In light of recent events and through this prompt, this piece was made to honour those affected by and who have passed due to the current pandemics sweeping our world, COVID-19, and for even longer, racism and oppression, and honouring our earthly bodies that serve as our home during this lifetime.

These offerings include elements of improvisation, writing, song and DIY visuals. In the first offering specifically, I have included a traditional Ibanag chant my mother sings in her home dialect. Shared with her permission, this Ibanag chant is sung to call a person’s soul back to their loved ones and/or to their Earthly being, guiding the soul as it travels back “home”. It is a chant I would hear my mother singing as we returned home from travelling. The titles of these offerings are also in Ibanag.

Note: The Ibanag are an ethnolinguistic minority and Indigenous tribe in the Caraballo Mountain range, in the northern province of Luzon, Philippines. The language, which bears the same name, is endangered. Translated, Ibanag means “the people of the river” (I = people of, Banag = river). My family, through my maternal connection, is part of this group, and the small population of people who still speak this language today.

Credits:

Thank you to my mother, Paulina Corpuz, for offering her voice and ancestral knowledge to these pieces.

Thank you to Malcolm Connor for providing the bass part in offering 1.

Thank you to the artists and creatives involved in this project for inspiring and empowering my artistic voice during this project.

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Released in collaboration with Urbanvessel Performing Arts