Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Song: Eclipse

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (Women From Space Festival – Night 3), March 7, 2020.

Pantayo - Eclipse

It's generally acknowledged that the key to a successful sequel is in making things bigger and more explosive while staying true whatever it was that made the original feel special and unique. The second annual Women From Space Festival applied that maxim to great effect, cosmically expanding in all directions while nourishing its core ideal of creating Space for a diverse range of women-centred creative expressions. The night was headlined by a confident set from electro-kulintang groovers Pantayo. The work they've done in developing their songs and sonics is paying off next month with the release of their debut album. Unclear as it is at the moment how we'll be celebrating album releases in the months ahead, it was a real treat to get to hear these songs on stage.

[After bookmarking Telephone Explosion's bandcamp to be ready for the album when it drops, you can pass some time by dancing along to the band's video for "Heto Na".]

Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Song: V V V (They Lie)

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall, August 22, 2018.

Pantayo - V V V (They Lie)

I totally can't wait for Pantayo's album to hear the fantastic songs in their current set (like this joyful protest song) in full-on high-fidelity. This recording, from a room with a good PA and top sound-techs, comes pretty close for now.

[Pantayo will be playing inside Duffy's Tavern as part of the Yes Yes Festival tomorrow (October 6th) alongside Hush Pup, Carl Didur and Short Bloom, plus a whole bunch of awesome music happening outside earlier in the day.]

Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Song: Taranta

Recorded at Jam Factory (Venus Fest presents), June 1, 2018.

Pantayo - Taranta

Leading off a summer of prestigious concert and festival appearances, Pantayo showed off their streamlined pop presentation, integrating their kulintang moves into some increasingly-sophisticated songcraft. Besides the grooves they've been providing, there's a number of tasty new songs in the set, as the members of the group raise their voices in love and resistance.

[Venus Fest is presenting a free/all-ages/family-friendly concert in Ontario Place's Trillium Park this Thursday (June 26th) featuring Bernice, OBUXUM and Ansley Simpson.]

Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Song: Sinulog A Kamamatuan^*

Recorded at Prairie Drive Park (Feast in the East 58), July 9, 2016.

Pantayo - Sinulog A Kamamatuan

A beautiful day out in Scarborough. Thanks to Toronto Arts Foundation's Arts in The Parks, Feast In The East received the resources to host this free event which brought art, food and music to the rolling hills of Prairie Drive Park. By offering a free meal and inviting park patrons of all ages to explore and interact with the installations, this felt like a most gracious imposition on the normal order of the park, which is obviously well-loved and well-used by inhabitants of the neighbouring highrises — a sharing of the space instead of a culture blitz from outside. An excellent day out, this had a mellow and friendly vibe. Toronto needs so much more of this: having "culture" dispersed more widely throughout this sprawling city, giving locals a chance to see something that might not normally happen in their neighbourhood while giving seekers a chance to hang out in hitherto-unexplored pockets. It makes the city feel bigger and more cozy all at once.

Pantayo contributed to the feeling of the Feast being both host and guest in the park, their kulintang rhythms drifting from stage to wading pool, entrancing both kids and head-nodding musical tourists alike, soundtracked to the rumble of the passing subway in the background.

^* Thanks to the group for passing along the title to this one.

Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Garrison (Wavelength Music Festival 16 – Night 3), February 14, 2016.

Pantayo - unknown

Wavelength's sixteenth anniversary festival was a little less adventurous than last year's sesquidecade spectacular. For the first time in recent memory, the festival settled into one home base for three nights (along with one daytime excursion off-site) and the programming eschewed retrospective turns for a future-focused weekend, daring audiences to invest in the musical here-and-now. The Sunday-night pre-holiday show is usually the most Wavelength-y of nights, but this time out it felt a bit like the hangover from the preceding Saturday night party. A little less energy and it felt as if the festival eased to a gentle halt rather than finishing with a flash — but there were still some musical gems on the way there. On the whole, another successful festival, and kudos are due to the Wavelength crew for their savvy curation and the efforts made at building a more gender-balanced, diverse festival.

The night's openers were my fave set of the evening. I've already heaped enough superlatives on this local kulintang crew, so I'll just let the music — with some cool with call-and-response riffs — speak here.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Song: Binalig Bahala Na

Recorded at The Great Hall's Black Box (Long Winter 4.3), January 16, 2016.

Pantayo - Binalig Bahala Na

It's important to place this local kulintang ensemble within the Filipina-Canadian diasporic context that that they want to simultaneously inhabit and problematize; but it's also important not to paint them into an "identity" corner and overlook the fact they're becoming one of the coolest groups in the city.

[Pantayo have posted their entire performance from last year's X Avant Festival up on their bandcamp. They'll also be playing at Night 3 of Wavelength Music Festival 16, Sunday, February 14th at The Garrison.]

Recording: Pantayo

Artist: Pantayo

Songs: Senselong + Duyug^*

Recorded at The Music Gallery ("X Avant X"), October 16, 2015.

Pantayo - Senselong

Pantayo - Duyug

This year's X Avant not only celebrated the festival's tenth anniversary, but also the Music Gallery's 40th season. No surprise, then, that the festival incorporated various methods to look back at the MG's legacy — but also to look forward. This seven-member kulintang ensemble augmented traditional Philippine gong grooves with modern flourishes like a drumkit and synthesizer. The resultant sounds paid tribute both to where they were from and where they are now — and even took the time to point out the commonalities of Aboriginal cultures under strain both in Canada and the Philippines. But beyond that, this was some really fantastic music, possibly even my fave set from the whole festival. Cheers to the Music Gallery for booking them — now I'm hoping to see them on some other bills as well.

^* Thanks to the group for passing along the titles to these.