Cheers and Tears for Salima
By MINDANEWS
May 18, 2004
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 May) -- SALIMA, a multi-media concert theater production that tackles the peace situation in Mindanao today, reaped raves and drew tears from theatre critics and audience during its performance tour of Mindanao. Conceived and directed by Geejay Arriola and written by Palanca 2003 awardee Arnel Mardoquio, it tells the tale of girl child Salima and her journey from a state of idyllic rural peace into the dark and wet discomforts of the evacuation center. The playwright wrote the story by piecing together actual interviews among Moro evacuees in Pikit, North Cotabato.
The production is a project of EarthMusic Foundation (EMF), in collaboration with the Mindanao Peace Advocates Conference (MPAC) and Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center (MNICC).
All 14 songs were composed and arranged by Davao artists Gary Granada, Popong Landero, Eric Gancio, Gauss Obenza, Icoy San Pedro, Eugene Villarino, Maree Contaoi, Maan Chua, Paolo Sisi, Mualang Nacion, Gibson Viduya and Arriola in a collaborative lab production funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
MTVs, craftily designed by Bong Segovia and Keith Bacongco, served as backdrop for the concert. MindaNews, Balay Rehabilitation Center, and Initiatives for International Dialogue, among others, provided the actual footages and photos of the war and its ruins, the various evacuation centers, and the survivors--mostly Moro children, women, and old people.
SALIMA was brought to Pikit, Midsayap, Kabacan, Kauswagan and Iligan City by the United Nations Multidonor Programme-GOP3. The tour areas are either war-torn or refugee centers, and were chosen for their direct experience with the Moro-versus-government wars in the island.
It held a performance in Kauswagan to commemorate the day the first bomb fell on the town in year 2000.
The performance tour of SALIMA was a perfect example of a collaborative engagement among government, artists, non-government, and business sector in promoting peace in the region. The tour mobilized the resources of the local governments, non-government organizations, artists, academes, religious institutions and groups, and the business sector in order for it to succeed.
A side trip to Manila during the Adindanao: Mindanao Arts at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in February brought SALIMA to Manila audiences—mostly students—who cried and shouted and clapped their hands after each song. So touched and impressed were the staff and directors at the CCP that SALIMA has been chosen to close the two-week National Music Theatre Festival in November 2004 at the CCP.
SALIMA's music, along with a powerful MTV backdrop, a genuinely emotional Salima performed by young nursing student Maan Chua, and the spirit of artistic collaboration that pervaded throughout the entire performance, brought many in the audience to tears, and moved playwright and critic Fe Remotigue to write: "From the first note to the last...'Salima' kept my entire person hostage to its powerful reality...After the show, no sincere individual will dare reduce the war to a mere Muslim-Christian conflict because it is not just this. What the broadsheet headlines failed to convey, 'Salima' did—successfully."
Meanwhile, local columnist Stella Estremera wrote after watching the show: "...The theme may sound worn especially for those who sneer at activism...but its musicality is a fresh touch, even the most indifferent cannot help but lend an ear." (MindaNews)
