Sari-Sari Storybooks with Music
Saturday, October 28th at 2:00 pm
Tickets
These magical children's books take the reader on a journey through the Philippines, from Batanes to Cebu, Leyte to Zamboanga City. "Melo the Umang-Boy: an Ivatan Tale" tells the story of a painfully shy little boy living with his grandmother and uncle. One day he visits a magical, busy city on the bottom of the ocean, filled with talking sea creatures. Disaster strikes the city, and he must overcome his shyness to help the sea creatures rebuild. "Kalipay and the Tiniest Tiktik: a Cebuano Tale" shows us how friendship can overcome differences and create happiness for everyone. Daydreaming comes easily to Kalipay, but she doesn’t know how to make bullies leave her alone. One day, she makes an unusual new friend in Gamay, who tells the school bully, Juan, to stop teasing Kalipay. Other children are afraid of Gamay—her strange tongue, split body, and bat wings—but Kalipay is fascinated by the things that make her new friend different. "Amina and the City of Flowers: a Chavacano Tale" Tells the tale of Amina, a young Yakan weaver, who is homesick for Basilan; but she finds inspiration for her loom in the diversity and color of her new home, Zamboanga City.
The books are read by actors Bing Magtoto and Patrick Elizalde, and accompanied by live music composed by Melinda Faylor. Featuring stunning artwork by many Filipino artists, the artwork for each story will also be projected for the audience during the reading. The music for Sari-Sari Storybooks is inspired by the provinces of the Philippines in which all of the stories take place. The instrumentation is piano and electronics, including a variety of samples of Filipino instruments and other sounds inspired by the stories.
Sari-Sari Storybooks are published and written by Christina Newhard, along with co-author Alyssa Sarmiento-Co and illustrators Jaypee Portez, Happy Garaje, and Robbie Bautista. Funding for this project is made possible in part thanks to the New Music USA Creator Fund grant and the Queens Art Fund New Work grant, administered by NYFA and the DCLA.
Signed books will be available for purchase at the event through Kew & Willow.
Melinda Faylor is a Filipina American pianist/composer with a background in classical piano performance and interdisciplinary work. Ms. Faylor weaves together dense and mercurial sound worlds using field recordings, synthesized sound and piano. She received her BM from the Oberlin Conservatory and her MM in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music. She has worked extensively with extended piano techniques and electronics and has performed her original electroacoustic music throughout the United States for the past decade.
@melliebklynnn
melindafaylor.com
Agnes (Bing) Magtoto is a New York-based Filipino actor-educator. She has acted in over 50 stage, television, and film productions both commercial and independent in the Philippines and US and has done voice-over work with NPR and more recently with the Queens Memory podcast project of the Queens Public library. Bing is currently an Adjunct Professor, teaching Filipino language and culture course at NYU and a faculty for Tagalog for Adults at The Filipino School of New York and New Jersey.
@bibingka20
Patrick Elizalde is a New York based actor and recent graduate of Brown University. Recent roles include Devin in The Catamite (Broadway Bound Theatre Festival), himself in Left & Right (Brown Arts Initiative), and YOU in a river, its mouths (Writing is Live Festival at Brown University).
@patrick_elizalde