honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, March 19, 2005

Fil-Am Festival all about pride

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

If there's anyone unaware of the Philippines' presence in Hawai'i pop culture, they'll almost surely hear about it by tomorrow.

From left, Marissa Parubrub Lum, 7, Jennifer Soliven, 10, and Tiare Makua, 9, rehearsed with the Larawan Youth Ensemble in Kalihi on Thursday for their performance tomorrow at Hawai'i Theatre.

Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

That's the hope of Candice Fajardo, whose company is putting together the first Fil-Am Festival, an effort to give the Manila entertainment scene and other aspects of Filipino-American culture a wider audience in Hawai'i.

And while that extravaganza unfolds at Kapi'olani Park (see box), the young performers of Larawan Youth Ensemble hope some of the crowd will find their way to their evening concert at Hawai'i Theatre. Backstage, parents will be arranging on squirming bodies the kaleidoscopic costumes that the traditional Filipino dance academy will showcase.

"We're banking on the costumes," laughingly admitted their dance master, Leo Gozar, as he corraled a few straggling dancers back into formation during one of the evening rehearsals on Thursday.

Gozar believes that his students, ages 6-12, typify the new generation of Hawai'i Filipino-Americans who will become far more familiar with their culture than their parents ever were.

"Immersion is very important for culture, so that it will be perpetuated," he said.

At a glance

Fil-Am Festival: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. tomorrow, Kapi'olani Park; entertainers to include Kristine Hermosa, Lalaine Vergara Paras, Jordan Segundo, Marvin Agustin, Dominic Ochoa and Tani Lynn. Free. Information: B2B Promotions, 548-0335.

"Banyuhay": with the Larawan Youth Ensemble, 6:30 p.m. tomorrow. Hawai'i Theatre. Tickets: $10, $25. Information: 528-0506. Proceeds benefit the Larawan Center for Performing Arts in Kalihi.

For Fajardo, the inaugural festival presents an opportunity to draw together the various sectors of the Filipino community here — the young, Westernized crowd as well as those smitten with the Manila-influenced pop-culture experience.

"We're trying to get the youth involved," she said. "We're showcasing two different kinds of entertainment: from here and the Mainland."

Fil-Am recording artist Lalaine Vergara Paras, for example, was born in California but tours both on the Mainland (she has a national following due in part to her appearances on TV's "Lizzie Maguire") and in the Philippines. The Fil-Am scene in California, she said, is thriving.

"I've done a bunch of Fil-Am stuff in L.A.," she said in a telephone interview. "There are a lot of teenagers. They wear a lot of shirts that show how proud they are to be Filipino."

In Hawai'i, there are frequent concerts by Manila talent, but the local crowd is a little less plugged in, said Jordan Segundo, another of the artists to perform at tomorrow's festival. The "American Idol" alumnus added that he discovered the Philippines entertainment scene himself only last year when he checked out the show by balladeer Gary Valenciano. It was impressive, he said.

"It was the first time I'd ever seen a Philippines artist perform," Segundo said. "There were young and old in the audience. The majority are people that moved here from the Philippines.

"If the Filipino artists broke into the mainstream here, people would be shocked and amazed."

At the festival helm is master of ceremonies Franco Finn, a host from the Asian-American television series Stir TV. The West Coast native of Filipino ancestry has noticed the differences between the California and Hawai'i communities and entertainment styles.

"The No. 1 thing I'm going to promote is Filipino pride," he said. "We're one culture with a lot of different influences."

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.