On December 28, 2025, a cross-section of Filipino artists and cultural workers convened at Soultrap Studio in Al Quoz for KULTURA at KAMALAYAN, a small-format cultural assembly designed to foreground heritage, dialogue, and contemporary creative practice within the diaspora.
The program was organized through a collaboration between ANYO, a Dubai-based clothing label known for Baybayin-inspired design, and PhatG Legendary, an independent Filipino rap artist whose work engages themes of identity, awareness, and self-expression. Rather than positioning itself as a conventional showcase, the gathering was structured as an open cultural space where multiple art forms and disciplines could intersect.
Attendees included designers, musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, dancers, and cultural advocates, many of whom regularly work across collaborative and community-led projects. The event also functioned as a soft launch for KAMALAYAN, an upcoming joint album by PhatG Legendary and Ian Gustavo, introduced within a live, collective listening environment rather than a formal release setting.
The evening opened with a classic Filipino playlist and ambient selections curated by DJ Mckie of WYWY. The soundscape set a measured tempo for the night, encouraging conversation and attentiveness as participants moved through the space.
Central to the program were a series of moderated discussions under the KULTURA at KAMALAYAN banner, hosted by Trixie. Speakers represented different creative disciplines, including Baybayin art and calligraphy, cultural dance, spoken word and hip-hop, tattoo art rooted in precolonial scripts, and film and visual storytelling. Contributors included Gino of ANYO, Sinagbayin, WRECKD, cultural dancers, and PhatG Legendary. The exchanges examined creative responsibility, cultural transmission, and the shifting contours of Filipino identity outside the Philippines.
Live performances followed the conversations, emphasizing practice over presentation. The sequence included traditional Filipino dances, Arnis martial arts demonstrations, and instrumental performances using indigenous Filipino instruments. NEIL of KUNTAW MINDANAO provided an instrumental set that drew on ancestral sound traditions, while Sinagbayin delivered a spoken word performance centered on cultural memory and emotional continuity. Gino later performed Baybayin calligraphy live, transforming script into a visual act witnessed in real time.
The program concluded with a live rap set by PhatG Legendary featuring material from KAMALAYAN. The performance framed hip-hop as a reflective medium, aligning lyrical content with the broader themes of consciousness and collective experience established earlier in the evening.
KAMALAYAN, the collaborative album introduced during the event, is scheduled for release following the listening sessions presented at Soultrap Studio.
