So much has happened to the Autonomous crew in just a week's time!
We've gone from spontaneous hula at Leap Year baby Raymond's "11th" birthday party at the I-Hotel on February 27th . . . to musically celebrating African-American vitners at the Urban Vines wine tasting in Oakland the very next day . . . to dodging Moss Beach Distillery's "The Blue Lady" ghost at Lisa & Mark Melnick's birthday party on Wednesday . . . to Caroline coming back full circle to the I-Hotel the following Saturday to study Kalinga culture in preparation for her summer trip to the Philippines where she will be studying ganza music.
We also have some new partnerships to celebrate this month. Maestro Boy Palacio will be joining Autonomous as our pianist - yay! We're so looking forward to learning and growing with Manong Boy.
And while Boyet and Gerald take a bit of a break this Spring, drummer Harold Ohashi and guitarist Justin Rock will be stepping in to help our April 24th Club Mandalay and April 30th College of San Mateo API Film Fest performances be as strong as they can be.
So let's put some protection and positive energy around all of these great community experiences, connections and future potentials: In Mindanao, "Kaluntang" is the kulintang version of "Luntang" a song played by farmers in the fields after their seeds have been sown. Playing the music helps them stay awake while they guard their seeds from birds. It's the musical version of a scarecrow.
Here is Caroline and Conrad playing Kaluntang to protect the musical and community "seeds" that Autonomous has sown so far in 2016. May this song keep us awake and open to even more seeds of change and opportunity this year: