At the Cutting Edge: Experimental Sounds of Asia

At the Cutting Edge: Experimental Sounds of Asia, curated by the Bagri Foundation, is a series of concerts celebrating new music from across Asia and the diaspora. The series brings together extraordinary experimental artists, many who have never performed in the UK and many for the first time on the same bill. From varied backgrounds and training, these natural born collaborators cite influence from across artforms.

The first concert on 7th November features the first solo performance of Filipina-American award winning composer, percussionist and sound artist Susie Ibarra (along with Sunn Trio and ICHI).

Alongside improvisation and experimentation with Susie Ibarra, the first concert in the series will also feature Arizona-based band Sunn Trio, who will perform an improvised jazz and desert-rock set and Japanese one-band man extraordinaire ICHI.

The Bagri Foundation, a UK registered charitable organisation, is celebrating arts and culture from across Asia.

Learn more and book here: http://bit.ly/cuttingedge711

Earl’s Court residents complain about Jollibee’s delicious chicken aromas

Many Earl’s Court residents have apparently been complaining to the The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council about ‘odours’ coming from Jollibee’s first London branch.

According to an email newsletter from Cllr. Linda Wade, the Liberal Democrat Councillor for Earl’s Court, Jollibee was served with an Abatement Notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Notice requires Jollibee to take steps to prevent odour. If they fail to comply the Council will take the appropriate action as per their enforcement policy.

My Food Beginnings: firing up an appetite for Filipino Cuisine around the world

Nadine Barcelona with LUZON Chef Patron Rex de Guzman
Nadine Barcelona with LUZON Chef Patron Rex de Guzman (Photo courtesy of LUZON)

Jacqueline Lauri, founder of My Food Beginnings, wrote in the share her blog. My Food Beginnings is a project aimed at firing up an appetite for Filipino Cuisine around the world. She recently featured two Filipinos from London who are bringing a test of Filipino food to London.

Mark Villarosa

Mark Villarosa a British Filipino singer and songwriter, is to play at The Roadhouse, Manchester, on Jan 29. For more information, please head over to Fil-Event.

He’ll also be playing at The Camden Head in London, on Jan 23.

Trial users wanted for mobile remittance service [payment offered]

We’ve been contacted by a company running a trial for a new mobile remittance service. The system will enable quick instant, mobile money transfers, from the UK to the Philippines via Globe GCash.

Filipinos who regularly send money to friends and family in the Philippines are needed to trial out the new service before the end of the year (31 Dec 2010). All participants will be given an incentive payment of £10.

If you’re interested, please contact us ASAP.

British Filipina witnesses attack on the royal Rolls-Royce

According to ABS-CBN Europe, a British Filipina witnessed the attack on Prince Charles’ car.

Jenalyn Masilungan, who joined the march against increased tuition fees, said, “We’re not protesting against Prince Charles because he’s done nothing wrong to us. He has no say in what the government does. And I think it shouldn’t have got so out of hand with Prince Charles. That was the big story. No one cared about the protest, everyone cared about the attack on Prince Charles.”

Read the full article: Brit-Pinay witnesses attack against Prince Charles (ABS-CBN Europe)

New U.K. time travel novel featuring Filipino characters and locations

Image of 'Glow' book cover

Author C Ramos-Stovin contacted us to introduce his debut novel, ‘Glow: The Infinite Realms and Uncertain Certainties of Time’, which will be released on hardback on 11 October 2010. Glow is an exciting, intelligent and action packed time travel/ghost story and
using his two daughters as inspiration.

Mr Ramos-Stovin is an Englishman married to a Filipina who came to the U.K. to perform in Miss Saigon and The King and I. He now has two daughters and since being married has become very close to a lot of Filipinos. He tells us that his love of the Philippines and its people inspired him to give something back to a country.

You can visit the official book website to download the first few chapters for free.

C Ramos-Stovin: “ABS-CBN asked me a few questions relating to the Philippines and these are
the answers I gave:

1) Why did you choose a British Pinay protagonist?

I chose to use a British Pinoy character for the female lead after
deciding that there were far too many male action leads and that for what
was needed in this story, there was no reason that the character
shouldn’t be a female. I then very quickly came to the decision that if
the protagonist was to be a girl, then who better to base her on but my two
half Filipino daughters. I used traits from both and amalgamated them into
one character. Giving Filipinos something to be proud of as well as
something my daughters could read and really identify with as well as get
lost in. I then needed various locations and with no budget restraints, it
meant for the first time in my writing career, I could write whatever the
story needed, not what a limited budget would allow. So Manila was the
ideal choice for a number of chapters but I believe that any Filipino
reading will have never pictured the Philippines in this way. It’s a
unique story with a unique angle on who we are, where we come from and what
our futures could hold if we don’t take care of our planet. But it sets
the Philippines apart as a unique and wonderful setting for any story.

2) What do you hope to achieve? What kind of impact do you hope it will
make?

Ultimately I want everyone all over the world to read Glow because
it’s an entertaining, fun and action packed story that asks you to
question many things about what you know to be real. But I chose the
Philippines as the country of the protagonist Courtney, not just because of
my daughters, but because I have been to the Philippines many times and
seen the poverty and lack of resources that exist for the poor, in
particular the children. I hope that Glow can be read by as many
Filipino’s as possible because more than anything, it’s a story about a
young girl who has suffered massively in her life, but with determination
dares to say ‘I can achieve anything’. I want it to be enjoyed first,
but leave lingering thoughts long after you finish it and hopefully one
day, even if just one Filipino child takes something positive from the
story and implements it as an adult, then the story of Glow was really
worth documenting.”

 
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