LYDIA AND RON QUERIAN
Lydia Querian is a multifaceted artist known for her groundbreaking work in realms of fashion, dance, music and art production. With her visionary approach, she is a Telly Award winning artist who has created a mark on the cultural landscape of the Filipinx diasporic community by promoting pre-Philippine Indigenous living traditions. Born and raised in the heart of Metro Manila, Philippines, her early experiences were steeped in the balance of urban culture along with the influence of her family’s ancestral practices even after migrating from their respective provinces. In 2010, her journey to migrate to California was a transformative experience through gradually understanding the nuances and contrasting perspectives between her homeland and the Filipinx diasporic community. This served as a catalyst for her continuous evolution and work. As a dance artist, Lydia toured both nationally and internationally alongside respected groups such as Dancing Earth, Kularts, Parangal Dance Company, Fusion Dance Project and San Francisco Kulintang Legacy. Her artistic presences graced several stages including Smithsonian FolkLife, Merrie Monarch, Folk Faro Portugal and Danza in Spain. Her community work extends beyond stage co-founding organization and chairing others with programs that became pillars in the Filipinx diasporic community both in California and Hawaii including the only Kulintang Festival in North America - Gongster’s Paradise and Uni at Ugat, the only Filipino Indigenous focused music camp in North America. In fashion, her work has been featured in fashion week runways in New York and Paris and has been featured as a designer in Vogue, Preview and Huffington Post. She believes that by marrying timeless Indigenous wisdom with art forms of the present, we stand as ambassadors of tradition, protectors of the environment and champions of change.
Ron Querian also known as Kulintronica is a musician on a mission to make kulintang a "house"-hold name by fusing this ancient Filipino gong instrument with modern electronic dance music. As a product of San Francisco's eclectic multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary art scene, Kulintronica was once a guitar and bass player in various groups. Solidifying his work ethic, getting command of different tempos, and incorporating more technology into his instrument, his artistic direction led him to lead an improvisational live looping dance band; until a cultural awakening led him down a new exciting direction. An invitation to perform at a Philippine Culture Night after participating in a Rondalla workshop ended up being a life changing experience. The repertoire for this show required not only guitar music but also the diversity of Philippine musical instruments including all shapes of bamboo and various sizes of gongs. This experience awakened something within the young musician known as Ron, and he found himself unable to turn away from the music of his Filipino ancestors. Not long after this, Ron met the master kulintang artist Danongan "Danny" Kalanduyan. Under Kalanduyan's tutelage, Ron learned of the traditional art of Maguindanaoan kulintang playing, and the potential of kulintang music to reach people on a deep level. He also had his own ideas to combat the threat that kulintang music might cease to grow. Having armed himself with an intergenerational wealth of musical methods and compositions, Ron put all of his gathered tools and experiences together to synthesize a new kulintang music for the new generation, and it is called Kulintronica.