Kinaligta-án

The Tagalog word kinaligtaan (kee-nah-leeg-tah-AN’) refers to the act of neglecting, forgetting, or by- passing something or someone. Unlike in nakaligtaan where the act was unintentional, the context or intent of the action in this word is subject to speculation and ambiguity. Aligning to the once-forgotten cultural legacy of the European harpsichord before its ultimate revival, postcolonial stances on the construction of the “self” and “positionality” become viable points of reflection as they further relate to engagement with past memories and the act of remembering cultural legacies like the Filipino kundiman art song. Kinaligta-án is the product of such reflexive action, probing into what needs to be remembered and what needs to be left untouched.

Kinaligta-án is the second instalment of a series of musical works that reflects on idealizing while also disentangling oneself from one’s place of origin. While detachments from homelands happen in complex layers of uprooting and unraveling, memories need not undergo processes of distillation or deconstruction in order to weave new subjectivities.

The creation of Kinaligta-án is made possible with the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts.