This presentation will cover pre-colonial music roots from two Philippine ethnolinguistic regions which have now become the main sources for Filipino world music. Various ethnic instruments and rhythms from both the Northern & Southern tribes will be demonstrated. The focus will be on bamboo and gong instruments as well as the native boat lutes. The workshop will also examine the Hispanic influence in Philippine music from over three centuries of colonization. Various stringed instruments like the Philippine Banduria & Laúd will be featured as well.

About Bo Razón:
Bo Razón is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording artist, and educator. His influences are mainly native music from North & Sub-Saharan Africa, Cuba, Southeast Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America, the Iberian peninsula, and the Middle East. Passionate about traditional music of indigenous world cultures as well as contemporary music genres, he seeks ways in which the two may coalesce organically. His skill sets have brought him to work in a musical capacity with several global institutions of art and culture such as the British Council, the Goethe Institut, the Alliance Francaise, Instituto Cervantes, and the Philippine National Commission for Culture & the Arts. He has taught World & Afro-Latin music at the University of the Philippines, as well as teaching music to K-12 school kids in California. Bo plays several stringed and skinned (percussion) instruments from diverse global cultures and has performed with many major artists from around the world in many settings and venues in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.