Walking down the road with Cynthia Alexander

Several years ago, I made a trip to Davao to tape for a show. I was amazed at how beautiful Davao is. Its airport is one of the best and the city is one of the cleanest. Once you step inside the Davao International airport you can smell Davao’s most famous produce, durian. I am not much of a fan of the durian but my partner Bong Quintana is a rabid disciple so that everytime I go to Davao I bring home with me boxes and boxes of durian.

I also noticed that nobody smokes just anywhere. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has assigned places where people are allowed to smoke and not all stores sell cigarettes. Davaoeños are a disciplined lot. Davao also serves one of the best coffees I have ever tasted.

During that trip I had the chance to interview sculptor Kublai Millan and folk artist Popong Landero, two of the city’s most famous artists. Kublai’s work adorns most of the city’s parks and his durian sculpture at the airport welcomes you to the city.

Another artist who is also a pride of Davao is world musician Cynthia Alexander. Cynthia is the younger sister of folk-rocker Joey Ayala. She is the daughter of painter/poet Tita Lacambra Ayala and painter Jose Ayala. She started singing in jazz bars in Davao and the nearby provinces before embarking on a trip to Manila where she has etched a name in music. A guitar virtuoso and a brilliant songwriter, Cynthia is also known for incorporating the Philippines’ and India’s indigenous musical instruments into her work. Her songs which are mostly in English and a few in Tagalog with splashes of Hindi, are original and easy to appreciate.

Cynthia recently launched a live album Walk Down the Road, a compilation of the artist’s three studio albums, and takes its title from one of her first and most beloved songs. “Walk Down the Road was like a litany,” she says. “It flooded me; it was a deluge. I found a certain voice. It was one of those songs that gave me the courage to be myself.”

Songs like Knowing There Is Only Now, No Umbrella, Motorbykle and U & I have had a similar effect on listeners, which explains Cynthia’s cult following. “My songs can mean many things to many people,” she says. “They find windows; they look through them and see what they want to see.”

Cynthia sees the live album as a way to honor the people who have been with her on and off stage all throughout her career — particularly Mlou Matute, who has been backing Cynthia up with vocals, keyboard and percussion for 10 years. It is also a gesture of thanks to her community of supporters. “The people who come to the gigs have become like family,” she says. “It’s very special that I’m able to sit with them while playing. There is something behind that, a true living.”

Walk Down the Road commemorates 10 years of songwriting and a closing of a chapter in her life that will bring new voyages to embark on. Walk Down The Road captures a live performance of Cynthia with her audience last November 2008 at 19 East Parañaque, recorded live by recording engineer Angee Razul.

Other albums of Cynthia are Insomnia and Other Lullabyes and Rippingyarns both Katha Music awardees. Walk Down The Road is now available at Fully Booked, Music One, Mag:net Café, Kate Torralba, I Love You Store and Conspiracy Café.  Check out the artist’s video channel at www.pelicola.tv/cynthialexander. 

Reconnecting with our Roots

Cartwheel Foundation, Inc. and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) present Reconnecting with our Roots: A Cultural Exchange, a musical concert celebrating cultural dialogue that knows no barriers, slated on June 21, 6 p.m. at the CCP’s Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater). An exhibit will also be opened for viewing before the show at 3 p.m.

Reconnecting with our Roots is the fruit of Cartwheel Foundation’s Music and Art Education Program aimed at enabling indigenous youth to know and appreciate their unique culture and identity and to express themselves through music and art. The program includes an inventive exchange workshop between indigenous communities and Cartwheel’s partner, Cultures in Harmony (formerly Music for the People), an American group composed of young classically-trained musicians which fosters cross-cultural dialogue through the universal language of music. 

The concert is directed by Floy Quintos. The production is also made possible by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Jose Antonio Delgado Memorial Foundation, Inc.

For details, call 584-1532 or 0918-9389265 or e-mail at [email protected].