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Those
who go to see Grace Nono sing
are pilgrims. Like the singer
herself, they are touched by the
rhythms of the earth. Grace's
voice is raw and deep, tangible,
rooted in the earth like the lush
green bamboo in one of her songs. Her
voice reaches skywards and bends
with the wind, swaying back to
give shade to the seeker and the
traveller, to the mother with
her child. Grace's music combines
indigenous folk instruments and
melodies with a driving percussive
beat and complex, unpredicatable
arrangements. |
Sensitivity and rhythm; harmony,
passion and innovation run like
a river through her songs. Delicate
lines and primeval choruses blend,
creating a work of beauty.
Breaking Barriers
Grace's work has been
called alternative music. It is
ironic that art so close to the
basics should be called alternative,
but this is not about labels.
The sound stands for itself, for
the Grace Nono her followers know:
focused, passionate, sensitive
and emotional, strong and supple.
Grace is committed to her heritage,
and to issues as wide as ancestral
land rights and as singular and
basic as a mother's love for her
child. These and other songs take
Filipino music much further down
the road to self-awareness, while
simultaneously pushing the boundaries
of cross-cultural fusion. There
is no voice in the Philippines
quite like Grace's. It is one
of the few voices that seeks tradition
and keeps it alive while expressing
it in a modern framework.
------
by Nirmal Ghosh 1995
Know more about her music. Visit
http://www.gracenono.com
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