Huni Tapati

CEBU, Philippines - •Cebuana stage performer and musician Traicy Christi Tarongoy is percussionist/jaw harp and rainmaker player for World Music artist Joey Ayala at Ang Bagong Lumad.

•Tarongoy, daughter of Cebuano musician Efren Tarongoy, carries the name “Tapati” onstage. She said that the moment she joined a yoga group, she was given a Sanskrit name — Tapatii which means “warm service.”

“I welcome the name but reduced it to Tapati para kung balihon Itapat. Also my mom's surname is PATigas, while my dad’s TArongoy which is closer to our culture than bringing Traicy or Christi onstage nga very foreign,” she narrated.

Sometime in 2003, there was this play entitled “Malalim na Sugat” put up by the University of San Carlos Theater Guild. It was a story of war in Muslim Mindanao with the intervention of the US Military. Tapati said she was in charge of directing as well as musical scores for the play.

“The artistic director Amir Aluk was from Mindanao and he introduced me to the music of Joey Ayala at Ang Bagong Lumad. Tapes pa kaniadto,” she said. “I've never heard of anything so close to our own roots nga international ang caliber. Ever since then, it was my dream to share the stage with Joey. So when he was invited by a non-government organization for a fundraising concert dubbed “Breathing Watersheds” in Cebu last June 18, 2005 at SM Cinema 1, nagpabaga jud kog naw’ng to audition sa organizer/director to get my band (Maharlikha) so we could play front act for Joey even without honorarium.”

“Dianne - I forgot her surname, though - director of that certain NGO and who's also directing the event got impressed with my voice and my band's performance and wove the program having our band as first set, then next set Joey's, then kami na pud, then Joey na pud.”

“So back-to-back-to-back ang nahitabo. Knowing how professional Joey is in handling the crowd, I got the challenge of catching the flow to manage the energy levels sa crowd ug sa among band para dili layo ra kaayo og biya ba, if you know what I mean,” Tapati accentuated.

“So I guess, Joey got impressed with my performance and told me if ever I'll be in Manila , he'd want me to sing with him and join the team. Niadto na jud nuon kog Manila ,” she shared this point with a big laugh. “It was a great honor and privilege to join the ranks of great musicians sa Bagong Lumad.”

Currently, it is Tapati’s top priority to continue performing with Joey Ayala. After their performance at the First Misty Mountain Festival in Danao, Bohol where she shared the stage with Pinoy ethno-folk rock icon Lolita Carbon, she’s back to her rehearsals for “Encantada” to be mounted from August 12-14, 2011 at the CCP Ballet Philippines with Bayang Barrios, among many others.

Aside from Bagong Lumad, Tapati further shared that she also performs solo doing mostly covers of Lolita Carbon, Bayang Barrios, Gary Granada, Sampaguita, and her own originals. “My voice also got out on some TV and radio commercials, and NGO thematic advocacies launched,” she disclosed.

 “A current project is with my Bandang Malaya. Ours is a fusion of world music-rock-triphop. We’re playing this coming August 27 at the Shangri-La Shaw Boulevard for an international silent film festival. Ours to play is a Japanese film entitled “The Dawning Sky,” back to back with Razorback on an Italian film right after ours,” she added.

According to Tapati, she got inspired to explore film music after collaborating with last year's Cinemalaya short film which garnered awards locally and abroad entitled “Halaw (Way of the Sea).”

“I sang duet with John Arcilla on the movie's theme song and chanted on parts of the music score sa film.”

She said of her chosen genre, “I’ve already tried all types of music, from pop, to classical, to rock; but the closest to my heart is World Music, specifically our own culture's neo-ethnic music since nothing beats singing our own culture. We are the world's number one on this and no other race has the right to perform better!”

As a backup vox, Tapati got the chance to sing a couple of concerts with the Lolita Carbon Band, usually back to back with Joey Ayala just like in the recent event for the golden anniversary of Bohol ’s Danao town. “I'd also performed front act with my old band Tribora for Ely Buendia in a festival in Lucena City sometime 2006; Sugarhiccup (with Bandang Malaya) and Kitchie Nadal (as a solo artist) just this year. So far, mao pa na akong encounter sa mga mainstream musicians as a performer,” she further shared.

Tapati has been featured in top world music festivals like Fete dela Musique, Sunrise Music Festival and Earthdance 2010. She is also currently associated with Escola de Samba Manila and was taught West African music and dance by a renowned professor - Dr. Royal Hartigan of the University of Massachusetts .

She spent two semesters at UP-Diliman to take up Bachelor of Music in Musicology.

Outside music, Tapati is a BS Psychology graduate of the USC, Class 2005. She worked in a bank in Makati while starting with Joey. Now, she is working part-time as research-administrative staff of Bagong Lumad Artists Foundation, Inc. (FREEMAN)