Pantayo

Meet the quintet that’s bound to redefine the phrase “gong show.” Pantayo’s music is anchored by the traditional Southern Philippine kulintang, a series of melodic gongs horizontally arranged and played like a xylophone, along with other traditional instruments, lo-fi, punk, EDM, R&B, synth-pop and a determination to be 14,000 kilometres away from anything resembling musical convention. In the southern Philippines, kulintang music is played by multiple Indigenous groups during ceremonial and everyday events like weddings and village homecomings. This all-female collective of queer diasporic Filipinas switch between instruments and share vocal duties, delivering lyrics in English and Tagalog to explore atonal percussion and driving rhythms. Their Polaris Prize shortlisted debut album was produced by alaska B of Canadian operatic rockers Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, with whom Pantayo previously collaborated on the soundtrack to the 2016 indie game Severed. The band’s name means “for us” in Tagalog — well, lucky us, especially if we’re inclined to get up and dance.