Filipinos are known to “service the world” in various roles—taking on different jobs in the service industry globally, from domestic helpers, nurses and caregivers, to entertainers and restaurant staff, among others. The Overseas Filipino Musician (OFM) is no stranger to this global industry phenomenon. They manifest in the form of “cover bands” to cater to the demand for western music in hotels, clubs, and entertainment parks all over the world.
In The Filipino Superwoman Band, Eisa Jocson together with co-singers Bunny Cadag and Cathrine Go mirror the care work of Filipino migrant workers, including the adoption of particular vocal inflections and coded gestures using a repertoire built around the 1989 single “Superwoman” by American R&B singer Karyn White. The song, a wife’s lament against being taken for granted, enjoyed regular airplay in 1990s Manila (it was such a hit among local listeners that a Filipino version “Hindi Ako Si Darna” / “I Am Not Superwoman” was also produced). With sound design by Teresa Barrozo alongside video projections by Franchesca Casauay, the performance enacts a gendered occupation of feminine affective labour. The Filipino live band format then becomes the site of artistic interrogation: from its set conventions and song contents to the aesthetic codes and affective strategies used by Filipino musicians to engage their foreign and local audiences in a live music show.
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Reviews
Mina Etemad wrote in De Volkskrant about The Filipino Superwoman Band: “The intelligent and entertaining performance ‘The Filipino Superwoman Band’ questions the role of Filipino people in the West”. Read the full review here.
“The strongest part of the performance is the use of blackout poetry in the song lyrics of Superwoman.” Joost Ramaer wrote about the performance for the Dutch platform Theaterkrant: read the review here.
Awards
- Eisa Jocson – recipient of the 2018 Cultural Center of the Philippines 13 Artists Award, the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award 2019, and the Tabori International Award 2023 in Germany
- Superwoman: Empire of Care, a K-pop music video iteration of The Filipino Superwoman Band performance, won the SeMa-HANA Award (Seoul MediaCity Biennale, South Korea) in 2021.
