Grace Nono is one of the most renowned musicians in the Philippines. As an ethnomusicologist with roots in the Agusan del Sur river valley in northern Mindanao, she is strongly influenced by various indigenous singing practices. Grace Nono fights for the protection of these oral traditions that are ignored by the western-dominated Filipino music scene. Concerts, collaborations and study visits have taken Grace Nono all over the world. In her new performance, the musician now talks about her return to Agusan del Sur and her discovery that the land of her ancestors lies on peat soil, an ecosystem that is often overlooked, misunderstood and degraded.
“Home in Huyong-Huyong” is more than an autobiographical narrative. The performance is part song, part field report, part dream, as well as an invitation to learn to listen to the earth again, which recalls memories of colonial history, of responsibility towards family and community and of kinship with the unseen, of spirits brought to the surface. In the local language of Agusan del Sur, “Huyong-Huyong” describes a soil that is so wet that it bounces underfoot. It also stands for the trembling wisdom of wetness, for ecosystems that resist enclosure and thus rebel against human ignorance and the consequences of climate change, which particularly affect the Philippines as an archipelago.
Infos
- Premiere
- Duration: 60 min.
- Language: English
- Mousonturm co-production
Accessibility
Accessibility of Location
Sponsors and Supporters
Text, concept, & performance: Grace Nono
Video editing & visuals: Brandon Relucio
Dramaturgy & production lead: Franchesca Casauay
PH research & production associate: Bjork Colao
Outside eye: Eisa Jocson
Video footage from: ALIMA Eco, Agri and Heritage Park Development, Bunawan, Agusan del Sur
A co-production as part of “Sincerely Yours, the Philippines”, a project by Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Philippines. Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation through the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, the Goethe-Institut and “Philippines - Guest of Honor at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025”.
Biography
Grace Nono is a singer, public ethnomusicologist and interdisciplinary scholar, and cultural worker from the river valley of Agusan in Northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. With over three decades of engagement with Philippine oral traditions, she bridges the worlds of performance, research, and advocacy for local and indigenous knowledges.
She holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from New York University, master’s degrees from Yale University and University of the Philippines-Diliman, and has taught at institutions including the University of Peace, Harvard Divinity School, California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of the Philippines. She has published Babaylan Sing Back: Philippine Shamans and Voice, Gender and Place (2023, 2021); Song of the Babaylan: Living Voices, Medicines, Spiritualities of Philippine Ritualist-Oralist-Healers (2013); and The Shared Voice: Chanted and Spoken Narratives from the Philippines (2008).
As founder of the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, Grace supports intergenerational learning through Schools of Living Traditions and other cultural regeneration initiatives.
Her performances—rooted in chant, oral history, and sacred sound—have been featured in 20+ countries, from the Lincoln Center to the Rainforest World Music Festival. She has released six solo music albums, contributed to over 15 compilations, and co-produced audio and film documentaries on Philippine ritual and oral traditions.
A recipient of 48 awards for her music, scholarship and cultural work, she has returned to her ancestral homeland in Mindanao where she co-develops a heritage, agroecology, and a peatland restoration site in dialogue with indigenous elders and scientists.