Festival review: Conflicted in Malasimbo
Reggae legend Jimmy Cliff is onstage… in Mindoro. The idea seems surreal but maybe not for Cliff himself.
It has been said that Jamaica and the Philippines share similar climates and perhaps the legend feels like he never left home.
He expresses how wonderful it is to be playing music in such a beautiful environment and emphasizes the need to protect nature.
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I feel a slight discomfort knowing that the amphitheatre he is playing in was allegedly sculpted to provide supposedly good sonics and seating.
Cliff and his band continue with their set that lasts nearly two hours… and the energy is nothing but positive.
Stunning location
I can’t help but think about what one of the festival organizers said about future for the Malasimbo Festival: there are plans to sculpt out more areas as amphitheaters. Hopefully they’ll rethink it and just search for areas with good acoustics sculpted by nature herself.
Optimistically, future guest artists like Jimmy Cliff will continue to emphasize the need to balance nature and man, especially since this seems to be the raison d’etre for the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival.
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Intended to “bring you closer to the primal forces of nature, music, and art, with particular reverence for Puerto Galera’s eco-cultural heritage and that of the Philippines at large,” the festival is located at a stunning area cradled by mountains overlooking the sea.
It is also intended to help boost tourism for Puerto Galera.
Mellow and, uh, ‘artsy’
The three-day festival featured a relatively diverse lineup of artists headlined by Jimmy Cliff, Grace Nono and Bob Aves, and British soul star Joss Stone.
Other activities included music workshops (bamboo flute making and chanting) and cultural showcases from the Mangyan and T’Boli tribes spread out over each day.
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Scattered on the festival grounds were sculpture and installation pieces from local artists, positioned unobtrusively.
The overall festival atmosphere was relatively mellow and—forgive me for the lack of a better word—“artsy.”
Sparse crowd for Nono-Aves
The Grace Nono/Bob Aves group headlined the first night.
Unfortunately attendance was rather sparse (and, unfortunately, I count myself as one of the non-attendees for their reportedly transcendent set), perhaps because it was a Friday and festival goers probably were still wrapping up their day jobs back in Manila and elsewhere.
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Friday was more or less jazz-colored with the Mar Dizon Quartet and Ivan Theory (well they did use some jazzy chords…).
Jazlagiba ran more into an ethno-smooth jazz melange that, while technically well-played, sometimes felt like an airline commercial.
Flippin’ Soul Stompers killed it
Saturday was somewhat reggae-oriented (and the air sometimes smelled sweetly of it) with an absolutely energetic set from Flippin’ Soul Stompers. Actually, they may have fit the first night’s lineup better, if the one genre-per-night idea was followed.
Despite suffering from a spotty keyboard amplification problem, they did get the crowd on their feet.
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Jeck Pilpil & Peacepipe was penultimate to Jimmy Cliff. Filipino-themed reggae indeed as for the most part, Pilpil avoided the Jamaican patois that infects a lot of local reggae artists.
Mang Willie, our jeepney driver for the media team, succinctly described Pilpil as, “Yan ang tama… reggae na reggae pero yung tema at lengwahe ay Pinoy na Pinoy.”
Quest could’ve been a headliner
The amphitheatre was packed to the rafters on Sunday night in anticipation of Joss Stone.
Similar Objects delivered a sublime dubstep-hiphop-ambient sound that is quite sophisticated for such a young band.
Some of the technical problems from the previous night seemed to have been unresolved, however, as their bass frequencies were muddy.
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Quest and his band were also having monitoring problems and their string section was barely audible. But being troupers, they gave a performance that can simply be described as uplifting.
Quest could have easily been the night’s headliner as the capacity crowd was with him on every note, syllable, and aside.
A word about the P100 bottled water
An hour passed between his set and Joss Stone’s as technical anomalies were addressed.
Stone herself alluded to technical disparities but made the most of her beautiful set… and nobody went home unhappy that night.
It’s that spirit that best describes the Malasimbo Festival.
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I have heard stories both good and bad about the first two festivals, but everyone agrees that there is something about the overall experience that makes it worthy of a healthy future.
(If only the bottled water was cheaper; 100 bucks for alcohol and energy drinks is fine, but for water?? Just sayin'…)
Should-have-beens
As the organizers of the festival are ready to admit, the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival is a work in progress.
Perhaps the programming and activities could have been scheduled tighter: the festival grounds were practically empty for most of the day.
For example the Blue Rats played an afternoon slot to a mere handful.
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We wished more people had checked out the chanting workshop hosted by Grace Nono which was scheduled before lunchtime—not a good schedule if you were partied out from the previous night’s DJ sets.
Needed: a ‘proper’ festival vibe
Maybe (and, of course, this will entail logistical, sanitary, and manpower problems) if more people were encouraged to camp out around the festival grounds, the “proper” festival vibe would be achieved, and the event’s pro-environment pro-cultural advocacies might be better felt.
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A lot of the festival goers opted to hang out in White Beach apparently, which I suppose is healthier overall for Puerto Galera.
The Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival is still a baby with an immense amount of potential and promise. Who knows what it will be next year… or in 10?
Let’s wait and see.
