Song of the Bird King – Trailer from Song of the Bird King on Vimeo.

About the title film: Song of The Bird King

In these postmodern times of globalization there is the increasing disconnection with our history and roots. Our ancestors once breathed creative and spiritual inspiration into our growing civilizations. The wildlife and people of the land and waters carried the history that helped us understand our sense of being. Today we suffer a crisis of loss and disconnection from our culture and land. To be able to move forward we must understand our past. With music, Song of the Bird King brings us the stories of land and loss and the urgency to preserve our heritage.

Song of the Bird King is a 90-minute documentary about two musicians who by following in the sky the almost extinct Bird King, find and meet seven disappearing tribes across the Philippine Islands. While reversing the environmental causes to halt their demise might take too long or be too late for it, both musicians set up to record their oral tradition, music and dance before their extinction becomes definite and irreversible.

Animation captures their rich dreamlike tales while live performances and interviews to singers, dancers, instrument builders, elders and experts in music and ecology explore their thousand year old culture and knowledge now in high contrast with the devastation of their environment.

The musicians, Susie and Roberto, create in the recording studio a place for the Indigenous people’s voices to be heard. As the Bird King travels to each province, the tribes’ music rituals tell their stories of land and loss. Visual and audio effects convey the clash between tradition and urbanization.

With mixed media storytelling, Song of the Bird King reveals the legacy of our ancestors and the urgency to preserve our Indigenous culture and wildlife on this earth. Through imagination and creativity, the power of music gives voice to Indigenous artists and wildlife that otherwise cannot be heard.