YOUTH representatives from all over Southeast Asia will join the Asean Youth Camp (AYC) on Nov. 23 to Dec. 1 in Sagada, Mountain Province.
The camp will celebrate ethnic music through traditional Southeast Asian instruments of gong and bamboo. The meeting will also be an exchange of Southeast Asian cultural values and traditions.
The camp is funded by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) under the Philippine chairmanship of the Department of Foreign Affairs, with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
The Philippines had hosted the first installment of the AYC in 1998.
Youths joining the camp will come from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma (Myanmar) and Vietnam. All have a diverse yet common tradition of music played on gongs and bamboo instruments.
Camp director this year is National Artist for Music Ramon P. Santos.
The Philippine delegation is composed of Maria Cristina Orante, 23; Don Jason Marco Hilotina, 26; Kurt Alalag, 19; and Edgar Sabang, 25. They represent the different ethnic groups of the Philippines. Two are from the Cordilleras in Luzon Island, while one is a Maguindanaon and another a T’boli, both from Mindanao. They play different traditional instruments such as the kulintang, paldong, tongali, gangsa, kulitong, bongos, nose flutes, dizi flute, gongs, kumbing, sludoy (bamboo zither), sloli (flute) and hegelung (two-stringed lute).