The brief read:
Anjeline de Dios reimagines postwar familial memories through deconstructive gestures of vocal rehearsal, playback, and meditative improvisation on the recordings of legendary kundiman artist Sylvia La Torre.
And this is how it was staged. As if watching a granddaughter thinking about the music and musings she witnessed from a past. This is a performance I know too well, as I myself grew up with the kundiman of my ancestors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzQUMya0WAY
The older me, the one who studies sound as a medium of participation in creative ecology, I appraise Repaso as a listening performance. First, we were made to listen to music that was played on phonograph, radio and live (the guitarist was first class!). Second, we were made to listen to emotions in the exercise of writing a lyrics (if you didn’t choke on the lyrics, what heart have you?). Third, we were made to listen to vocal range, both seated and standing up. Listening is one of the most disregarded perceptual task. As if, because we cannot shut our ears, we thought we are always listening. Well, we are not. What this performance gave us is an opportunity to do exactly this. It compelled us to listen with full attention in a situation that is so intimate that would not allow you to not listen.
Does this mean we can consume this performance with our eyes shut? That's not really the point, but I guess we could— the “discipline” by which Anjeline manages her voice was for me enough to bring me to the journey of remembering or listening to a memory.
I use the word “discipline” because, repaso, from what I understand means to review or polish. It is a task that every artist must go through—“mag-ensayo hanging magka-kalyo”. I have recently started studying classical guitar. My teacher mentioned that I knew the notes for sure, but I have to bond with my instrument. In Anjeline’s case, in the whole performance, this is what I heard, her bonding with her instrument— her voice. Wagi ang repaso!
