All music lovers loathe the fact that Manila isn’t a stop for international bands touring Asia, the same way Tokyo and, to a lesser extent, Singapore are.
While there were sporadic concerts by the likes of Kings of Convenience, John Mayer and Gin Blossoms this year, it doesn’t come close to what big cities have in terms of variety and number of gigs and festivals.
Upon closer inspection, however, the seeds have already been sown to increase the visibility of Manila as a deserving location to play in.
This is evident in “Fete dela WSK!” a 10-day festival organized by Sabaw Media Art Kitchen, a non-profit organization supporting the arts.
Formerly known as “Fete dela Wasaque”, this year’s festival features live performances from local and international musicians as well as parallel activities like exhibitions.
While the Philippines may not have its own Coachella or Glastonbury—yet—we do have small festivals such as WSK! focused on music and luckily devoid of the corporate feel that oftentimes ruin the atmosphere.
On The Radar spoke to Tengal Drilon, artistic curator of Fete dela WSK! on the festival’s evolution since its inception and what festival-goers can expect this year.
ON THE RADAR: Tell us how the first Fete was in 2008.
Tengal Drilon: The first year was really underground. It happened, it wasn’t written about but people went home with memorable experiences. It went for two days and we had no budget. We did have like an underground following after that. Who could forget a crazy white guy smashing glass on his face while squeezing it with his fists while he was bleeding?
Sounds insane. This year though, the festival seems much bigger. Was that intentional?
This year’s goal is simply to showcase sonic arts in other fields. We didn’t work with any concept; we simply wanted to showcase interesting artwork and artistic performances in the field of sonic arts in Asia and Europe. Mostly, we built it with a circle of trust — almost all the musicians here are all my friends.
Why the big focus on “sonic arts”?
We’ve been focusing on sonic arts even since we started. The sound world is a bit hermetic — it happens, then it’s done. It doesn’t have the same library of information you have in the other arts. So we hope, among other things, that WSK! would be a chance to explode people’s misconceptions about what contemporary music is.
Festivals usually entail a lot of money, as a non-profit, how were you able to lure all the international artists on the lineup?
The festival is completely run without any institutional funding or government funding. Basically, I relied and I’m grateful to all the people and all the good friends who have more power and access to popular media to support Sabaw’s crazy ideas. The organizers and artists live in my house for now, and also in some other houses of friends, like Carlos Celdran’s flat. We’re all a big family I would say.
How do you see the local festival scene in five years’ time?
There would either be another perpetual re-quotation of existing works or a total revival of music and the death of electronic music. In 1945, they had a slogan that said “death of music, long live electronic music.” While in 2001, the slogan was changed to “the death of electronic music, long live music!” Today, I’d say, it should be “long live post-music.”
What is your message to jaded gig goers and festival newbies?
For jaded gig goers, I have three letters: WSK = wasak. Expect to have your brain/neurosystem /etc destroyed or obliterated to bits and pieces. For festival newbies, I would say they should attend the festival with an open ear, well two ears to be exact.
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Fete dela WSK! Runs until Nov. 28 at various locations. Find out more at http://www.wskfete.com.