angeles.

Grace Nono is an award-winning Philippine-world music artist-producer, teacher-researcher, and cultural worker-administrator. She has performed in world-music festivals and conferences in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Monaco, Spain, the United States, India, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singa-pore, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. She has released five acclaimed solo recordings, and has produced five others on various Philippine traditional music, that are used by schools and teachers as materials for the teaching of Philippine music, arts and culture.

Grace is a product of the University of the Philippines where she received her bachelor’s degree in Humanities and master’s degree in Philippine Studies. She serves as Executive Director for the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, a non-government organization engaged in cultural research, music publications, popular education, scholarships, cultural regeneration and holistic development initiatives. With these engagements, Grace has received grants from different prestigious institutions like the Toyota Foundation, the Ford Foundation, UNESCO, the British Council, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and Arts, AusAid and many others.

There are many other recognitions one can cite, but the most important one is that to her audiences she is a vocal enchantress who is able to push the boundaries of singing out into the realm of the magical and the populist. No wonder that for Shoko and those who know her, Grace is an encantada.

It calls itself a technical training center for theater.  Established in July 1998, Sinag Arts Foundation is composed of artistic staff from various fields; lighting, set, and costume designers, electrical engineers, art managers, interior designers, among others.

Its aim is to translate, transfer and exchange knowledge of artistic skills and technologies supportive of various theater arts disciplines, and to uplift the level of technical theater and related media in the Philippines and the rest of Asia.

To achieve these goals, Sinag Arts conducts technical workshops for various groups and design technology classes in schools and various organizations.  These workshops include: lighting, sound, drafting, props, costume, make-up, stage management, arts administration, theater management, sets, interiors, marketing and computer graphics.

The Sinag Arts Studio is a 400 sq.m creative studio space in the heart of Mandaluyong that serves as a venue for rehearsals, theater workshops, performances, and studio shoots.

TINIG will have a preview today at Sinag Arts Studio (664 San Ignacio St., Mandaluyong) at 3 pm as culm,inating showcase of the Awareness of Light workshop. Other performances will be on June 2, 3 and 8 pm, at the PETA Theater Center (5 Sunnyside Drive, QC). For tickets, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or Sinag at 531-3491 or email [email protected] various fields; lighting, set, and costume designers, electrical engineers, art managers, interior designers, among others.

Its aim is to translate, transfer and exchange knowledge of artistic skills and technologies supportive of various theater arts disciplines, and to uplift the level of technical theater and related media in the Philippines and the rest of Asia.

To achieve these goals, Sinag Arts conducts technical workshops for various groups and design technology classes in schools and various organizations.  These workshops include: lighting, sound, drafting, props, costume, make-up, stage management, arts administration, theater management, sets, interiors, marketing and computer graphics.

The Sinag Arts Studio is a 400 sq.m creative studio space in the heart of Mandaluyong that serves as a venue for rehearsals, theater workshops, performances, and studio shoots.

TINIG will have a preview today at Sinag Arts Studio (664 San Ignacio St., Mandaluyong) at 3 pm as culm,inating showcase of the Awareness of Light workshop. Other performances will be on June 2, 3 and 8 pm, at the PETA Theater Center (5 Sunnyside Drive, QC). For tickets, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or Sinag at 531-3491 or email [email protected]