Between the Living (Edith Tiempo Tribute Program)

Sep 24, 2011 by Jawz

On September the 21st, 2011, I got to sit in on an event called "Between the Living". It was a tribute program to Edith Tiempo, who had died on August the 21st, 2011. Edith Tiempo was a writer and was considered a national artist. The event was held on the rooftop of the Abreeza Mall of Davao and was sponsored by the University of the Philippines Mindanao, UP Literary Society, Tater's, Davao Writer's Guild, and the Abreeza Mall of Davao. The reason I got to attend this event was because I recently was invited and accepted into SALEM. SALEM is the Society of Ateneo Literature and English Majors, which isn't just for those majoring in Literature and English, but also extended to passionate student writers within the Ateneo de Davao University. Anyway,the event started around 6:00pm, but people started to come in around 5:30pm. At first, I didn't even expect it to be a big event. I had some idea in my head, based on a post on SALEM's Facebook group page, that we were going to meet up with the Davao Writer's Guild and eat food from the Tater's food kiosk at Abreeza's food court. My expectation was basically a dinner meet-up to pay tribute to a Philippine writer. I was wrong. As I walked towards the food court, I noticed event tents and tables set up around the open area of the mall's roof top. There was also a stage, a table of popcorn catered by Tater's, and students from several schools seated around the tables. I had a feeling that that was the event, but I wasn't too sure. I continued to the food court and looked around, then I finally concluded that the event must be happening at the tents. When I walked back, Joseph, a fellow SALEM member, gestured me to come over to the tents. We both happened to be the first of our group to have arrived there. A few minutes later, two or three more member of our group arrived.

 The event tents with students gathering under it

 

Before the event began, I was sitting there focused on the thought of how it happened to be bigger than my expectation. The tables were draped with red cloth, there were lanterns strung over the tents, there was a stage featuring two different portraits of Edith Tiempo perched on both sides, and there was catering by places such as Tater's, Ranchero's, and Sumo Sam. I had heard there was another event, a musical event, happening afterwards, so I wondered if all of the decor and catering was mainly for the next event rather than the one that I was attending.

The event started out with a speech and then was followed by several readings of Tiempo's writings. The readers of her works, and speeches of experiences with her, were by both notable people and student writers. One of the readers was Tita Lacambra-Ayala. This surprised me because she is the mother of the musician, Joey Ayala, who I saw in concert during the Kadayawan (as I have mentioned in my 'My Kadayawan 2011' blog post). Other readers/speakers were Dr. Macario D. Tiu, Aida Rivera-Ford, Tim Montez, and Dominique Cimafranca. During the event, there four different performances performed at different times. One of the performances was by a guitarist, who had written a composition to Tiempo. The other three performances were dances. The first dance was performed by a boy and a girl to the song "Hurricane" by 30 Seconds to Mars. I think they also did the second dance as well, but I wasn't sure if it was them or not. I also wasn't familiar with the song playing. I kind of found it funny when their second dance attracted the eyes of the store workers in the Robinson's department store, which was located right behind the stage. The third dance was performed by Jhoanna Cruz. She performed her version of a traditional Philippine dance called "Kapa Malong-Malong". After Jhonna had performed, she shared a slideshow dedicated to Tiempo. When the event came to a close, everyone hung around for photos. I had gotten some taken with writers present at the time. It was pretty cool. Overall, the event was a nice tribute. I enjoyed eating the popcorn from Tater's while watching the event. It had an amazing flavor which I found to be addictive. I also enjoyed seeing writers happily socializing with each other. I'm sure Edith Tiempo would have been happy to see the event.

A photo of me and Joseph (SALEM member) with Jhoanna Cruz and a photo of me and the SALEM members with Aida Rivera-Ford

YOU CAN CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF THE EVENT PHOTOS