Buko Pan Guerra

I am the one and only BUKO PAN GUERRA. Buko "young coconut", Pan "bread", Guerra "war" . thus I am the Young Coconut Bread War. A banjo playing bandit who has a heart of pearls and the voice of a siren.



Feel free to check out my Flamenco Bollywood Disco Punk Band,THE SWORDS OF FATIMA ,with Drummer Nick Scott



Buko also plays banjo in SUN TRASH



My Origins:



http://www.lutongbahay.com/images/region/sinigayanFV.jpg



The Sinigayan Festival in Sagay City, Negros Occidental is held every 19th day of March. This festival is the City's way of preserving the heritage of her people. The gentle, joyful and hardworking Sagaynon whose name God chose to be symbolized by this humble spherical shell which dances as it allows the roaring waves to toss it to shore and pulls it back to the sea in ritual merrymaking.



Historically, Sagay derived her name from a semi-spherical shell, "Sigay" which abounds in many islets and shores of the City. The abundant marine resources continue to provide to this day sustainable economic benefits to her people.



The dynamism of the Sagaynons is the City's assurance of riding high above the waves of change in this new millennium. Sinigay is an expression of art and culture of the hardworking and God-fearing Sagaynons displayed and exhibited during the annual Sinigayan Festival as an eloquent assertion of thanksgiving for the bountiful blessings showered on the past year.



It is a native dance evolving out of the once religious rituals of our forefathers carried out through the ages and enriched by then intermingling of diverse Filipino customs and traditions, now gradually developing as a typically Sagaynon culture.



BRIEF BIO:

Born in the Cubic Bay, Philippines 1975. Later relocated to Virginia when she was 3. She immediately became aware of difference, colonialism and American Pop Culture; which heightened when she read an article about Andy Warhol's death. At an early age of 11, she found her life path to be a musician and artist. She bought her first bass at 11; bought a guitar at 12. She lived in the country. All she did was play music, make art and ruckus around with her punk rock friends. Michelle Sinigayan aka Buko Pan Guerra was professional art student all up until she was 26. She received a BFA in Crafts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1997 (Major: Ceramics, Minor: Furniture Design, Painting and Printmaking). Post-Undergrad at Ohio State University (Focus: Ceramics and Painting). She received her M.F.A from CalArts in 2001 (Focus: Video Installation Art).



When she visited to the Philippines for the first time when she was 21; she had no idea what it was to be a Filipino or it's history. She was the only Filipino she knew besides her mom and brother. At Ohio State she began her research on her on-going identity crisis. She continued this research during her graduate studies at CalArts. Her research resorted to her later changing her name to Buko Pan Guerra. Buko is Tagalog for Young Coconut. Pan comes from her mother's family surname, Panti. Guerra comes from Esguerra is her brother's last name. Pan Guerra coincidentally means Bread War in Spanish. She is now the Young Coconut Bread War. She no longer makes art for galleries. Rather than stuffy art galleries, she has found herself to be more comfortable in the LA Music Scene (i.e. bars and clubs). She brings herself on to the stage as a art piece and resorts to ancient traditions of music and oral story telling. Instead of trying to make a painting for one to gaze, she makes music for one to feel. Well, they still gaze. Sometimes they even dance.