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Young Fil-Canadians connect with PH roots through 'Kundiman'

A young Filipino-Canadian choir has found that music can effectively bridge a disconnect with their heritage.

Article (news)

Rowena Papasin

TFC News

<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7eypJnOAEAo?&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>The group of 21 choir members of the Himig Kabataan Cultural Society are nervous about their debut concert at the Surrey Arts Centre.But listening to them sing, it was hard to believe that most of the young singers did not even know many Filipino words before they joined the group.The choir was put together by young Filipino-Canadian Bea Correa.She became a devoted fan of the Filipino &quot;kundiman&quot; (traditional Filipino love songs) after watching her mother practice with other alumni of the University of the Philippines Concert Chorus who are now based here.&quot;When Bea was young, she was already hearing the songs that we were singing,&quot; said Rosette Correa. &quot;One time she heard &#x27;Dahil Sa&#x27;yo&#x27; (Because Of You) and she said, &#x27;Mom, that&#x27;s such a beautiful song. All the Filipino songs you&#x27;re singing are beautiful.&#x27;&quot;Rosette said Correa&#x27;s love for kundiman inspired her to share the songs with her friends. Bea, in turn, said her mother then encouraged her to form the choir after seeing the students’ passion for learning new songs.&quot;The issue that I&#x27;ve seen among Filipino Canadian youth nowadays is that we sometimes struggle to connect with our culture, and one of those things is language,&quot; said Correa. &quot;What better way to connect with language and culture than through music?Correa said she wants Canada-born Filipinos to learn the beauty of the kundiman so they will be able to appreciate this part of their heritage more.“The Filipino kundiman is not only a romantic love song but also a love song for our country,&quot; she added, &quot;so, it&#x27;s really important that it carries on among Filipino Canadian youth so we can have that same sentiment and passion that all Filipinos have.”The young singers admitted that it is difficult to teach the songs, written in different dialects, to the choir members.&quot;Bea is the one that chooses most, if not all, of our repertoire,&quot; said musical director Matthew Perez. &quot;She also works on them with phonetics and pronunciation and stuff like that because most of us don&#x27;t actually speak any Tagalog.&quot;Said Marc Billedo, a founding member of HKCS: &quot;Learning Tagalog and learning the meanings is actually what makes it a little bit more difficult than just learning an English choral song.&quot;Since they started in 2022, Himig Kabataan has already received invitations to perform at various Filipino events in Greater Vancouver.The young Fil-Canadians are happy they have been given a chance to become reacquainted with their culture.&quot;Before I was in this choir, I didn’t know there were so many Filipino festivals that happen throughout the year,&quot; musical director Diego Cloma shared. &quot;But now I’m going to pretty much every single one, so it’s nice to reconnect.&quot;The debut concert was a sold-out event, thanks to the parents and friends who helped promote Himig Kabataan’s show.&quot;It&#x27;s very important to preserve our culture as overseas Filipino youth, especially because a lot of us feel disconnected or maybe we weren&#x27;t taught by our parents,&quot; said Sulong UBC&#x27;s media liaison Clarissa Cox. &quot;We should push for more of that cultural preservation through organizations like this and also through school curriculums that have Tagalog courses.&quot;Himig Kabataan plans to hold auditions for new singers who can join them in their upcoming Christmas shows.

A young Filipino-Canadian choir has found that music can effectively bridge a disconnect with their heritage.