🗞 HUMAN TOY MACHINES: BUWANBUWAN COLLECTIVE AND DULO MNL TEAM UP FOR COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING

It is not usually the place of chiefly electronic and experimental music collectives to put on charity events; that is usually the realm of internationally renowned artists, with these smaller groups often being concerned only with music—sometimes with how it is consumed. However, it is the tight-knit support-network-type makeup of grassroots and underground musician and producer collectives that arguably puts them in a better position to understand bringing their communities up with them, not being too far removed from it themselves.

It is this personal connection with the local community that helped Manila-based collective BuwanBuwan nurture the idea for Human Toy Machines. The event, being held at Makati city's shiny new resto-cafe and eventspace Dulo MNL, is "A Fundraising Gig for the Benefit of the Children of San Diego Elementary School," with the specific goal of raising money to buy science-oriented toys and reading materials for the children of the school. It comes from the mind of collective member Luis Montales, aka producer AHJU$$I, who first encountered San Diego Elementary in his last year of senior high when tasked with thinking of a sustainable community project as an act of service.

"Upon research, we discovered Philippine Toy Library, an agency here in the country that provide underprivileged children with toys and reading materials, but more importantly a safe place to play and be creative," Montales tells YES/NO over Facebook messenger. Though all they had to do was donate to the agency themselves, he explained, there was a feeling of wanting to do more within his group, and soon San Diego Elementary School – "one of the oldest toy libraries that the agency has established" – came to light. "That’s how I got connected to the school," he says.

San Diego Elementary School. Photo by Luis Montales

San Diego Elementary School. Photo by Luis Montales

Later on, and more recently in the timeline of things, Montales approached BuwanBuwan Collective head Jorge Juan Bautista Wieneke V aka Similarobjects, in hopes of putting on a fundraising gig. The specific mission was to buy science-oriented toys and reading materials for the children because, as Montales tells us, "there's a stigma against taking up science-related careers in the Philippines."

A stigma?

"To be more specific, science research careers," he explains. "Parents would often tell their children to be a doctor rather than a researcher because the former makes a lot more money. Even my teachers in school who are researchers say that if you want to be a scientist, it’s like pretending you’re unemployed. Scientists here in the country admittedly lack funding and support from our government. Because of this, they look outward and go abroad to pursue their careers. This is definitely alarming because science and technology is important and even necessary to a developing country like the Philippines."

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"By instilling in the children the value of science and technology at a young age, we hope that this gets them to pursue science-related courses and ultimately increase the number of scientists in the country!"

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d It's a big community-driven dream which has a good partner in BuwanBuwan, itself the dream of producer Jorge Wieneke. Its history doesn't just go back a few years, but rather hundreds, based on the Philippine myth of the Bakunawa, a huge serpent said to be the cause of eclipses. In more detail, "buwan buwan" is the name of a children's game: one plays as the Bakunawa, and the rest in a circle on the ground (buwan — the moon), who must touch one of the players inside the circle without going inside the circle; a successful touch means swapping places.

In more relative terms, Wieneke explains that pre-colonial tribesfolk would try to scare away the Bakunawa by gathering outside their homes and banging on pots and pans, making a lot of noise, hoping to scare the creature away; others would take a different approach, playing gentle songs with bamboo instruments in an effort to soothe the monster to sleep so that a brave warrior could close in for the kill.

"With monthly 'Bakunawa' events," he writes in an email, "Pinoy beatmakers and live electronic musicians of the BuwanBuwan Collective give a modern nod to these ancient lunar gatherings. With selections of both original and carefully curated electronic music, they aim to awaken, to mesmerize, and to bring people together." It is both this monthly sense of togetherness and the childhood origins of the name itself that ring true with the Human Toy Machines event. And further strengthening that bond of support and equity, he concludes: "In the playground that is music, everyone deserves a chance to be at the center."

The two agree wholeheartedly with each other, with Montales telling us on messenger, "I also wanted to host a charity gig because I believe that good music for an equally good cause is lacking here in the Philippines." After the event itself, and once the toys and books are collected, Montales and his group will be at the San Diego Elementary School every day for 2 weeks "to teach and play with the children and to turn over the new toy library to the teachers of the school!"

Dulo's eventspace. Photo by Nicollo Santos/Neil Patrick Valero

Even Dulo MNL fits the bill. A fusion of coffee and Taiwanese-Filipino cuisine on ground floor, upstairs is a wide space for the purpose of, well, anything. "The idea was to become a safe haven for dialogue and creative pursuits, for artists under all forms and genres of art, from one end or dulo of the arts spectrum to the other," writes Alyosha J. Robillos in a piece for NOLISOLI. In the same article, one of Dulo's founders Alexa Arabejo explains that they are a creative community platform, uncensored, unfiltered, and are driven not only by art but by a desire to contribute to the community, "as well as help artists and art enthusiasts by providing a space where they can gather."

Ultimately this act of gathering, synonymous both with BuwanBuwan's Bakunawa events and the ethos of the eventspace where Human Toy Machines will take place, is the rumblings of building a community. And when people are not helped and encouraged from the top down – by leaders, by parents, or whomever they may be – that help and encouragement must come from the bottom up, from the community, from the people.

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Human Toy Machines: A Fundraising Gig for the Benefit of the Children of San Diego Elementary School

Chinese Plastic Toys
Teenage Granny
Similarobjects
Jason Dhakal
Lustbass
Pamcy
Tito

Find details of the event on Facebook

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• 🔔 The vivid flyer for the event was created by Gilbert Redona.
• 🔔 Last year Jorge Wieneke put together a guest mix for YES/NO as Similarobjects, looking at the history of Filipino music by taking in both in urban psychedelic flavours as well as indigenous music. You can listen to that over here.

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📠
☟ BuwanBuwan Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter

☟ Dulo MNL Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ instagram

☟ Similarobjects Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

☟ AHJU$$I Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ twitter

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🌏 VISITS — SENDAI PHOTO DIARY

Sendai is the largest city in Japan's northeastern Tohoku region, and the country's second largest north of Tokyo. It was founded by famous local lord Date Masamune in 1600, and owes not only many of its sights and history to him and the Date clan, but also the city's comprehensive grid layout is based on his plans. It's famous for grilled beef tongue, the Tanabata festival, its zelkova tree-lined streets, producing a lot of rice, autumn potato stew picnics, Sendai Castle, and being close to Matsushima, one of the Three Views Of Japan, amongst other things. The coastal areas of Sendai, including its airport and many ports, were all but destroyed by the 2011 tsunami; it is here that the wave came furthest inland—up to 10km in some places.

We stumbled through the city in the snow, a whirlwind visit that took us from the station to the castle – where we witnessed a cosplaying Date Masamune help build a snowman with some children – and back again. As a showcase of the country, rather than a travel guide, we want to show you with words and pictures rather than tell you what to do, and here is a day spent on the wide boulevards of Sendai, witnessing not just one of its most popular sights but something more worthwhile: the daily life of the city.

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🌏 VISITS — MATSUSHIMA

It was January and the Japanese town of Shichigahma was barren, the rice fields turned to a thick mud and the roads steely and slippery with ice. Overnight, as we peered out from the warmth of our floral futon bed, the sky has turned into a whirling white blizzard.

We had followed Basho’s path to the north of Japan and found ourselves in a snow covered paradise. The next morning, in layers of thermals, gloves, and hats, we set off to seek out the famous islands of Matsushima. Passing the next door neighbour as we left we called "good morning." He was busy clearing his driveway of snow and told us to be careful; the houses in the town are built on high concrete structures with slopes down to the road which work as a defence against tsunamis. The slopes were slippery and wet with snow and ice. The neighbour asked us where we were going. "Walking." we replied.

We walked along the empty road, passing some builders who looked at us in blank disbelief and stuttered a shocked hello as we said hello to them. We hiked up to the local Shinto shrine, Tamonzan, with views that overlooked the sea. The view from Tamonzan shrine is the Grand View, number four of the four panoramic views of Matsushima. The famous islands are one of Japan’s top three scenic spots.

From where we stood the islands scattered below spread out beneath us, the pines that grew from them stretched and bent into horizon, etched on the landscape like a Hokusai piece. We sat in the cold on a bench and took in the seascape. The beauty of the famous coastline revealed itself as we watched industrial boats tick on their way to different islands on different bussiness. This is Japan, a view that could not be replicated anywhere in the world, every detail so Japanese in its origin. Even down to the threat of Tsunami, everything of this place is stitched with the centuries of people who have come here to view these islands and who have sighed at the beauty of the pines. Basho, the famous Japanese haiku poet said everything that needs to be said in his travel journal, Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Matsushima ah!
A-ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

The following day we caught the train from Shichgahama, ten minutes away, to Matsushima itself to seek out some more of those famous views and explore some of the islands on foot. At the station we left the small crowd of domestic tourists and followed three girls over the road to a stairway carved into some rock.

The steps we coated in ice and the girls we had followed were slipping and sliding their way up them. We followed them in the same manner, unaware of where we were going or where the stone staircase would lead us.

The stairs led to are red wooden bridge which connected to one of the island. The delicate beauty of the perfect islands and their beaches covered in snow was almost unbelievable. Like a scene from a Japanese postcard of times long before. We ran around the small paths made by footsteps epochs before ours, exploring the island with excitement.

It turns out that The Legend of Zelda is actual real life. Well, that’s the funny thing about being in Japan: after playing Japanese games for so many years, everything in the games starts to makes sense and come to life. The paths and the forests, the small statues and the secret holes. It was like entering into an actual Zelda game.

This particular island had home to many different hermits over the years, each now represented by small statues. We clamber through the holes and caves that the hermits had inhabited. We hid and laughed at how we even found ourselves here on snowy islands in a world of such delicate details - we were from grey old England, this isn't where we were meant to be. We stood and listened to the steady drip of the snow melting from the thatched roof of the Shinto shrine and falling to the smell of the carpet of wet pine needles. This was paradise, not the desert-islands-tropical-sunshine paradise but a paradise so perfect and ancient it felt like being back in the past before everything that exists now.

We moved onward, this time further up the shoreline to Fukuura Islands, a more famous and therefore much more touristy island. To get onto Fukuurajima (福浦島) we had to pay a small amount to cross the long red bridge connecting it to the mainland. There were tourists milling around from other towns that had braved the cold to see the famous view of Matsushima. Once across the bridge we took the long path around the coast, weaving past a cafe where we bought a little daruma doll with a fortune rolled up inside of it and looped around up wooded paths to a view across the sea of some of the 260 islands of Matsushima.

We sat on a bench and, in a very British way, ate the sandwiches we had made for ourselves in the morning. Basho was with us as we sat and looked at the pines in the breeze. We read sections on Narrow Road to the Deep North and looked out at the different hunks of rocks glowing white in the dazzling January sun, the land rising and curving out of the blue like it always had done, like it was when Basho had sat here on his journey and questioned how something so beautiful could exist.

Basho’s land is still here. The perfect scattering of pine-clad islands, the textured blue seas, the sandy beaches, the waving pines and the winding paths are still here. Tourists are here too, but not lots of them and, if you come in the cold of the snow, you can find yourself a spot to be alone. Sit and look across the famous vista of the pine islands, they have survived storms and tsunamis, look across the bay and see Japan as it was centuries ago, see the islands as they were and go on your own discovery of the deep untrod road to the north of Japan.

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REBECCA ALICE SAUNDERS
@yesnotravel

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