Written by: Yasemin Nicola Sakay
They say home is where the heart is. But what if your heart is thousands of miles away? Enter the world of immigrants, mixed-race, and third-culture kids. Here, we’ll get a more intimate look into the British-Filipino artist community in London.
The concept of home is a tricky one to explore. For some, it’s purely physical; a place, like a childhood home. For others, it’s the people — home is wherever our loved ones are. And some of us search for that ‘home’ feeling wherever we go.
Photo: Charo Galura
However, when you bring culture and identity into the mix, defining home can feel a lot more complicated. Especially when your ethnic and racial identity doesn’t match the culture you were brought up in, or you had to assimilate to adapt to a new life, an identity crisis ensues.
When all you’ve ever known is British culture but you don’t fit into the traditional mold, when you’re mocked for having different features than your classmates or excluded for eating different foods than your peers, this gap in identity grows. Perhaps you start feeling ostracized or ‘otherized’ which contributes to a sense of ‘not belonging’. So, how does one navigate such challenges?
Exploring these themes and questions is Maharlika, a British-Filipino platform funded by Arts Council England for creatives that are underrepresented within the U.K.. Led by art director and performing artist Christopher Reyes, Maharlika last year presented its third wave of short films and arts performances in London’s very own Rich Mix, an East London charity connecting communities to create and share culture.
In this article, we’ll shine the spotlight on the names behind the short film Sa’n Ka Pinanganak (“Where did you come from?”), one of the Maharlika third wave’s four projects, namely Ron Sison, Jay Kage, and Sha Supangan, as well as Joshua Davies.
Photo: Sha Supangan
The film was recently selected and showcased at the Etcetera Theatre in London as part of the Film Buzz Festival as an example of exceptional filmmaking and celebration of diverse voices.
The short film is now due to be screened at Bahala Ka Sa Buhay Mo: A RE — US Exhibition in London on May 2-3, which will spotlight multi-disciplinary projects that redefine what it means to craft one’s path – through a Filipino lens.
Sa’n Ka Pinanganak follows poet and painter Jay who is searching for inspiration for his next art piece when he comes across Filipino memorabilia. With each brush stroke, he grows closer in his connection to his cultural heritage, which brings to life Sha, depicting the spirit of the Philippines, through the lens of arts, music, and movement.
The ‘wild card’ group of Maharlika
As part of the third wave projects at Maharlika, Sha, Jay, and Ron were the last Filipino creatives to be put into a group and they did not have any prior connections, hence the ‘wildcard’ nickname.
Photo: Sha Supangan
Sha grew up in the Philippines, spending the first 27 years of her life there, building her career around the marketing and entertainment space. After a brief stint in Hamburg, Germany, and working for a few years in Singapore, she eventually made her way to London in 2017 when she took a leap of faith to pursue an electronic music career in the U.K. Last year in November, she was granted the prestigious global talent visa. As a singing-songwriting DJ, she was a co-producer on this project.
Jay, unlike his Manila-born parents, was born and raised in London, moving across the northwest parts of the city throughout his life. He is a spoken word artist and filmmaker. For Jay, the town of Dagenham is a particularly special place as it’s where a lot of his artwork and narrative come from.
Meanwhile, Ron, the director and cinematographer of the film, was born in The Philippines but spent the first five years of his life in Hong Kong before moving to the U.K. He says he had the typical Asian ‘third culture kid’ upbringing.
“My parents shipped me off to boarding school. I was planning to study medicine, and was doing maths, chemistry, biology,” he said. His entry into the world of cinema came after he saw the flyer for an afterschool film club when he discovered this new passion.
Culture, colonialism, and connection
Collaborating with other artists from different fields offers new perspectives that lead to growth but it does not come without its challenges.
Sha initially thought it might be hard to connect and find common ground with Jay and Ron, who had grown up in England. Sha was also the only fluent Tagalog speaker in the group.
“I was the only one in the group who grew up in The Philippines. I thought, maybe, they won’t understand me. I was afraid that I might offend them with something that I might say because of our differences,” she said.
Her fears, thankfully, turned out to be unfounded.
“Jay and Ron are very open; I was able to speak to them about the struggles of having a Filipino passport. I was able to then be in pain, [with] that kind of openness, making music and expressing myself in that way [in our sessions],” she said. “I felt safe enough to then really dig deep, [to trust that I could] be pulled out if [I went] into the trenches.”
One of the important themes explored in the Maharlika short films is the effects of colonialism and a return to one’s true roots.
Sha vulnerably shared how her upbringing and colonialism had an impact on her, both personally and as an artist.
She said the music she created during the early days of her career was largely catered to a Western or white audience, which was reflective of the prevalent beliefs in her country, ie. that she ‘needed’ validation from the West or the people from there.
“I just felt quite lost. I guess I was angry, I was in my head. I wanted to control the narrative [around me, or who I was],” she said.
Weaving Filipino culture into music and film
In Sa’n Ka Pinanganak’s music, we hear arnis-inspired percussion and tinikling sounds sprinkled throughout the tracks.
For those unfamiliar with these forms of art, arnis is the national martial art of the Philippines, also known as kali or escrima, while tinikling is a type of traditional Philippine folk dance prior to Spanish colonialism and it consists of at least two people tapping and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other.
Co-producer Josh said he loved sampling and mixing these sounds into the film’s music and learning about their history. Working on the soundtrack for the music in a studio space in Star Lane, Josh said he and Sha spent about four weeks in the studio working on narrowing their ideas, mixing, mastering, and perfecting their sound.
Photo: Sha Supangan
“I loved it. I love finding new instruments and incorporating them [into the tracks]. One thing I’m mindful of is [proper] crediting and cultural appropriation when using instruments from other cultures that have different purposes, different meanings and [are] used in traditions that I don’t know about necessarily,” he said.
The music from the film is scheduled to be released as a soundtrack on all music streaming platforms in August.
In Act II, we also see real-life snippets of days in The Philippines. Ron said the archived footage is from his mum’s old VHS camera from a trip back in 2012. He said he used the clips to channel the themes of childlike innocence, memories, and nostalgia.
Ron said trying to merge both Jay and Sha’s art forms with respect to each other while portraying Filipino heritage in the best way possible was a challenge.
“I wanted to make it shine and be proud of ourselves for doing that. I feel like that was the hardest part for me,” he said.
The film also features lyrics in Tagalog (Filipino).
On the songwriting front, Jay said he wanted to use Tagalog words throughout, and rather than his lyricism sounding too serious, he wanted to make it more fun and almost comedic.
“I wanted to talk about things that bring people together, like food. So, I started mentioning a lot of [Filipino] dishes in my music,” he said.
“I wanted people hearing my music to have a sense of my identity, just from how it sounds like,” he added.
For Sha, expressing herself in her own language, her mother tongue, using such cultural imagery — that was not purely for marketing purposes — was very new.
“I’ve never been able to use [sounds unique to The Philippines from Filipino instruments]. Because I felt like it would be tokenistic. ‘Like hey, look at me, I’m using this so that I’m unique.’ But this didn’t really resonate with me. I don’t think I would have been able to confidently tell the story in this way,” she said.
“This [was] a completely different way of making music — nothing like I’ve experienced. I wanted to explore what it means to embrace our roots,” she added.
3+1
When Josh was presented with the opportunity to take part in this project, he said he first hesitated, despite loving collaborating with fellow artists and working with Chris Reyes, who he’s known for over 10 years.
“I guess with Maharlika being a Filipino project, I kind of saw this as an opportunity to be a kind of funnel. [W]ith this one, I was like, cool, let me just kind of be a mirror for Sha, Ron and Jay,” he said.
As for being the only non-Filipino person on the project, Josh said at times he felt a bit of imposter syndrome.
“On the last round of this project, I was also thinking, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be great if we could find Filipino music producers to take the reins a little bit,’” he said.
Ron confessed that he had reservations at first.
“I won’t lie to you, at first when I saw Josh, the first thing on my mind [was that] he’s not Filipino,” he said. But after getting to know and work with him, Ron said he realized that Josh was “one of the most talented producers I’ve ever worked with.”
Sha says she remembers asking Josh about how he felt regarding being the only white, and non-Filipino person to be working on this project.
“But I think there’s something special, unique about being in a room with someone who doesn’t have the same trauma. [Josh was] looking at it from a completely different angle. He had a completely different lens,” Sha said.
This project served as a unique learning opportunity for Josh, and many people who grow up with Western-centric curricula.
“[Thanks to the film] I learned a few Filipino words, a few Filipino dishes that we ended up trying and that we all ate together, which was beautiful. I learned a bit more about Filipino history, talking about some of the lyrics, [the] stuff that I guess I’ve never really heard of, never really knew [ie. the effects of colonialism], like how why some Filipinos have Spanish last names. I guess that’s part of the beauty of speaking to people from different countries,” he said.
Bridging the gap: British vs. Filipino culture
Jay said he had been to the Philippines three times, the first time being when he was aged 14.
He said he has always been proud to be from the Philippines; this is not a newfound appreciation of his culture or his roots. But now, he says, he’ll deliver it more confidently when people ask where he is from nowadays.
On what it means to be a British-Filipino, Jay said:
“Regardless of how many challenges [you encounter], things that are thrown at you about your identity, your journey within your identity is strong. Basically, being strong about your culture [and your cultural background], regardless of the different challenges.”
Jay described vividly the contrast between growing up in London — gray, rainy, and overcast — and The Philippines — vibrant, warm, and sunny. This could very much be said for the general demeanor and attitude of their people as well.
The biggest difference between the two cultures for Jay? “I realized that everyone was happy [in The Philippines],” he said.
“Be happy with the little things. Here, [in the U.K.], everyone is chasing unattainable things or getting lost in the journey for happiness by attaching too much importance to material things,” he said.
Ron touched on a difference in the same vein.
[W]e’re a very motherly society. Like Jay was saying, [British or Western] society is very individualist, everyone’s for themselves. But back home, everyone is [part of] a community, everyone looks out for each other before you look out for yourselves,” he said.
“[B]eing a British Filipino, I feel like we are lacking that [sense of community] so I just want to kind of bring back. I just want to reinstall that motherly kind of love, and compassion, and make the world a happier place,” he added.
Josh also shared his observations.
“[Filipino culture] is very community-based, and it’s very open. It’s quite normal to go and eat at a friend’s house or eat together at meal times,” he said, pointing out that this is “a practice that is becoming increasingly uncommon in British culture.”
Creating community in the art world
But does this strong sense of community translate into the art world?
On that note, Sha mentioned a familiar experience, a feeling many people caught between two cultures can relate to.
“I wasn’t necessarily avoiding [the Filipino community] until Maharlika. I wasn’t necessarily like people who they go to a different country and they find their [own national] community. You know, you want to be around people that speak your mother tongue. I was the opposite. I didn’t want to be around anything that reminded me of where I grew up. I just wanted to kind of start over,” she said.
But then after a while, she realized this point of view, these beliefs were very limiting.
Within that respect, platforms like Maharlika can become great facilitators.
“So, I started Googling, like, Filipino artists of the year, and just looking at different organizations or groups. Then somehow I [happened to find myself] onto the Maharlika page. And then I saw they were looking for Filipino artists for the third wave. I was scared of applying but then something about the way it was presented [felt right]. It wasn’t like anything I’ve seen about Filipino artists. It was just different. It had a different feel to it,” Sha said.
The group was especially grateful to Chris for his efforts in bringing people together.
“Chris is the reason for a lot of the strong bonds that have been created [within this community],” Jay said.
Josh agreed.
“I kind of think of [Chris] as the glue. He just glues a lot of different lives together, a lot of different people, creatively. I see him being a blessing for a lot of people in this sphere. I think it’s not very common for creatives to be bought onto a paid project where they have free roam to do what they want,” he said.
“It’s really important to mention that we need more spaces like {Maharlika] where we can take up space and unmask,” added Sha.
Chris Reyes has said they will soon announce the artists chosen as part of the fourth wave of Maharlika. The deadline for results was recently extended to Friday, September 13.
So, where is home?
For each of the group’s members, home conjures different meanings.
“[T]o be honest, like most of my life, I’ve lived in London. So I consider this [city] kind of my home now,” Ron said.
“I feel like I still haven’t discovered what home is [for me]. Regardless of how many places I’ve lived [in], I don’t think I’ve actually found my home,” shared Jay.
This can be true for many people — for some home is indeed a place, while for others it’s more intrinsic, a feeling. One’s perspective can also shift over time due to life experiences.
In the U.K., for example, Sha says she feels the most ‘at home’ in her flat. In a way, it’s her refuge from the chaos, her safe space, the birthplace of her art.
“I know it sounds cheesy but originally, when I left the Philippines, I was looking for a home. I never really felt at home in the Philippines. [At that point] I felt more at home in Singapore than I did there. [That made me realize that] it was something to do with me,” she said.
For Josh, home is “a mixture of a feeling of family and purpose.”
“I think for me, because I feel very at home in a studio, working with people that I love and when that’s aligned with purpose, that is a really warm and secure feeling for me. I feel like I’m where I’m meant to be,” he said.
Watch the short film below:
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