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ISANG GABI NG MUSIKA MARKS LINGGO NG WIKA CELEBRATION IN DUBAI

25 August 2015 – Philippine Consul General Paul Raymund P. Cortes hosted the first ever musical celebration of the Linggo ng Wika at the Rizal Hall of the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai last August 19. It was attended by close to 200 guests from the business sector and the Filipino community including officers Philippine schools and other esteemed guests.
 
The two-hour musical concert in celebration of the 2015 Linggo ng Wika with the theme Filipino: Wika ng Pambansang Kaunlaran, is the first of its kind done by the Consulate General in cooperation with a local Filipino-managed radio station Wow 107 FM.

Other performers included the stand up comedian/performers from the Makati Bar of Asiana Hotel and the Sonny and Friends Band of the Mercure Gold Hotel, both located in Dubai. 

The musical event covered by local print and radio media was highlighted by various  performances of Tagalog, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Cebuano/Bisaya and Maranao songs, much to the delight of the audience. The Consulate General also prepared selected Filipino delicacies for the guests such as palitaw, kutsinta, pansit, fried banana and tropical fruits. 

Cultural Officer Cecilia Caparas and her sister Nerissa Caparas, a local hire employee at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA) also provided renditions of popular Filipino songs during the concert.   

The next item in the Consulate General's cultural calendar for this year is the special private screening of Heneral Luna, a film based on the life of Filipino hero General Antonio Luna, on August 30 at the Rizal Hall in time for the celebration of the National Heroes' Day on August 31. 

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“HINTAYAN SA LANGIT” TRAVELS FROM CCP TO NEW YORK TO CELEBRATE BUWAN NG WIKA

01 September 2015 – The Philippipne Consulate General in New York, in cooperation with the Ma-yi Theater Company, celebrated the Buwan ng Wika on August 17 at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Center. The commemoration featured an interpretative reading of  Juan Miguel Severo’s critically-acclaimed play entitled “Hintayan sa Langit”.

The reading was directed by Herbert Sigmund Go, a New York-based director and former  actor and artistic director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Pilipino. The remarkable cast was composed of Jojo Gonzalez as Manolo, Madeleine Nicolas as Lisang and Bambi Diaz as Bantay.

Hintayan sa Langit is a romantic comedy about two people who were hurt by their romantic relationship in the past, had nursed their wounds for years and then finally found themselves together in a waiting room in the afterlife while waiting for their entry into heaven. Their sarcastic, straightforward, amusing but ultimately loving conversation ends with healed hearts. The play was first featured in the Virgin Labfest at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last June. It was originally written in English but was translated to Filipino by Ralph Peña, Ma-yi’s Artistic Director.

Renowned Philippine artist Manuel Baldemor, who attended the event, commended the reading of the play.  A number of Filipino-American community members expressed the view that they looked forward to see more Filipino literature, both classic and contemporary, to be featured in New York, particularly by talented Filipino artists in the area. Many others suggested the re-staging of  “Hintayan sa Langit” as full-scale theater production.

The Ma-yi Theater Company is a Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning theater company founded in 1989, whose primary mission is to develop new and innovative plays by Asian-American writers. Since its founding, Ma-Yi has distinguished itself as one of the leading talent incubators of New York, helping in shaping the national discourse about what it means to be an Asian-American today.

Ma-Yi’s first engagement, in cooperation with the Consulate and the Philippine Economic and Cultural Endowment (PEACE) was the play “Portrait of an Artist as Nick Joaquin”, celebrating the life and work of the beloved National Artist, held in October 2004.