Pinoy Pride: Lea Salonga

She's said to be the Philippine's living national treasure.


Lea Salonga (born February 22, 1971) is a Filipina singer and actress. She started performing professionally in the Philippines at age 7, but she gained international exposure just a decade later as a teenager when she landed the role that would propel her onto the global stage. Lea played Kim, a young viatnamese woman in Miss Saigon, a role for which she earned the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and Theater World awards. She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and Fantine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway. She also provided the singing voice of the two Asian Disney "princesses": Jasmine inAladdin (1992), and Fa Mulan in Mulan (1998) and Mulan II (2004).


Here is Lea recording Disney's "A Whole New World" for Alladin:

Lea Salonga in her extraordinary rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" as Fantine during the 25th year anniversary of Les Miserables:

In 2004, she got married to Robert Charles Chien, a Chinese-Japanese managing director based in Los Angeles. They have a daughter, Nicole Beverly, who was born on May 16, 2006. In 2008, she became a columnist for a national paper, The Philippine Daily Inquirer. She's been performing ever since, one of the recent ones is the role of Drizabella in the Manila run of of the Asia-Pacific tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. On 15 October 2010, Lea Salonga was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).


A famous Philippine DJ, Mo Twister, calls Lea "hands-down, the most intelligent celebrity I've met." She is also an avid video game enthusiast, and has mentioned her love for the hobby in several of her print articles. 


Lea is a world-renowned singer-actress, mom, columnist, model, endorser and even a gamer! That is the embodiment of Filipino talent and pride - a living national treasure indeed. Thank you Lea for making us proud to be Filipino.


This is PinoyTunes the Podcast on Lea Salonga: 

For Lea Salonga's Official Website, click here. 

Outstanding Filipino: KC Concepcion

As much as we love the Philippines, we also need to honor outstanding Filipinos who make us proud to be one. 


KC Concepcion (born Maria Kristina Cassandra Cuneta Concepcion on April 7, 1985) is a Filipina actress and singer. She's the daughter of the Philippine megastar, Sharon Cuneta and actor Gabby Concepcion - the most promising reel couple back in the 80s admired by millions of fans all throughout the country. She graduated at the prestigious American University of Paris with a Bachelor's degree in International Communications, minor in Theater Arts. Instead of pursuing her studies in the United States which she originally thought of doing after her stint in Paris, Concepcion went back home to the Philippines and made her official acting debut. It was in early 2008 when she wowed fans with a special number for her mother's birthday concert, a TV special featuring her last days in Paris, and her first ever television drama special.


Proving to be more than just a beauty, KC is also a dancer, photography enthusiast, model, and a fantastic blogger. In spite all of these achievements, she adds another feather in her hat as being the current National Ambassador Against Hunger of the UN's World Food Program.

                            KC is "Fabulously Pinay" like her shirt says.

Recently, she traveled to the island of Mindanao, one of the country's intriguing regions. The only island in the Philippines to host a large Muslim population, Mindinao also suffers from high levels of child malnutrition. KC’s journey takes her from a school where local children are celebrating the Islamic New Year to a woman’s cooperative and health centre where food is provided to those in need.


                            
                        

She's indeed beauty and brains, and more. Talented, humble, sincere, intelligent, hardworking - she's the perfect role model for the modern-day Filipina. 


To learn more about KC's work for the UN, click here. 

Filipino Food: Lechon

Filipino cuisine is distinguished by its bold combination of sweet (tamis), sour (asim), and salty (alat) flavors. Filipino palates prefer a sudden influx of flavor, although most dishes are not heavily spiced. While other Asian cuisines may be known for a more subtle delivery and presentation, Filipino cuisine is often delivered all at once in a single presentation.

I conducted a poll in which my friends chose their ultimate Filipino comfort food. I got answers such as lechon, rice, adobo, chicharon, banana cue... Which we will all get to discuss someday. For now, let's handle one.

The lechon (pronounced LE-ch-on) in the Philippines connotes a whole roasted pig, "lechón baboy." Anton Bourdain of Travel Channel's No Reservations, a show that uncovers the best culinary cuisines around the world, declared Philippine lechon as the top in his hierarchy of pork. By reputation, the Cebu lechon is considered by most as the tastiest and crispiest, with such flavorful meat that condiments or sauce are typically not necessary anymore.

This is the Episode 1 of Anton Bourdain's Philippine trip, where he doesn't only praise the famous Philippine lechon, but tastes the other amazingness that Filipino food is all about. Enjoy!

 

For those who wants the see the whole episode, click here.

The Banaue Rice Terraces

"The Ifugao Rice Terraces epitomize the absolute blending of the physical, socio-cultural, economic, religious, and political environment. Indeed, it is a living cultural landscape of unparalleled beauty." 

These are the words used by UNESCO to describe the famous Philippine wonder.

The Banaue (pronounced as BA-na-weh) Rice Terraces,  are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao, Philippines about 2,000-3,000 years ago. The tribes people did this with their bare hands and crude implements, without using machinery to level the steps where they plant their rice, which is what makes this wonder so attractive, aside from the fact that the rice terraces are still used today. It is commonly referred by the Filipinos as "Eight Wonder of the World." 


This is considered to be one of the greatest engineering feats of mankind, because if each one were connected end to end, then they would reach halfway across the globe or be 10 times as long as the Great Wall of China. It was not until only 13 years ago (1995) that the Banaue Rice Terraces were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.


Even though it is about 8 or 9 hours from Manila in a car, the Banaue rice terraces are known to be one of the most spectacular places to see in the Philippines. What is the purpose of the rice terraces? They transformed the Cordillera mountains of barren stone into ledges that are fit to grow rice.

Sinulog 2011 (Cebu, Philippines)

Sinulog is held each year on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City to honor the Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is essentially a dance ritual which remembers the Filipino people’s pagan past and their acceptance of Christianity.


This is a 15-second clip from the Sinulog Festival in Cebu, Philippines. I was able to witness the Philippines' biggest street party first-hand! Enjoy!