“While doing field research and recordings for UYAYI, I heard the intimate songs and stories of mountains, hills, forests and shores, all wishing to create a safe and loving space for everyone. Music, in this case, is not just a craft, a cultural heritage, or an item to be bought or sold. It is a map to our precious, collective homes – to a dwelling place outside the boundaries of my Manila, your fishing boat or their huts. It is also so human to nurture and sustain those whom we are most intimate with. This is my dream – that we may know our land and our people so intimately, it would be difficult not to care for and sustain their lives.”
In the three years it took to complete this project, she went on a personal journey all over the Philippines, doing field research, interviews and recordings with the various tribal and linguistic groups who shared their cradle music with her – some of which are now documented for the very first time.
From village leaders and tribal shamans to housewives, students and soap vendors, over 30 sources lent their voices to the making of UYAYI. “Each time I asked these kind and gentle souls for a lullaby, something intimate was revealed,” recalls Chin-Chin. “It was as though the songs have always been there, playing in their hearts, silent and unheard – until a stranger asked to hear them.”