#ArtsPH - “GINUGUNITA KITA” PERFORMANCE STREAMING AND MANINGNING PAINTINGS ON CARDS AND 2023 CALENDAR

The livestreaming of "GINUGUNITA KITA," a performance piece featuring Maningning Miclat's poems arranged to music by composer Jesse Lucas, is being made possible by the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI). The Foundation will debut the Maningning stationery line in conjunction with its 21st anniversary, starting with a boxed set of 12 greeting cards and a 2023 desk calendar containing 12 of the artist's paintings.

Maningning Miclat, a Filipina, published author, trilingual poet, prize-winning artist, translator and art teacher passed away on September 29, 2000 at the tender age of 28. MMAFI was founded on April 15, 2001.

On September 3, Saturday, 7:00 p.m., "GINUGUNITA KITA," which was presented at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2015, will begin streaming on the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation YouTube page. Eleven of Maningning's poems from her trilingual poetry collection Voice from the Underworld are included (Anvil Publishing, 2000). In 2001, the book was a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry.

The poems are: Ginugunita Kita, Tawag, Anino, Panibugho, DUET (nina Rizal at Bracken), Kulay sa Bagyo, Ang Naliligaw, Shi Bu Shi, A Stare, Verse # 2, and To Catch a Second and Turn it to Forever.  

According to composer Jesse Lucas, inspiration came easily to him after reading Voice from the Underworld. He wrote: "The poems of Maningning Miclat are almost melodious that I can hear the music through the poetic images. It spoke and at the same time sang to me poignant thoughts about life, pain and love…. the experience in writing the music was really meditative and cathartic at the same time. It feels like I have discovered a new language, a language that speaks directly to the soul. These are the foundation of Ginugunita Kita’s music.”

“GINUGUNITA KITA,” the performance art, says the show’s director Roeder Camaňag, “is all about poetry and the creation of emotive response. From the poetry of the life of a poet to the poetry of interpreting the poems of someone you love and the poetry of putting the right music to amplify the auditory experience of powerful images embedded in a poem.”  

In May 2015, "Ginugunita Kita" had its spectacular international premiere at the University Theater in U.P. Diliman, Quezon City. Later, it was presented in the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio V. Tolentino in September 2015, immediately following the 7th annual Maningning Trilingual Poetry Awards, and at the FEU Auditorium in 2018, immediately following the 8th biennial Maningning Art Award.

Banaue Miclat-Janssen won the 2015 Aliw Award for Best Performance in a New Concept Production for "Ginugunita Kita," and Roeder Camaag received a nomination for Best Director.

Starting on September 29, Maningning Miclat's greeting card set and 2023 desk calendar will be offered for purchase on Lazada.

The 2023 Maningning Miclat Poetry Competition, with the topic "Pagtatagumpay sa Pandemya"/"Triumph Over the Pandemic," is also announced by MMAFI. It will take place on April 15, 2023.