Recording: DATU x HATAW

Artist: DATU x HATAW

Song: World Gong Crazy

Recorded at Pia Bouman School for Ballet (SummerWorks: High Blood). August 13, 2016.

DATU x HATAW - World Gong Crazy

Capping off the music shows at this year's SummerWorks Festival was this joint entry from future-R&B crew DATU and dance group HATAW. Both groups share an artistic vision of examining diasporic Filipino culture through a Canadian lens — realized here by going to church and presenting the show as an examination of rituals, Catholic and otherwise.

A true multimedia spectacular with a cast of more than twenty, this involved elaborate choreography and eye-popping costumes besides the music. Those ingredients came together in different ways for each song, pausing to take confessions from audience-members mid-way through. This track was the show-stopping climax, featuring a rap from HanHan while the dancers performed a tinikling dance. Intense, wonderful stuff. This was the clear standout of this year's crop of music shows and it seems inconceivable that it wouldn't get remounted somewhere else.