Stop and listen

“Papa, please stop at the nearest ‘CR,’” says the 21-year-old Mining Engineering fresh graduate to the man behind the wheels, just a decibel higher than a whisper. The family is just 40 minutes’ drive away from their destination. Everyone in the car perks up from varying degrees of drowsiness.

“Look for the nearest Jollibee,” commands Environmental Engineer mom.

“Use the restroom, but don’t buy food from that place,” adamantly declares 18-year-old Food Technology student and second eldest daughter.

“Are we getting lunch there, too?” asks the day’s designated driver.

“One kilometer away is a gasoline station that claims to have clean restrooms,” calmly announces one of the two family friends on the trip, eyes still on smart phone.

“It doesn’t have to be Jollibee, does it?” civil engineer dad tentatively mutters to no one in particular.

An almost inaudible sigh is heard and then a remark, “It’s just because it is highly unlikely to find any other place with a decent CR out here.”

All too soon, the car pulls up at the parking space right next to the purported ‘clean CR.’

And before anything else could be said about what just happened, the SUV turns left at the sign that reads “Pundaquit.”

The mother hen of the group sagely decides, “Lunch first before the tour.”

No one disagrees, so after the requisite admission sign-up and other transactions, menus printed on bamboo paddles are passed around after tables are rearranged to accommodate the family plus two friends.

A cacophony of noises ensues as the nearly-frazzled server tries to answer queries about whether “cheese pizza” and “cheese pizza overload” means the latter has varied types of cheese toppings or that the “overload” just means it has more cheese; about which pasta dish is crustaceans-free; and much later, after 12-year-old daughter (the youngest in the brood and obviously everyone’s favorite) passes her “leftover” sisig to daddy, whether it is all right to order just half a cup of rice.

All of this is nearly drowned by the tuning of violins spilling out of the Ramon Corpus Hall ground floor entrance; the incessant ringing of a bell calling out to the nearest available waiter; and the steady, if a bit above white noise level, drone of Backstage Café’s air-conditioning unit.

By the time the World Listening Day (WLD) 2018 event in CASA (Center for the Arts in San Antonio) San Miguel opened with an introduction by writer/poet Franchesca Casauay, the group has had its fill of exercise in listening, albeit unintentionally.

Presented by the 26th CASA San Miguel Season in cooperation with Japan Foundation Manila, the collaboration among sound artist Teresa Barrozo, vocalist and cross-media artist Ami Yamasaki and the Pundaquit Virtuosi opened a world of possibilities for reflecting on the questions posed by WLD 2018.

Themed “Future Listening,” which, according to Barrozo, “calls for reimagining a personal and universal future through listening,” WLD 2018 participants are “encouraged to examine their hopes, dreams, ambitions and fears for the future and reflect on the question, ‘What does your future sound like?’”

Similar to events planned across the globe, the CASA San Miguel activity had members of the Pundaquit Virtuosi take part in “imagining sonic possible worlds and the future of acoustic ecology” through sound walks and field recordings that they shared with invited guests to the curated sound presentation last 15 July.

“Future Listening,” according WLD 2018 organizers, ultimately aims to engage the world in opening its ears to the present and in acknowledging the immense capacity of the act of listening in shaping our collective future. Guide questions posed are: What does your past sound like? What does your present sound like? Which sounds do you wish to retain? Which sounds do you wish never to hear again? Which sounds do you consider as toxic waste? How does silence and noise sound in your future? Which sounds have gone silent? Can you still hear?

The challenge thrown to the audience at CASA San Miguel last Sunday created quite a stir even as curiosity and uncertainty mixed, leaving a certain sense of feeling unsettled long after the improv performance showing teens fiddling with or plucking strings, flicking violin bows and knocking on the body’s lower bout as counterpoints to Yamasaki’s primal vocals.

The 18-year-old in the group would later on comment: “At first I was surprised, then amused, then toward the end, got scared as the lights went off. It felt and sounded real…it overwhelmed me with emotions…”

To which another member of the group added, “…but it’s curious how, while our senses were heightened at what seemed like ‘curated chaos,’ we yearned for a semblance of order and harmony, to which our minds and hearts naturally gravitate. That’s why I was glad there was a request to the violinists to do an encore of what they were playing outside the concert hall—which, unbeknown to the audience, was really part of the entire program, in the first place.”

The youngest in the group couldn’t help but say, “Totoo nga (It’s true)…we have forgotten how to listen. And it is one of the things we should know how to do well. And, listening to silence is part of that.”

*Thousands of people from six continents have taken part in World Listening Day every 18 July (with related events around this date) since its inception in 2010.

World Listening Day 2018 Philippines will have a digital album launch of online album featuring tracks reflecting on the theme “Future Listening” from selected Filipino participants on 18 July, 7 p.m., at the Suthira B. Zalamea Lobby of ARETÉ, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. There will also be live performances by Teresa Barrozo, Franchesca Casauay, Joee Mejias, Pauline Vicencio-Despi, Ami Yamasaki and Yuko Nexus.