TIM eMagazine Volume 3 Issue 12 | Page 77

TIM eMagazine Vol.3 Issue 12 Perfomatura: (l-r) Beverly W. Siy, Melanie A. Ramirez, Jose Tomasito N. Fernando, Ril Arguelles, Pauline Villaruel, Markus Aserit, Gwen Bautista,Macoy Coching, Hero Jairo Sedaria and Sherwin Lumbao Credit: Philip Ortaleza relevant and being discussed in our society today.  The first day of the Performatura was ded- icated to literature in general and spoken word performances. Slam poets will have a battle of words in the first ever Performatura Slam Poetry Contest; Resil Mojares was after receiving the National Artist for Literature Award last year, while Dumagats from MAU- BAN, Quezon Province staged the epic of Gat Uban; and the audience witnessed the launching of the official website of Huseng Batute, the first king of balagtasan. At 12 noon, the literary group Kuwit of the Phil- ippine High School for the Arts led a set of literary performances such as storytelling for children.  KomiCoching and Tiempoets  The second day of the Performatura honoured National Artist for Visual Arts and Dean of Illustrators Francisco V. Coching. As part of the first segment called CCP Café, the family gave intimate portrait of Coching as father, uncle and lolo. Amassing more than five million views on Facebook in their radio broadcast, Eastern Samar National Compre- Performatura 2019 is a performance literature festival celebrating the intersections of the written word and performance. The word Performatura is a mash up of the word performance and orature or oral literature. Orature is a term coined by Ugandan linguist Pio Zirimu who wanted to raise oral literature to the level of written literature. The festival’s director is poet and performer Dr. Vim Nadera, Jr. hensive High School students read Lapu-lapu, one of Coching’s works, in a dramatic fashion in front of a live audience. Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books Book Club conducted a book discussion about Coching’s El Indio. At 12 noon, Tadhana, a spoken word group, led a set of literary performances by women spoken word artists.  Noted komiks artists such as Randy Valiente paid their tribute to Coch- ing through workshop, talks and art activities. Performatura visitors also viewed the ongoing Coching Birth Centennial Exhibit entitled Nasaan ka na, Mara-bini? curated by Alice Sarmiento.  The last day of the festival honored of the National Artist for Literature Edith Tiempo in commemoration of her birth centennial. Fictionists and poets who were influenced by Tiempo made tribute performance to their beloved mentor through poetry reading and talks. Dumaguete’s Kahayag Dance Company performed Tiempo’s Bonsai. Featuring Tiempo’s life and works, an interactive centennial exhibit curated by Prof. DM Reyes and Gwen Bautista was also launched.  Performance literature experts Chris Mooney of Singapore and Azam Rais of Malaysia also did their perfor- mance sets and facilitated a workshop. CCP partnered with the Book Development Association of the Philip- pines for the three-day Aklatan All Filipino Book Fair.  www.culturalcen- ter.gov.ph Macoy Coching, Grandson of National Artist Francisco Coching Credit: Philip Ortaleza 77