Oriang: Songs of Resistance

Oriang, named after Gregoria “Oriang” de Jesus, a key figure in the Philippine Revolution, has  undertaken the creation of a 12-track album that honors contemporary Philippine heroes. The project, initially a vision of creating music among women, queer folks, and allies, has evolved into a mission to reinforce current definitions of heroism through music, dedicating its efforts to highlighting the struggles and triumphs of those who champion national democratic principles. This takes off from the momentum begun in April 2022 with Oriang’s release of its first three tracks: Amanda, Kerima, and Chad, all produced through Innovation for Change — East Asia’s Libraries of Resistance grant.

Hero portraits to be added to the album:

1. Leonard Co
2. Ericson Acosta
3. Inday Bagasbas
4. Eugenia Magpantay+Agaton Topacio
5. Daisy Macapanpan
6. Adora de Vera
7. Zara Alvarez
8. Alvin Fortaliza
9. Brandon Lee

In order to strengthen its songwriting rhetoric, research and interviews with hero families and colleagues have been at the core of Oriang’s creative process, along with educational discussions facilitated by SAKA [Sama-samang Artista para sa Kilusang Agraryo] and CAP [Concerned Artists of the Philippines] situating arts and culture in Philippine society and historicizing culture as a reflection and response to social realities. Oriang today is co-led by Tao and Calix, both musicians and producers with careers spanning 15 years. Its current songwriting roster consists of seasoned songwriter-storytellers, Camoi Miraflor, Aki Merced, Bea Fabros, Geela Garcia, and Eman Acosta.

The Philippine government continues to have a problem with making state enemies of its own nurturers: artists, teachers, mothers. It is the task of many lifetimes to raise a new generation into adulthood in a country that is constantly at odds against its own self-interest: severe landlessness, militarization of rural communities, labor exploitation, food insecurity, development aggression, state violence against indigenous peoples, land tillers, fisherfolk, transport workers, the working class, women, queer communities.

As producers of music, what kind of generation are we raising with our work? Upon whose conscience have we directed our voices? Oriang is keen to emphasize for generations who stand to inherit our struggles that songwriting will not free the oppressed — committed community work under a community’s guidance is the primary work for this. Heroism is also the work of nurturing and not always the valor of running towards the battlefield. The model for heroism is always the example set by the organized masses who receive the brunt of state oppression.

The music each generation listens to directly or indirectly speaks to the conditions of the world the songwriter lives in, and will inevitably inform how they respond to the struggles they inherit — but today’s generation is able to access much, much more than just an artist’s tracklist. Social media posts of an artist they admire today may influence how they remember the genocide that the Israel-U.S. war machine is conducting against Palestinians today, the same way that Kolateral informed the thinking of teenagers and young adults who lived through Duterte’s war against the poor masquerading as a war against drugs.

Heroism, at the baseline, is serving the people. Tilling the land is in service of the people. The call to raise the wages of workers and to lower the cost of living is in service to the people. Volunteering to teach Lumad youth in a militarized zone is in service of the people, as is the call to protect ancestral lands and to stop bombing Lumad schools. Fishing communities fighting the reclamation of Manila Bay against the threat and the reality of having their homes burned down is in service of the people. Urban poor communities organizing themselves and fighting against landgrabbing is in service of the people. Rejecting the phaseout of jeepneys and the removal of livelihood for 85,000 transport workers is in service of the people. The call for justice for Leonard Co, Zara Alvarez, Ericson Acosta, Eugenia Magpantay, Agaton Topacio, and many others martyred is in service of the people. The call to free political prisoners like Adora de Vera and Alvin Fortaliza is in service of the people. The call against red-tagging and seeking accountability for the State’s actions against Brandon Lee, Sally Ujano, Daisy Macapanpan, and Inday Bagasbas is in service of the people.