META AND THE BARKADA ALL OF LIFE IS A REMIX Meta and the Barkada offer their own unique flavor of hip-hop Photo courtesy of Meta and the Barkada META SARMIENTO is an awardwinning, world-traveling poet, rapper, and filmmaker. He is also the son of Filipino immigrants who grew up in Guam before relocating to Denver around a JOSHUA ABEYTA DENVER VOICE MUSIC REPORTER decade ago. As his love for culture and creativity continued to weave the threads of new possibilities, his desire to move with a crew became undeniable. “As I got older, I realized that one of the core aspects of my art is community, and there is no better example of community in action than a band, and I’ve always craved it,” said Sarmiento “We had some meaningful conversations around what direction we wanted to go in, and we all decided as a collective that we wanna do this for real, and that we believe in ourselves. We believe that our music can become the soundtrack to people’s lives, and it can also be the soundtrack to some revolutionary shit,” Sarmiento added. Thus, the Barkada was born. Barkada is Tagalog for “homies” or “chosen family,” and is derived from the Spanish root word barcada, which means boatload. The community that Sarmiento formed settled on the name after tossing around ideas, and with some help from the group’s extended family. Guitarist Tommy Gatmaitan said, “At first, the group chat was called Meta and the Mob. We were thinking we wanted to do something with that cadence, but with a different description. I went home and was talking to my wife, Nikki, about it. I [said], ‘They have all these words in Tagalog, and nothing really clicks’. And she said, ‘Oh, you guys are friends. Right?” Nikki’s suggestion was presented at the next rehearsal, and the name was quickly adopted by unanimous decision. With that settled, the group began to dig deeper. The band met primarily through their connections to the Filipino-American Community of Colorado, with most members performing in the organization’s Padayon, a traditional performance group. This cultural identity is strongly woven throughout the Barkada’s music as they incorporate traditional instruments such as the kulintang, a series of different-sized, knobbed brass or bronze gongs, and themes relating to Eskrima, the national martial arts of the Philippines, in addition to more modern instruments such as guitar, bass, keys, and drums. “I think the beautiful part of rap and hip-hop is [that] it comes from sampling,” said Lianza Yap, the group’s bassist. “And it comes from different genres. We’re realizing where our backgrounds can fit together into a band.” Sarmiento added, “I think we’re interested in answering the question, how does it look for us to take something traditional and make it modern? A lot of cultural groups, music, and choreography take this thing that existed in the past and present it like it’s a current occurring thing. So, I think it’s important to preserve cultural histories and dances and chants and songs, but I’m interested in what does it mean to innovate something culturally new? I think all life is a remix.” Hip-hop is not a monolith, with personalities and subgenres as vast and wide as the number of native tongues spoken globally. Sarmiento raps in both English and Tagalog, an indigenous language of the Philippines that serves as the basis for the standardized national language, Filipino. “I think for me, as one of the main writers of the lyrics, I’m trying to complicate the conversation around Asian Pacific Islander identity, and I’m just tired of things not being nuanced,” said Sarmiento. “I think that a lot of our histories and our uniqueness gets flattened, so that we can have these wide sweeping general conversations about who we are, where we come from, and where we go next. I also think that, you know, the world is fucked up, and we’re just also trying to bring some joy back into hip-hop.” While the Barkada is currently working on their debut studio album as a group, they have released a few live performance videos, and Sarmiento has ample recordings available on streaming platforms from his time as a solo rapper. Sarmiento’s lyrics are heartfelt, honest, witty, dynamic, and unapologetic, traits that are on full display in his video for “Good I Have”. The video, which reads as a short film depicting a dispatch from a far-flung leg of his travels, recalls the nostalgia of backpack hip-hop in the early aughts as he delivers his hopes and dreams through rhyme, snapshots, and … ice fishing. When performing live, Sarmiento possesses the stage presence of a grizzled veteran, paired with youthful energy that draws you in like a heat-seeking missile. The Barkada, consisting of Gatmaitan, Yip, Anthony Lopez Berenguel on drums, and Sarah Garcia on keys and kulintang, lays down infectious grooves and gives Meta the space to paint pictures with his words. The energy resonates throughout the group, and their love for one another is infectious. The group’s revolutionary ideals don’t stop when the curtain closes. They recently performed at a benefit show, which raised $700 for the Micronesia Climate Change Alliance. Sarmiento has been trained as an ICE confirmer and legal observer, and the group’s members have supported and continue to support and organize around Indigenous rights causes such as Standing Rock and Free Palestine. They see the struggles in both their homeland and here in America as undeniably intertwined with the struggles of other oppressed people across the globe, and they are using their music and actions to fight for justice here and abroad. Learn more at reachmeta.com DENVER VOICE NEWS 7
8 Publizr Home