Since 2011, the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival has never followed a formula. Forget all the flashy fireworks and giant stages dwarfed by skyscrapers — the festival always felt like an oasis amidst the numerous shows in the country.
It has prided itself on its stacked music lineup, which has previously included Filipino-American Latin soul singer Joe Bataan, seminal New York DJ Danny Krivit, indie-folk singer José González, and Filipino rock band IV of Spades (before they disbanded), among many others. The art installations were also always a draw, moving away from the white cube spaces that many of its participating artists — such as Olivia d’Aboville, who experiments with organic and synthetic materials, and sculptors Leeroy New and Agnes Arellano — may have felt confined to.
Moreover, Malasimbo has always been unwavering in its commitment to the environment, having worked closely with the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, the Department of Tourism, as well as various indigenous groups to raise awareness on their traditions. In doing so, Malasimbo has consistently created an experience that feels intimate, intentional, and deeply connected with its surroundings.
And finally, after a brief hiatus, Malasimbo returns this March 8 — the festival taking place in the walled city of Intramuros’ Puerta Real Gardens.
The Island Paradise Feeling
Malasimbo founder and director Miro Grgić often daydreams about the festival in his living room. Its humble beginnings took place in an amphitheater within the hills of Puerto Galera, a town in the island of Mindoro. “It’s always been a family affair in many ways,” he tells Rolling Stone Philippines.
Grgić is also a sound engineer and manages distribution in the Philippines for Funktion-One, a British loudspeaker manufacturer whose sound systems are attractions in their own right. They have been featured in venues and festivals such as Berlin’s legendary club Berghain Ostgut, Wonderfruit Festival’s Forbidden Fruit stage in Pattaya, Thailand, and Mihn Club in Hong Kong, among other places around the globe. Its latest addition will be in Malasimbo, which is sure to pique the interest of audiophiles and music enthusiasts alike. Its headlining artists will include house music icon François K, Nai Palm of the Grammy Award-winning band Hiatus Kaiyote, and Oahu-based reggae artist Mike Love.
For a festival like Malasimbo, where setting is just as crucial as its program lineup, they knew they had to change things up — not just sonically, but also by moving to a different venue. Grgić feared that leaving Puerto Galera would take the magic of the early Malasimbo shows away, but he accepted the challenge of bringing it all the way to La Mesa Dam, Quezon City in 2020 — thousands of kilometers away from its origins, and just weeks before the world was locked down under the pandemic.
“The setting is unbelievable. I still think it’s my favorite place on Earth,” he says about La Mesa Dam, “It’s one of my favorite jungles to get lost in.” While setting up a festival in forests may seem foolish for creatures of comfort, for Grgić it is what makes Malasimbo so special in the first place. “Yes, it was scary, but how was the experience? It was amazing because I was able to pull off the same characteristics of live sound that I had in the amphitheater in Puerto Galera,” he says.
This year, the festival will take place in the ancient ruins of Intramuros where the greenery and fungi grow through the cracked walls of the famed stone gates.
Unearthing The New
As far as programming goes, Grgić has always been open to the idea of promoting fresh acts from the Filipino music scene. With the help of former program directors like Zach Lucero and Kelly Mangahas, he platformed artists before they broke the mainstream — like shoegaze R&B artist no rome in 2016, neo-soul producer and singer-songwriter June Marieezy in 2012, and even international artists like French musician FKJ in 2015, and jazz artist Jacob Collier in 2016. “We’d sift through [artists during a] listening session and I’d go, ‘Who is this?’ Ah, this [rapper] called Curtismith. He’s just in his bedroom though. Oh, well, he has to play for Malasimbo then, to get out of his bedroom,” he says.
Among the notable local acts in this year’s lineup includes roots and dub reggae group Selah Dub Warriors from Cebu City, Manila-based dance music collective Orange Juice Asia, and Mindanaoan boom bap group Morobeats, who is performing alongside San Francisco-based turntablist DJ Shortkut. The return of the Silent Disco stage — a Malasimbo staple — will also return this year, featuring local DJs in the Filipino scene.
Grgić also expects that attendees will be pleasantly surprised to witness how convenient, beautiful, and culturally significant the venue is, helping old regulars experience parts of what they had in Puerto Galera 10 years ago. “It’s convenient because attendees can’t afford to go out of town anymore because they also have kids,” he says. Now that it’s in Manila, the festival will include a family-friendly kids village and guests have told them how ecstatic they are that they can go to Malasimbo and return home the same day. “‘It’s just a one-day [festival], and I could go to sleep after this? Yay!’” Grgić recalls.
After a hiatus that left fans yearning for more, Malasimbo is gearing to reclaim its spot as one of the most unique and environmentally conscious festivals in the Philippines. Now that it’s in the city, Malasimbo hopes to turn Intramuros into a paradise that helped make the festival famous.
