Tag Archives: Poetry

PSL Week 3: building community (feat. Tomy Bewick)

By angie torres | Published: September 17, 2010

PSL Week 3: Building Bridges and Fostering Community
Facilitated by Len Cervantes
Featuring special guest, Tomy Bewick

When Len Cervantes first began attending Dwayne Morgan’s Roots Lounge (the monthly series that starts up at Kapisanan again this Sunday), he didn’t know anyone. This was around 2005 when he was only starting to spread his wings outside of the Filipino community, shuffling from one open mic to another around the city. Tomy Bewick was one of the first poets that caught Len’s eye during those days. Even then, he knew this guy would go further–and he was right.

Posted in @ THE K, PSL | Also tagged kapisanan centre for arts and culture, len cervantes, open mic, Poetry is our Second Language, PSL, slam poetry, Spoken Word, Tomy Bewick | Leave a comment

Kamalayan means “awareness”

By kat estacio | Published: September 17, 2010

Kamalayan conciousness poster

There is more to the Philippines than just Adobo, Jollibee, Manny Pacquiao, Tinikling, flat noses, tsismis, and Jeepneys. That’s why The Kamalayan Konsciousness is having the official launch of their workshop series at the K on Wednesday, September 22!

Kamalayan aims to to uplift and inform young people to move forward responsibly, conscious of their power and their crucial role in creating change. Open your eyes and celebrate Filipino consciousness through film screenings, music, photography, visual art, poetry, drinks and heightened awareness.

This is a FREE event, and everyone’s invited! Doors open at 8 p.m. Drinks are $4 each.

Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture
167 Augusta, Kensington Market
Toronto, Ontario

Posted in Events | Also tagged alex felipe, althea balmes, art, balikbayan tales, charisee marquez, fcar, Filipino Artists, Filipino arts & culture, Filipino culture, Filipino-Canadian, Filipinos in Toronto, film, kamalayan, Kamalayan Filipino Konsciousness Series, Kapisanan, Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture, kristina guison, manuel luis veneracion, marc alonzo, migrante ontario youth, music, musical guerilla offensive, myk miranda, photography, Project Balikbayan, vincent galvez | 1 Comment

intern@Kapisanan: Tanaga, the Filipino Haiku

By angie torres | Published: September 14, 2010

By CitizenMars, Events Planning Intern

Poetry, written poetry, is in our blood. The first recorded piece of literature found in the Philippines was in the mid 1500s by Spanish friars, documenting their observations on life and culture amongst the tribal Filipinos. To put it into a more macroscopic perspective, that was only the first recorded discovery of Filipino poetry. That means our (Filipino) ancestors were poets long before that! And not just through word of mouth either. It was all written in an old and ancient script called alibata.

Posted in Word, intern@kapisanan | Also tagged kapisanan centre for arts and culture, len cervantes, Poetry is our Second Language, PSL, slam poetry, Spoken Word | Leave a comment

PSL Week 2: Epics (feat. Word Mason)

By angie torres | Published: September 13, 2010

Here’s what Kapisanan’s got lined up:

PSL Week 2: Epic Poetry and Historical Tales
Featuring special guest, Spoken Word Artist Word Mason

If you’ve heard the stories of King Arthur, Beowulf, Homer’s Odyssey, Dante’s Inferno… then you know what an epic is. Just like many of the world’s people, early Filipinos used epic stories to make sense of the world around them. These were creation stories, tales of courtship and stories that passed down knowledge and wisdom through morals.

Posted in @ THE K, PSL | Also tagged kapisanan centre for arts and culture, len cervantes, Poetry is our Second Language, PSL, slam poetry, Spoken Word | 1 Comment

Poetry is our Second Language – this September!

By angie torres | Published: September 3, 2010

Heads up everyone! Poetry is our Second Language (PSL) is back this month in its second year. Leonard Cervantes in community partnership with Kapisanan presents a four-week poetry unit that will explore poetry as an essential part of Filipino fabric since the beginning of time until today.

The program will first introduce traditional forms of Filipino poetry, including the Balagtasan and Filipino epic poetry. With this grounding, the program will then move on to explore effective poetry writing and spoken word performance techniques. Finally, participants will be introduced to the Spoken Word/Poetry Scene in Toronto, as the workshop culminates with a final slam performance–more details in the upcoming weeks!

Note: All videos require Adobe Flash to play. Click here to download.

Poet, performer, and recording artist Ji-an Manalo