Key Points
- The one-day event is open to all ages, Filipino Australians and friends.
- Filipino-Australian artists are scheduled to participate in various activities like storytelling, workshops, and poetry reading
- Original Pilipino Music playlist is prepared for the evening's disco after the Filipino dinner.
This March 11, Melbourne-based artists will gather in one venue for an all-day celebration of culture and food.
The one-day event hosted by the Saluhan Collective is entitled It can be best described as a celebration of all things Pinoy, the love for good food, music and spoken word.
Several Filipino-Australian artists like father and daughter Alfred and Charlotte Nicdao, will narrate stories to children on being balikbayans [migrants returning home]; arts and crafts led by Saluhan founder Aida Azin, and a series of other artists including; and poetry reading in the Visayan dialect by Lara Juab.
The eight-hour event ends with a salo-salo (dinner) and a disco featuring Original Pilipino Music (OPM).
The day is a gathering of Filipino migrants, first and second generation, who have lived in multicultural Australia, trying to either rediscover, share or live their version or interpretation of being Filipino-Australian.
Several Filipino-Australian artists like father and daughter, Alfred and Charlotte Nicdao will narrate stories to children on being balikbayans [migrants returning home]; arts and crafts led by Saluhan founder Aida Azin and a series of other artists including; and poetry reading in the Visayan dialect by Lara Juab.
The eight-hour event ends with a salo-salo [dinner] and a disco featuring Original Pilipino Music (OPM).
Alfred Nicdao with james Mckinnon at the SBS Studio in Federation Square, Melbourne Credit: SBS Filipino
Growing up in country Victoria
James McKinnon grew up in the old mining town Ballarat.
Growing up, he recalls only two or three Asians in a cohort of around 20 boys in his high school. For McKinnon, he was no different from the other boys, but the other boys saw him differently.
"It was a bit interesting. I looked ethnically ambiguous so that boys didn’t know what I was. I’d get random racism at the time, but I can say I was raised to be proud of myself and my culture, so I didn’t really care."
He had a front seat in experiencing and being exposed to the Filipino culture.
"I was very lucky, growing up, I had the privilege to travel often to the Philippines. I’d meet my relatives back there and experience the Filipino way of life with my cousins."
His interest in Filipino culture re-emerged when he took up his undergraduate studies and completed his Philippine protest music thesis. This led him to the Saluhan Collective and the circle of Filipino artists like Alfred Nicdao.
Growing up different in multicultural Australia
Alfred Nicdao’s family migrated to Melbourne when he was barely in his teens. In the seventies, there were only a handful of Asian migrants living in Melbourne.
Nicdao and his Filipino friends stuck together like glue.
"We were a group of Filipinos, and we segregated ourselves, but after a while, we realised if we wanted to survive, we needed to assimilate."
As Nicdao and his friends immersed themselves in the Australian way of life, he says, "We became part of the Australian landscape. In the process, we became detached from our culture, and that’s not good."
Alfred with his family, wife Louise and daughter and fellow actor Charlotte and youngest daughter Stephanie. Credit: from Alfred Nicdao
The pandemic allowed him to build his network slowly, and as we emerged from the lockdown, so did his group Pangkat Sining.
Alfred Nicado with fellow Filipino-Australian artist Felino Dolloso and filmaker Matthew Victor Pastor . Credit: from Alfred Nicdao
"I feel that I have the obligation to support them in finding opportunities that will allow them to express themselves and strengthen ties within our community."
For this veteran actor, growing up as a Filipino-Australian migrant today is so much easier in a sense that you are less isolated.
"I feel we are far more connected, particularly the younger Filipino creatives. They want to show and share to the world, particularly Australia, their stories as Filipino immigrants."
And for McKinnon, when asked how he would introduce himself, he says, "Ako si James lang, [simply as James]. Yes, I am Filipino-Australia. However, at the end of the day I am James. Being Filipino, being Australian are both parts of me.’
