Philippines
The Tboli live in the hills surrounding Lake Sebu, on the island of Mindanao, Philippines. The territory experienced a spectacular metamorphosis in a few decades, and the transition is far from simple for the Tboli.
For the women of the Lemhadong artistic collective, the production of beauty (through music, danse, weaving, embroidery, brasscasting, the making of ornaments, etc...) is a way to apprehend the modernity which forced its way into their society, previously centered around the forest.
The album Women artists of lake Sebu is a sound portrait of the dozen musicians of the Lemhadong collective and their world. It takes the shape of a long sound immersion, listening to the forest and the subtile and delicate music unveiled by the Lemhadong artists : lutes with a fine sound, bamboo zithers, gongs, jaw harps, etc...
This record project was supported by Via Le Monde and published by Buda Musique.
Visit the project website
In October 2002, we had released Lute music in Tboli country, a CD dedicated to the hegelung lute. The two musicians Fingguy Flang and Luming Tuan shared the proceeds from the record with fifty artisan women of their village.
We also coordinated a project of collecting oral litterature led by indigenous researcher Myrna Pula, with whom wealso produced, in collaboration with ICRA International, a Tboli language lexicon available to the public through internet : www.icrainternational.org/tboli