Ha'Filipinim Go Biral

Source:

Chibi Vision

Matthue Roth

Mista Cookie Jar

Ethereal Manong Rockabilly

Download Free Hanukkah mp3 featuring Manong Mista Cookie Jar, 1/2 of Jew-opino Duo, Chibi Vision, along with Manong Matthue Roth, evoking Man@ngs under the Dreadful Sun:

Free Music, Filipinos, and (how) Jews (look)

Matthue Roth's article about Filipino Jewish arts and collaboration, including props for my writing, has also been published in My Jewish Learning.

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Chibi Vision's Love Child: Props from Matthue Roth

Chibi Vision's Love Child: Props from Matthue Roth

I'm utterly floored:

Hey, remember our video? The one about how Jews look? The theme song was composed by my very good friend, the astute and fearless C.J. Pizarro -- and, by the way, you can download the mp3 for free or download the whole album, Snow Crabs, if you like.

C.J. is (gasp!) not Jewish. He is, unrelatedly, Filipino -- and together, he and I are in a science-fiction hip-hop band, Chibi Vision, which we used to refer to as an Orthodox Jewish-Filipino cross-cultural multi-platform geek project -- or, to save breath, the "Jew-o-pino team-o."

Anyway: the other day, I received an email from him, sounding as astounded as it is possible for an email to sound. "I found our love child!" he wrote.

The love child in question: Eliyahu Enriquez, a Jewish Filipino poet, publisher, cultural theorist and active Twitterer. After receiving Honorable Mention in Lincoln Center's Robert Nettleton/Ully Hirsh Poetry Prize, he's released several poetry chapbooks, and is currently working on a collection of piyyutim. I've been blasting madly through his stuff, and you should, too. Equal parts irreverent and reverent, his poems are random and play off a big-muscled veneer of stream-of-consciousness, but actually connect and make sense in ways that are both cerebral and factual.

A lifetime of lesion has brought us
Back together in Balikbayan coffins.
His memory is erection.
Forget forgiveness.
Navigate our leather
Phylacteries and arteries.
Toda Rabba for traveling
Cosmos de Vie.
So long,
Galut Graveyard!

That was R.S.V.P. He's grinning in one corner of his mouth and keeping the other corner totally solemn. In "Akhdut," though, he's formal, sentimental, although, curiously, playing it just as cool:

I attended two funerals today
I did not bother to bring an umbrella
Or flower
Or Bible
Or date
A few others did
A few

READ MORE >

I hope to do the Jewopino Duo justice at Matthue's upcoming show at the Sacred Chow on the 25th featuring Danny Raphael of the London-based Orthodox Jewish/Muslim hip-hop supergroup Lines of Faith (I'll be signing up for the Open Mic preceding the headliners).

I'm looking ahead about a year's time - a season of planting rice grains and hopefully, divine encounters - as I engage new frontiers and revisit old haunts in preparation for the release of Mad Kamp, slated for Winter '09/'10.

Be sure to check out Matthue's latest article in JBooks.

Update (3.25.08):

Here's the flyer for the reading today:

Update (3/27/09):

Got a parking space on the same block as Sacred Chow about an hour early and collected myself at Red Mango, enjoying pareve pomegranate-flavored yogurt. Got to the open mic venue, ordered two Indonesian-inspired Tapas dishes, and, as I headed to the washroom, spotted Matthue at a nearby table, chatting with Ethan. After settling in, taking photos of the decor, I introduced myself and took some more scene photos...

I was the first poet and unveiled Kosher Kamayan to an appreciative crowd. Matthue's intro included props to C.J. Pizarro, whom he collaborated with on Jewish-Filipino hip-hop group, Chibi Vision and C.J.'s integral role in connecting Matthue and I. The uplifting, relaxed atmosphere and camaraderie I found refreshing. The hospitality, Kosher-vegan cuisine, Rabbinical presence, as well as Matthue's exuberance helped establish artistic akhdut. I posted videos on my YouTube channel of M.C. Matthue, featured poet, Danny Raphael, as well as special guest appearances: