On October 28th, Philippine Centre Canada (PCC) hosted a Music and Songwriting workshop as part of the “Promoting Mental Health and Well-being Among Filipino-Canadian Youth Through Art and Music” project, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada through the Canadian Red Cross.

This workshop had our largest attendance! Special thanks to Richmond Guillermo, the chaplain for St. Patrick’s High School and this workshop’s facilitator who went above and beyond to share this workshop with all his students.

This workshop entitled “Songwriting from the Heart,” was triumphantly led by Nona Grandea, a singer, songwriter and musician based in Ottawa, ON. She is also the band leader of HIMIG MASA, a Filipino music collective also based in Ottawa. After introducing herself, she taught the students some basic songwriting philosophy, such as identifying positive and negative feelings, speaking one’s truth and developing the courage to share one’s experiences in the form of lyrics. 

The students were extremely excited to write their songs. After the lecture, students split into groups and began brainstorming. They also had access to a variety of musical instruments, including guitars, pianos, and percussion instruments. 

After reflection exercises and a dose of inspiration from a live performance by Nona, the students shared a powerful display of musical insight into their lives. They created original pieces expressed in a variety of genres such as hip-hop, rap, R&B, gospel and spoken word. It was motivating to see over 30 youth share authentically and encourage their peers.

Thank you to everyone who attended and who helped make this workshop happen. We are hopeful that this workshop has sparked new interests and has empowered many youths. 

Nona and HIMIG MASA performed at our finale multimedia exhibit: EKSPRESYON, which was held at the JACKSON CAFÉ  Monday, December 4.