Malasimbo Gives a Taste of the Philippines as a Festival Destination

On Sunday, May 4, gloomy skies threatened to drench Intramuros, Manila, but thankfully, only light showers fell over Malasimbo Music, Arts & Kids Festival, a welcome blessing on an otherwise scorching hot day.

Last March, the rain posed a problem for the festival when heavy rains caused flooding in the venue and forced the organizers to postpone the festivities. But this month, Malasimbo came back with a refreshed music lineup, various crafty activities for children, and an art competition.

Set against the lush greenery and weather-worn stone walls of Puerta Real Gardens, Malasimbo’s main stage hosted Laguna pop duo NxC, DJ-drummer tandem Motherbass, percussion ensemble Brigada, psychedelic blues-rock band La Crema, and Mindanaoan boom bap collective Morobeats.

In another section of the gardens, the Kids’ Village provided a space for children to play and get creative, with painting, crochet, poi and hoop, and gardening, among others.

This year’s Malasimbo also hosted the country’s first-ever iteration of Battle of the Brush, a live art event where artists are paired with each other and given the opportunity to collaborate or compete on the canvas.

The Philippines as a Festival Destination

For almost a decade, Malasimbo was held annually at the foot of Mount Malasimbo in Puerto Galera, Mindoro. In 2020, the festival took place in La Mesa Eco Park, Quezon City, just before the COVID-19 pandemic put the nation and the world on lockdown.

This year marks the festival’s second edition in the National Capital Region. And with festivalgoers and talents alike coming in from outside Metro Manila and abroad, the country may well be on its way to becoming a festival destination that can rival others in the region, like Thailand’s Wonderfruit and Japan’s Fuji Rock.

For artist and Battle of the Brush Country Partner Ayni Nuyda, becoming a festival destination entails empowering the country’s creative force. She tells Rolling Stone Philippines that the Philippines is ready for locals and foreign tourists to come for festivals because “We have all the creatives here, the natural landscape, and a social landscape that has so much appreciation for creativity and art.”

She adds that the existence of artist-led spaces and community-based programs proves that “we’re more alive than ever,” and emphasizes that big galleries and art institutions are not enough to support the country’s creatives. To Nuyda, local spaces around the archipelago are great ways to bring artists of different backgrounds together, which is crucial in a country with a cultural heritage as diverse as ours.

Indie folk band The Ransom Collective’s percussionist Jermaine Choa Peck, who also attended the festival, says that the Philippines is ready to become a festival destination. “We have so many talents here and around Asia,” she tells Rolling Stone Philippines. “But of course, with festivals comes a lot of other things that we have to prepare for, like sound, equipment, and all the technicalities… We’re getting ready to become a spot [for festivals].”

“If Japan and other Asian countries can do it, why can’t we?” she adds.