Saturday, July 28, 2007 Chin Chin Gutierrez brings 'Uyayi' to Oro
MULTI-awarded actress and Time Magazine Asian Heroine Chin-Chin Gutierrez will treat Cagayan de Oro City to a magical evening with music from her debut album, "Uyayi: A Collection of Philippine Lullabies" -- an enchanted journey featuring a unique collection of traditional cradle songs from across the archipelago.
The show, entitled "Uyayi: Womb Songs of the Filipino Spirit" will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Sta. Cruz Church, PN Roa Subdivision Calaanan here in Cagayan de Oro for the benefit of Sta. Cruz Church fund raising for the purchase of a Tabernacle.
Another concert will be held in San Francisco in Agusan del Sur on July 30 for the benefit of Young Carmel Philippine Foundation (YCPF).
Featuring lullabies collected from across the archipelago, Uyayi is a collaboration of kindred spirits - artists, musicians and educators, village leaders and common folks, dreamers and visionaries - who continue to hear the music that brings us back to the soothing joy and comfort of the cradle.
Because of its unique contribution to Philippine culture, it also received the 2004 Catholic Mass Media Award (CMMA) for Best Secular Album, plus a special award given to Chin-Chin for conceptualizing the project.
Known for her multi-faceted talents as a film and television actress and environmental activist, Chin-Chin refers to Uyayi as an "intimate advocacy."
"While doing field research and recordings for Uyayi, I heard the intimate songs and stories of mountains, hills, forests and shores, all wishing to create a safe and loving space for everyone. Music, in this case, is not just a craft, a cultural heritage, or an item to be brought or sold. It is a map to our precious, collective homes - a dwelling place outside the boundaries of my Manila, your fishing boat or their huts. It is also so human to nurture and sustain those whom we are most intimate with. This is my dream - that we may know our land and our people so intimately, it would be difficult not to care for and sustain their lives," Chin-Chin said.
In the three years it took to complete this project, she went on a personal journey all over the Philippines, doing filed research, interviews and recordings with the various tribal and linguistic groups who shared their cradle music with her - some of which were documented for the very first time.
From village leaders and tribal shamans to housewives, students and soap vendors, over 30 sources lent their voices to the making of Uyayi. "Each time I ask these kind and gentle souls for a lullaby, something intimate was revealed," recalls Chin-Chin. "It was as though the songs have always been there, playing in their hearts, silent and unheard - until a stranger asked to hear them."
Many of the songs passed on to her, according to Chin-Chin, were free-flowing improvisations that were mostly spontaneous and unstructured. She collected almost a hundred folk tunes, learning to sing them in their original languages and understanding their lyrics through the basic translations provided by the sources themselves. The songs that made it to the album were carefully selected to represent the different bioregions of the country, classified into burol (hills), kapatagan (plains), baybayin (coasts), and kabundukan (mountains).
"In Uyayi, we find snapshots of private parent-child moments from various parts of the country, presenting styles that are as varied as the lyrical contents," says ethnomusicologist Verne dela Pena of the UP College of Music, who provided academic direction of the project. "This collection deals with an act that perhaps all human societies have done for ages -- putting their babies to sleep by singing lullabies."
Aside from the 17 tracks of fresh interpretations performed by Chin-Chin Gutierrez, the special, double CD edition also features recordings from the original sources and a short "video journal" recounting some of the most memorable moments in the making of this remarkable project. Copies of this unlimited edition CD will be available for sale at the concert venue at only P650 per set.
