Blog Tour: Guardians of Tradition + Giveaway

Hosted by Dia @Book Junkie Blog Tours

Hey, guys!  It's the last day of the blog tour, but we are closing it with a giveaway.

Guardians of Tradition: The Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (2012)

About the Book:

   

Author:  Mae Astrid Tobias

Illustrator:  Rommel E. Joson

Photographer:  Renato S. Rastrollo

Publisher:  Adarna

Pages:  32

Who are the indigenous and folk artists of the Philippines? Guardians of Tradition is full of facts about 11 of Philippine master weavers, folk musicians, performing artists, mat weavers and metalsmiths whose talents and skills have earned them the title Manlilikha ng Bayan. Designed to help children recognize native Filipino ingenuity and creativity, the book includes fun activities to promote an appreciation for culture and arts. Guardians of Tradition has a fun and colorful design that appeals to young readers.

Excerpt from the Book:

Uwang Ahadas always wears a pair of dark glasses. He lost his eyesight when he was only five. But he does not let his disability keep him from becoming a master of Yakan music.

Together with his siblings, he learned to play different instruments like the gabbang and the agung. The instrument called the kwintangan kayu is supposed to be played by women only, but Ahadas broke this tradition and learned how to play this.

Ahadas wants children to learn to play instruments while they are young because their hands and wrists are still flexible. He teaches them by showing them his techniques.

Even when working in the fields, the Yakans play their musical instruments. One of these instruments is gabbang. Small children play it to shoo away animals from planted crops. It looks like a xylophone, but it is made of five bamboo slats.

Another instrument is the kwintangan kayu which is made of five wooden logs hung horizontally under a tree near a rice field. It is played to make rice plants grow faster.

Uwang Ahadas, Maestro of Yakan Music (pp. 16-17)

About the Author:

MAE ASTRID TOBIAS (1979-2009) was a Palanca-award winning author of children’s books. In addition to Guardians of Tradition, her books include Blue Bananas (Crucible), Bayong ng Kuting (Lampara Books), My Forest Friends (Haribon), Bakawan (Adarna Books) and two books retelling the Ifugao traditional chant, hudhud. These are Halikpon: A Retelling of an Ancient Ifugao Chant and Pumbakhayon: An Origin Myth of the Ifugao Hudhud. Both are finalists for children’s literature and best design in the 2006 National Book Awards of the Manila Critics Circle.

She also spent several years in the field of children’s television. She served as the Manila Bureau Manager of Kabataan News Network, a project of UNICEF and Probe Media Foundation that trains young people nationwide on how to produce their own broadcast quality documentaries. She also wrote episodes for children shows like Sirit!, and ABS-CBN and Eskuwela ng Bayan, as well as worked for Philippine Junior Inquirer and Shell Foundation. She was a member of Kuwentista ng mga Tsikiting  (KUTING), an organization of Filipino writers for children.

About the Illustrator:

ROMMEL JOSON is a painter and an illustrator. He graduated magna cum laude and College Valedictorian from the University of Philippines College of Fine Arts. He was also a Merit Scholar and a recipient of the Dean’s Awards for Visual Awards from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management. He worked in the advertising industry for several years before devoting his time fully to painting and illustration. He has received awards and citations for painting, illustration, comics, and design from various organizations such as the Philippine Board of Books for Young People (Honorable Mention), the Shell National Art Competition (3rd Place Oil/Acrylic Category), the Neil Gaiman/Fully Booked Graphic Fiction Competition (3rd Place in the Graphic Fiction category), the Adobo Design Awards (Silver) and the Philippine Araw Awards (Silver in Art Direction) and the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence Competition (Semifinalist in Oil). He is currently an active member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK).

About the Photographer:

RENATO S. RASTROLLO, is a photographer, graphic artist, book and exhibit designer. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Advertising from the Philippine Women’s University. With over 25 years of experience in the field of documentary photography, his works have appeared in national and international publications. Presently, he is a culture and arts officer at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Links: 

Goodreads // Publisher // Adarna Order Form // NCCA

Guardians of Tradition Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read more →

Blog Tour: GUARDIANS OF TRADITION by Mae Astrid Tobias

This is the first blog tour I've joined.  And I'm so glad that this one is for the preservation of Philippine culture.  Besides, this one hit a lot closer to home.  My mother was born and raised in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.  When I was growing up, stories about the Bagobo, B’laan, T’boli, and Manday were just, well, stories.  But I especially love their folk tales, my siblings and I used to beg our mother to retell them.  It was not until later when I was exposed to history and arts did I truly comprehend who they really are.

The Philippine archipelago is approximately 300,000 square kilometers, made up of 7, 107 islands.  For such a small country, the diversity of people, language, and culture may be seen from more than 77 distinct cultural groups scattered throughout.  There are 175 known dialects and subdialects,  4 of which are already extinct.  And that's just language alone, people and culture were other stories to be concerned.

The Philippine culture is very rich.  It’s quite a huge effort to preserve and promote the practices, representations, knowledge, and skills that groups or individuals recognized as part of their cultural heritage.  These tasks fell under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) created by an act of the Philippine Congress in 1992 (Republic Act No. 7356).

To carry that mandate, Republic Act No. 7355 (1992) was institutionalized, providing for the recognition of National Living Treasures or “Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan” (GAMABA) and the promotion and development of traditional folk arts. This honored recognition is given to indigenous folk artists for their outstanding work in creating, preserving, and promoting traditional art forms threatened with extinction. Awarded were artists who have manifested willingness to share their rare skill with others, especially younger members of their community.

The book, Guardians of Tradition, aims nothing less.  It encourages the younger Philippine generations to recognize our National Living Treasures and value the traditions they teach.   Within its folds is invaluable information that can save our cultural heritage.

It is interactive.  Children will be delighted to follow Kiko and Banog through their journeys, meeting each Manlilikha ng Bayan in their native environment.  Each one is well represented engaged with their crafts in great photos and illustrations, followed by very interesting do-it-yourself crafts or challenging activities.  The way Kiko and Banog narrate each adventure, surely children will want to try them.

Another good character of the book is its vibe.  The book does represent traditional folk arts, but the narration and illustrations were not traditional.  Both Kiko and Banog are both hip and fit with the trend, which also implies that these traditions can definitely transcend time. Children will have no difficulty relating to them.

I highly recommend Guardians of Tradition.  I strongly believe that parents should have a big part in educating their children; recognizing and learning the traditional folk arts among that. Let us strive to save these arts from extinction. Recommend GUARDIANS OF TRADITION to your family and friends too.

Hosted by Dia @ Book Junkie Blog Tours

Book Details:

Title:  Guardians of Tradition

Author:  Mae Astrid Tobias

Illustrator:  Rommel E. Joson 

Photos by:  Renato S. Rastrollo

Publisher:  Adarna House

Pages:  32

Rating:  ★★★★★ 

For the duration of the Guardians of Tradition Blog Tour, Guardians of Tradition is available at discounted price at the Adarna showroom in Scout Torillo corner Scout Fernandez Streets, Barangay Sacred Heart, Quezon City 1103 Philippines (Trunkline: (632) 352-6765, Fax: (632) 352-6765 local 125, Email Address: adarnahouse@adarna.com.ph) 

AdarnaOrder Form

For international readers and Filipinos abroad, an ebook version is coming soon. To order paperback copies online, details here.

Read more →