The need to ‘go beyond 60’

While others watched the world’s most iconic landmarks go dark for one designated hour as part of this year’s celebration of Earth Hour, I, on the other hand, sat in front of a solar-powered light emitting diode (LED) installation to play a bamboo percussion instrument called the tongatong, which was originally used by the people of Kalinga to communicate with spirits during house blessings.

Pounding the instrument against the ground created a reverberating drone though the instrument’s open mouth. Its interloping rhythm serving as a pulsating beat that called on people to a perichoretic trance that drew them together to dance in the middle of the circle that we were playing in.

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