IBONG ADARNA

VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

Play, download and edit the free video IBONG ADARNA.

Written, Designed, Performed and Edited by Gabbie Ballesteros
A short film discussing the cultural erasure and suppression of identity through Filipino folklore, folk music and puppetry forms.

TRANSCRIPT AND NOTES
Note: This piece discusses cultural erasure and suppression of identity, so dialogue is performed in two different accents. English translations of the Tagalog text have also been included in parentheses.

Lumilipad sa landas (Flying through paths)
Looking for home
Ang Ibong Adarna

Sobrang ganda ang kanyang song (Her song was so beautiful)
Longing for someone to listen
Sa lahat ng gusto niyang sabihin (To everything she wants to say)

Pag kumanta ang adarna (When the adarna sings)
Ang kulay ay nabubuhay (The colors come to life)
Filling the world with light

But in this new place,
Ayaw nila ng kulay. (They don’t like colors)
Ayaw nila ng kanta. (They don’t like songs)
Ayaw nila ng kahit anong ibon, (They don’t like any kind of bird)
But especially the adarna.

In this new home,
Kinuha nila ang kanyang boses. (They took her voice)
Ang kanta at kulay. (Her songs and colors)
Ang kanyang sarili (Her self)
And replaced it with something new.

Something that carved out the core of who she was
As they stripped away her colors and muted her tune

The ibong adarna was forced to hide herself away
Only able to sing in the secrecy of her own company
Waiting for nightfall, for those in her new home to turn their backs
To remind herself of all that she was

But days dragged on
Hours slipped by
The ibong adarna could feel herself being chipped away
With every moment spent in someone else’s space
How can somewhere be home,
When you are forever an outsider?

The ibong adarna dreamt of the days when her song flowed freely
She looked around and was overcome with regret
At what she had hidden away
At what she had let them take and shape and break apart

Biglang may naramdaman siya sa kanyang puso (She felt something sudden in her heart)
Kanyang musika at last (Her music at last)
Colors bursting forth
To wrap her in her own resilience
Her song surging louder
Para pawiin ang lahat (To extinguish everything)

Ang Pipit Song:
May pumukol sa Pipit sa sanga ng isang kahoy
At nahagip ng bato ang pakpak ng munting ibon
Dahil sa sakit, di na nakaya pang lumipad

Writer’s Notes/Additional Context
Ibong Adarna - a mythical bird from Filipino folklore, and an icon of Filipino culture. Birds also have a special place in Filipino indigenous beliefs and mythology
Ang Pipit - This Filipino folk song tells the story of a pipit (Filipino species of bird) who has her wing injured by a rock, thrown by a cruel man. The pipit is in such pain that she cannot fly. In the reprise, she speaks directly to the man – “Cruel man, how pitiless your heart is. When my life ends, there is another pipit who will cry for me.” Although she is in pain, she continues to sing.
Carillo - a Filipino tradition of mobile puppet theater carts that would circulate streets and present plays using figures made of cardboard. These plays were performed through shadow puppetry, and were very popular with the Filipino public – the puppetry in this piece is inspired by carillo, and draws on symbols of Filipino culture.

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