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Filipina-American Percussionist Susie Ibarra (2 of 3)
Azine: Even before I heard the phrase “Filipino trance music”, your Electric Kulintang performance in Boston felt very hypnotic – the music seemed to lend itself to religious trance or a hypnotic state. Is that characteristic of traditional kulintang music? If so, it seems like a natural, if unexpected, marriage with the electronic music called “trance”.
Susie Ibarra: I think it’s both from tradition and contemporary influence. I have a fascination to develop what I call contemporary folkloric and contemporary trance music language.
Roberto is a big part of bringing the modern hypnotic grooves and beats to Electric Kulintang as well as the electronic edge. I think he has a natural ease and talent with this coming from Cuban culture and being a drummer and percussionist. It really helps to drive the music and is a great wedding of dance cultures Cuban- Filipino. Then also, the nature of the instrument, the kulintang gongs, and its resonances lend itself to this hypnotic nature. And also, the traditional pieces where it originally is derived from the music and dance of Moro and Muslim culture in Mindanao, has its trance elements in the nature and indigenous life influenced pieces.
Azine: How did you get interested in the kulintang, and how did the idea for Electric Kulintang come about?
Susie Ibarra: I was invited by a friend to play in a Philippine Maguindanaon style kulintang ensemble when I was a teenager in NYC. I had seen kulintang in my family’s homes, but I never played it. At that time I was also playing in a Javanese and Balinese Gamelan groups.
Electric Kulintang began in 2002. I was invited to the Concert of Colors Festival in Detroit Michigan. It is predominantly a World Music and Jazz Music Festival. At that time I had been forming some new groups and trying out different ideas that I had. I wanted to do something special for this concert, and so I brought this new ensemble there Electric Kulintang and wrote 6 new pieces for it. It was quartet at the time. We opened for Ray Charles. Then afterwards, we really liked it, and Roberto became a collaborator with me on it and it became duo. He brought the Electric into the Kulintang, encouraging me to not just play with electronic musicians, but also to play the kulintang both acoustic and electric. In 2004/2005 we traveled to the Philippines and during this time, conducted several field recordings of both Maguindanaon Kulintang music and also various random field recordings through out several of the islands. These became a part of our language and in our recording of EK, Dialects. You can hear the Kalanduyan Family , my kulintang teacher’s family , in Mindanao, on some of the gong loop samples in the CD as well. Our record we just released last year Dec 2006 on Plastic Records.
Azine: You’ve worked your way to becoming considered one of the finest young jazz drummers in the world. As a woman, which is rare among jazz drummers, and a Filipina, which is even rarer, was it hard to break into the jazz world? Did you face discrimination or daunting expectations?
Susie Ibarra: I think I would have to answer both yes and no to these questions. I have been fortunate to be supported by some wonderful people, and also have faced discrimination, to be expected as a minority. It’s not easy for anyone to choose the life of an artist/ musician, there are obstacles and dues to pay, but also there are beautiful rewards and blessings. I think it’s definitely a love and a gift which outweighs the obstacles.
Azine: Some of your pieces like “Lakbay” and “Bangka” (evocative of Filipino immigrants to the U.S. and the boats people use to go from island to island in the Philippines), and the sound clips of everyday sounds from the Philippines woven into the music seem very evocative of Filipino life. How does your Filipino background impact your music?
Susie Ibarra: My personal life experiences have had a profound impact on my life. And culturally who I am, also being Filipina- American is a part of who I am , and is expressed. I also enjoy as I said earlier developing , mixing and creating contemporary music folk language . Also I have had an interest in many of my compositions to include various types of field recordings. I like cinematic sound, and the blend of visual and audio experience.
Azine: Is your music popular in the Philippines, or do you feel you are more accepted in the U.S. or other countries?
Susie Ibarra: I do receive emails from young artists in the Philippines. Distribution is not so great over there, I guess that’s something I’ll have to look into next time I’m there. Over here, in NYC and in the US , I have a following of Filipino and Filipino- American audience.
Azine: I understand the project “Mundo Ninos” which you and Roberto have been doing has been very well received by educators in New York City and elsewhere. Could you talk about how the project came about and how it helps children embrace music?
Susie Ibarra: Mundo Niños was created by Roberto back in the very end of the nineties. He then was invited to bring an ensemble for workshop and a concert at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and broadcasted by NY1 in 2001. I joined him in the concert. It teaches children through songs to sing and dance and count rhythms in English and Spanish. Mundo Niños has been very well received in schools, libraries, children’s outdoor festival/ programs, and so forth. We will be bringing it to Holland in the beginning of 2008 to workshop with children and perform a concert with them also on percussion and voice.
Azine: “Shangri-La”, the opera you’re collaborating on with Yusef Komunakaa has very contemporary and socially relevant content – American and European sex tours in Southeast Asia. Do your choices of music often have a socially conscious or political bent to them?
Susie Ibarra: I don’t choose music based on politics. But I am not opposed to and often like to collaborate on multi-media current and socially relevant topics. I enjoy very much collaborating with poets, especially with Yusef. We are working on the re-writes and will be publishing Shangri-La into a Songbook. As well , we have a new work in progress, that we are researching an historical musical theater piece based on the Philippine – American War.
