Cultural vibrancy of the Filipino community

by Jon G. Malek

The closing of the musical Ma-Buhay!, hosted at the iconic open-air Rainbow Stage in Kildonan Park, on July 14, 2024, marked the end of a spectacular production run. The range of emotions, the versatility of the music, and the brilliance of each performer marked Ma-Buhay! as a game-changing moment in the artistic life of Winnipeg’s Filipino community. This show was just one of many such accomplishments that the community has produced in just the past year – and the year is not yet done.

This summer (and summers past) has also seen the performance of traditional Filipino song and dance by MAFTI’s talented teachers and students. These After-School Heritage Programs, as well as the inaugural troupe of the Performing Arts Group, bring together a range of talents. The programs introduce Filipino and non-Filipino youth to the culture and many traditional art forms of the Philippines. This year, they have not only presented at their own culminating activities but have been seen at the Red River Ex and several other community events.

One such event was the production and dramatic reading of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere at the Philippine-Canadian Centre of Manitoba, the script of which was prepared by Ronald Mervin Sison, who also produced Canada’s first performance of Florante at Laura in 2023. Next year we can look forward to a similar production of El Filibusterismo by Sison. These presentations are a fusion of classical literary works from the Philippines with modern interpretations and presentations. Last year also saw Dr. Tricia Magsino Barnabé’s musical New Beginnings in a New World, which delved into the intermingled world of pain, hope, and love that Filipino immigrants experience when embarking on the life-changing mission to move abroad.

This year also saw the planned ending of the culinary and artistic experiment Bahay Kubo restaurant in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. From the famed and craved spam fries to the performances of some of Canada’s best Filipino performers in the Bahay Kubo Sessions, this physical and creative space was a vibrant expression of Filipino creativity with a flare of the younger generation. Bahay Kubo ran in a similar spirit as the Kultivation Festival, which aims “to celebrat[e] and promot[e] the modern cultural scene in Manitoba’s Filipino/a/x community” through food, art, music, and dance (Facebook).

A tip of the hat is merited to the British Columbia Filipino community’s literary circle, which just recently had the first Filipino-Canadian Book Festival July 12-14th, 2024, in partnership with Massy Books, Filipix Pages and Sampaguita Press.

The range of cultural productions, and the people behind these productions, reveals something very special about Winnipeg’s (and Canada’s) Filipino community: its diversity of experience and talent, but also its wide spectrum of perspectives. The community today is multi-layered, with the so-called pioneers, those who came in the 1960s and 1970s, laying the foundations of communities across the country; the numerous waves of newcomers from the Philippines who continue to arrive in high numbers; and increasing numbers of second and third generation Filipinos – those born in Canada. These varying perspectives of experiencing and expressing being Filipino / Filipino Canadian are increasingly expressed through artistic production, and that production is itself allowing the community to flourish and excel in its view of self. From the traditional tinikling to modern dance; from food trucks serving up classic street foods to those spam fries alongside a Halo-Halo beer at Bahay Kubo. The cultural life of the Filipino community is discovering new, towering heights of creativity and is being met with resounding success each time.

The year of performances is not over yet. The third annual Kultivation Festival will run from August 19-25, 2024, with a wide range of events at different locations (see Kultivation Festival FAMD social media pages for details). As part of this festival will be the presentation of Dr. Magsino Barnabé’s newest production This Is Me, on August 23rd at the Prairie Exchange Theatre (get your tickets at Eventbrite). The Manitoba Filipino Street Festival will once again host a wide range of food trucks, a cultural parade, community groups, and performances on the grounds of Petrus Hall on Inkster Blvd., August 24 & 25, 2024. Also, as the end of the year draws near, MAFTI’s Rondalla group’s concert premiere will take place on November 9, 2024, at the Seven Oaks Performing Arts Centre. This concert will bring to the community a traditional Filipino Rondalla with bandurias, lauds, octavinas, guitar, and bass. The group has had a few appearances here and there over the summer, but this concert will be a magnificent flourish to the end of a spectacular year.

The success of these events, and the growth in their numbers, speak to the immense creativity and work going into these productions but also to the hunger in the community for these events.

Jon Malek is an Assistant Professor of History at Providence University College. His research is on the history of the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora. His current writing projects include a book on the history of Filipinos in Canada and a project on Filipino food and culture.