Grace Nono, noted Filipino music-performing artist and ethnomusicologist, enchanted the crowds with her soulful rendition of sacred songs from the T’boli, Manobo, Talaandig, Muslam Sama, Tagbanua, Kalinga and other indigenous groups from the Philippines at the Doris Duke Theatre in Honolulu on June 06.

The artist capped her songs with a lecture entitled, “Decolonizing Voice and Reclaiming Cultural Relations” before a crowd of Filipino Americans and native Hawaiians. The performance aimed to honor the oceanic connections between the Philippine and Hawaii before the time of European contact in Hawaii and arrival of Spanish colonizers in the Philippines. She spoke about the Philippines’ “babaylan” tradition and the need to preserve their songs and chants as part of the Philippines’ pre-Hispanic art and cultural identity.

Grace Nono’s performance was organized by the University of Hawaii at Manoa Center for Philippine Studies together with community partners. Her performance at the Doris Duke Theatre was one of the events included in the month-long celebration of the 118th Anniversary of Philippine Independence in Hawaii.

Grace Nono was born and raised in Agusan, Northeastern Mindanao. She received her bachelor’s degree in Humanities and masters in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and her doctorate in ethnomusicology from New York University. Currently, she serves as Research Associate and Visiting Faculty at the Women’s Studies in Religion Program of the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge. END