Latest news with #Cervantes
New Straits Times
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
Kuntaw Mindanao meets the press, hopes to build bridge of peace
KUCHING: Coming from a region that has seen its fair share of bloodshed caused by armed conflicts, the Filipino ensemble at this year's Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), Kuntaw Mindanao, hopes their music can bridge people together for a dialogue. As winners of the Freedom to Create Prize at the Sharq Taronalari Festival in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in 2015 for their role in promoting peace and harmony, the band's artistic director, Neil Cervantes, said he knew some people who tried to heal the pain of war through music. The band's music is a fusion of traditional Mindanao instruments like the kulintang and gongs with the acoustic guitar, modern drums and bass. Despite all their efforts, the members admitted that music alone could not bring peace long and lasting peace. But Cervantes, in a special interview today, said music could be a bridge for dialogue. The group originates from Tagum City, Davao del Norte in Mindanao, and it was established under the Kreativ Union of Today's Artists and Writers (Kuntaw) framework. One of their original hits is Una, which aligned with the band's activist orientation. Una means "first" in Tagalog and the song centres on themes of social transformation, freedom, justice and peace, which were described as "common threads in their repertoire". Una is also part of their original works that blended indigenous Mindanaoan musical traditions with modern influences. Kuntaw Mindanao will take to the stage at 9.50pm tomorrow (Saturday) and they are the second-last performers before Earth, Wind and Fire Experience by Al McKay. The 28th edition of the annual three-day music festival, which starts today at the Sarawak Cultural Village at the foot of Mount Santubong, some 21km from here, will feature 200 performers from 20 groups and from 20 countries, including Malaysia.
Borneo Post
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Borneo Post
RWMF 2025: Philippines' Kuntaw Mindanao to showcase power of Southeast Asian indigenous music (Video)
Cervantes (centre) is seen in a group photo with other Kuntaw Mindanao members. – Photo by Roystein Emmor SANTUBONG (June 20): The Philippines' ethno-rock group Kuntaw Mindanao hopes to use the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2025 stage to convey a powerful message of the richness and relevance of Southeast Asian indigenous music. Artistic director Neil Cervantes said the group's core message this year centres on the vibrancy of indigenous music and its potential to inspire change. 'For us, we want to send the message that Asian music, particularly here in Southeast Asia, and to be specific, also in the Philippines, Mindanao, we have these rich musical traditions,' he said during an interview at here today. He noted that mainstream music in the region often follows Western formulas, leaving indigenous traditions sidelined. 'That's why our thrust would be to emphasise that we have these indigenous musical traditions that are very rich and colourful; and they're alive and evolving,' he said. Kuntaw Mindanao fuses the indigenous musical instruments and melodies of Mindanao with modern rock and contemporary elements, blending tradition with innovation. 'It's not about just a preservation of culture, but it's more of how this culture develops into a force that can change people, can change communities,' Cervantes said. On the role of international performances, Cervantes said events such as RWMF influence their approach and sound. 'It gives us more ideas and it develops our sound that encompasses nations or our culture … rooted but at the same time relatable to everyone,' he explained. 'We also performed at an international festival in 2015, Sharq Taronalari in Uzbekistan. It really improves our musicality when you're exposed to other cultures, other music. It really changed the way we sound, but we remain rooted with our traditions.' The group also shared the story behind their track 'Una', which means 'first' in Tagalog. Cervantes said the song pays tribute to the indigenous peoples of Mindanao. He explained that in Mindanao, indigenous communities often develop an inferiority complex. 'In musical terms, for example, when people see the kulintang, they often don't understand it. They think it's something inferior, especially when compared to dominant modern or Western music,' he said. 'We want to emphasise that it's not inferior. If you really study kulintang music, it's very rich in musical traditions. And it's Asian, right? It has shared musical culture with other Southeast Asian nations like the gamelan.' Cervantes also believes music can act as a bridge to bring people closer. 'Though music alone cannot build peace or achieve a long and lasting peace, it can be a bridge, a tool. People will tone down and open themselves for dialogue. 'Just playing music, it really comforts the distorts and distorts the comfort,' he added. Kuntaw Mindanao is set to perform on the RWMF main stage tomorrow at 9.50pm. Formed in Tagum City, Philippines, Kuntaw Mindanao is known for blending indigenous instrumentation with contemporary genres to promote cultural identity and resistance. Their music carries themes of indigenous pride and the struggle to protect ancestral lands. 27th Rainforest World Music Festival indigenous music Kuntaw Mindanao lead
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
The votes are in: This is WA's BEST lobster restaurant
The votes are in, and Lobster Shack Cervantes has officially been crowned WA's Best Lobster Restaurant for 2025, taking top honours in Western Rock Lobster's annual public-voted competition. In a strong field of over 40 nominated venues across Western Australia, the Lobster Shack was a convincing winner from the almost 900 public votes - a standout result in a competition that has been led in recent years by The Cray Belmont, a consistent favourite with a strong following. While The Cray Belmont and The Cray Currambine placed second and third respectively this year, the Cervantes favourite took a well-earned place at the top of the podium. For General Manager Nikki Thompson, the win is a reflection of deep roots, community pride, and the shared experience of enjoying a world-class seafood resource. 'Lobster Shack all started from a love of fishing,' Nikki said. 'It's a way of life that's been passed down through our family since the 1960s, back at the old shacks in Green Island/Grey. We wanted to share our passion for lobster and fresh seafood with everyone, somewhere relaxed, welcoming, and family-friendly - where anyone can come and taste some of WA's best seafood, straight from the ocean.' Since opening in 2010, the Shack has grown from humble beginnings into a must-visit destination, now serving around 65,000 lobsters each year. Its location in Cervantes, one of WA's iconic coastal towns, underscores how vital the lobster fishery is in underpinning local economies and livelihoods. 'The ocean shaped who we are,' Nikki continued. 'We've brought fishing, processing, tourism and hospitality together under one roof to deliver the full pot-to-plate lobster experience. It's about creating jobs, supporting other local businesses, and putting Cervantes on the map.' The Western Rock Lobster fishery, which is recognised globally as a leader in sustainability and aquatic resource management, plays a vital role in ensuring that this premium product remains accessible and available to the local community, not just export markets. Restaurants like Lobster Shack serve as a direct link between the fishery and the public, sharing the resource in a way that is both engaging and inclusive. 'Lobster Shack isn't just family run - it's community run,' Nikki added. 'We're raising our kids here. We're part of the footy club, the schoolyard. Our team are locals, and our customers often become part of the story. We couldn't do it without them.' This year's win is a celebration not just of a restaurant, but of the wider community, fishery, and coastline it represents. Lobster Shack's success is a reminder that when you combine passion, place, and purpose—you serve up more than just a great meal. You serve a connection to something bigger. Four lucky winners from the public who voted in this year's competition will receive a $150 voucher to their nominated restaurant plus a $100 voucher for Back of Boat sales, to be used for this year's peak Christmas period. Winners will be published this Friday on the website and mentioned on the Back of Boat Lobsters Facebook page.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Brad Pitt's F1 movie is formulaic. But after all, this is Formula 1
Watching Brad Pitt's new racing movie, F1 The Movie, I am a bit like a Labrador at the beach. Because as I try to follow the racing rules, overdone plot beats and famous faces, I am generally confused, have no idea what anyone is doing, am more than a little annoyed by the music and will probably squeeze in a few opportune moments to nap. But on the whole, I'm still excited to be here. Despite the many, many bumps on the road, F1 still manages to roll us across the finish line — something a bit easier perhaps for a genre whose only demand is showing things go really fast. Following itinerant, woebegone Formula 1 racing alum Sonny Hayes (Pitt), the film hits all the requirements of the genre. Hayes is a down-on-his-luck, grizzled vet with a chip on his shoulder, and when we meet him, he's skipping around the world's racing circuits as a gun-for-hire. Anyone looking for a devil-may-care driver to push them over the edge is enough to get him. What if they can't pay much? Doesn't matter. Money, Hayes assures us, isn't the point. So what is the point? That's a fuzzy proposition — one that only gets fuzzier as his old racing buddy Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) tracks him down at one of the rathole dive bars he frequents these days. Cervantes is wearing a Gucci suit, but the flash is for show — despite ruling the roost as the owner of the APX F1 racing team, he's currently $350 million in the hole. WATCH | F1 The Movie trailer: It gets worse. Cervantes's lead driver has hit the road, his other driver is the renegade rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and if his pathetic team doesn't manage to win at least one of the nine races left in the season, the board can force Cervantes to sell. This makes Hayes his best bet; or, his best bet after nine earlier options turned him down. In Hayes's favour is his erstwhile superstar status. That is, before a spectacular crash broke a couple of vertebrae and forced him into the relatively slower lanes of NASCAR and off-road racing. At the same time, Hayes's clinically cavalier attitude at least gives Cervantes a shot. But this entails Hayes and Pearce getting over their egos to help one another, instead of turning their souped-up testosterone-mobiles into 300 km/h metaphors for unmanaged inadequacy complexes and chronic intimacy intolerance. So in essence, Ford v. Ferrari. Or Rush. Or, perhaps most similarly, Talladega Nights. Or really, any racing movie ever made. The films are never about racing per se, but about the romantic ideals of self-destructive masculine pride and will-they-or-won't-they competitive camaraderie. This time, the through-line is something closer to Call Me By Your Name: a mentorship-slash-rivalry between Hayes and Pearce that — for the most part — gives the otherwise formulaic plot some momentum. Which, to be fair, is the least interesting form of momentum on offer when judging a movie promising so much exhilarating action it advertised through a haptic trailer. This is an Imax feature using characters as an excuse for racing, and it shows — primarily, for how much those racing scenes pop. With cameras mounted on the hoods, dashes, rooftops and bumpers of the most popular motorsport in the world, F1 performs best as all good racing movies do: when all the annoying storylines have been dealt with so we can get back to the track, the whole reason we and our dads bothered heading to the theatre. This is good given the fact that the canned, often clunky non-racing scenes alternately drag or work against the film's theme. For example, Hayes's constant flirting with team technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) might not flesh out either of the characters, but where would we be without a romantic subplot? The contrived one-liners don't evoke an Ocean's 11 old-school vibe so much as draw attention to how far from classic this film is. Maybe we can excuse Bardem for unironically uttering the line, "The board is up my ass." Or rejigging Talladega Nights' satirical quip "If you're not first, you're last" into the more self-serious "Sometimes when you lose, you win." And what about when McKenna cuttingly remarks, "They're saying Sonny Hayes isn't a has-been — he's a never-was"? Well, that one's a bit harder to forgive. For those without deep knowledge of Formula 1, what may be worse is the logic of the races themselves. Hayes's whole schtick is fudging the arcane rules of the sport to force an advantage — a sort of Moneyball rehash for Pitt, except with fewer whiteboards. For those of us lacking the experiential understanding of how, for example, damaged wings can lead to red flags, it may be a bit hard to keep track of the how or why of it all. If it weren't for the frequently yelled explanations from racing analysts describing just how Hayes has subverted the rules, it may be impossible to follow why he's so impressive at all. Or whether he's ingeniously winning or blatantly losing when he and his partner crash into a barrier. And another barrier. And lose. And lose again. And, infuriatingly, tease the audience with more failure to the point where you wonder whether these are the same guys tailgating you on duller stretches of Highway 1. Which, again, is less important than how fast the cars go. Complaining about the structure feels like a fool's errand — though it would be even more foolish not to mention how the ending seems to invalidate everything that came before. There's a bait-and-switch that takes Hayes's character arc and completely undoes it. The film uses a thousand symbols pointing out how the allure of racing glory has been destroying him, only to then twist them around to say he was always right to yearn for it. It is the screenwriting equivalent of Fast & Furious actors' contractual requirement that they don't lose fights, in order to ensure they continue looking heroic. It is the character-growth equivalent of having their cake and eating it, too, and then eating seven more. And then opening a bakery. It's a silly, counterproductive narrative failing. But really, who cares? We're here to see cars go fast. And when Pitt's behind the wheel, do they ever.
CBC
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Brad Pitt's F1 movie is formulaic. But after all, this is Formula 1
Watching Brad Pitt's new racing movie, F1 The Movie, I am a bit like a Labrador at the beach. Because as I try to follow the racing rules, overdone plot beats and famous faces, I am generally confused, have no idea what anyone is doing, am more than a little annoyed by the music and will probably squeeze in a few opportune moments to nap. But on the whole, I'm still excited to be here. Despite the many, many bumps on the road, F1 still manages to roll us across the finish line — something a bit easier perhaps for a genre whose only demand is showing things go really fast. Following itinerant, woebegone Formula 1 racing alum Sonny Hayes (Pitt), the film hits all the requirements of the genre. Hayes is a down-on-his-luck, grizzled vet with a chip on his shoulder, and when we meet him, he's skipping around the world's racing circuits as a gun-for-hire. Anyone looking for a devil-may-care driver to push them over the edge is enough to get him. What if they can't pay much? Doesn't matter. Money, Hayes assures us, isn't the point. So what is the point? That's a fuzzy proposition — one that only gets fuzzier as his old racing buddy Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) tracks him down at one of the rathole dive bars he frequents these days. Cervantes is wearing a Gucci suit, but the flash is for show — despite ruling the roost as the owner of the APX F1 racing team, he's currently $350 million in the hole. WATCH | F1 The Movie trailer: It gets worse. Cervantes's lead driver has hit the road, his other driver is the renegade rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), and if his pathetic team doesn't manage to win at least one of the nine races left in the season, the board can force Cervantes to sell. This makes Hayes his best bet; or, his best bet after nine earlier options turned him down. In Hayes's favour is his erstwhile superstar status. That is, before a spectacular crash broke a couple of vertebrae and forced him into the relatively slower lanes of NASCAR and off-road racing. At the same time, Hayes's clinically cavalier attitude at least gives Cervantes a shot. But this entails Hayes and Pearce getting over their egos to help one another, instead of turning their souped-up testosterone-mobiles into 300 km/h metaphors for unmanaged inadequacy complexes and chronic intimacy intolerance. So in essence, Ford v. Ferrari. Or Rush. Or, perhaps most similarly, Talladega Nights. Or really, any racing movie ever made. The films are never about racing per se, but about the romantic ideals of self-destructive masculine pride and will-they-or-won't-they competitive camaraderie. This time, the through-line is something closer to Call Me By Your Name: a mentorship-slash-rivalry between Hayes and Pearce that — for the most part — gives the otherwise formulaic plot some momentum. Which, to be fair, is the least interesting form of momentum on offer when judging a movie promising so much exhilarating action it advertised through a haptic trailer. This is an Imax feature using characters as an excuse for racing, and it shows — primarily, for how much those racing scenes pop. With cameras mounted on the hoods, dashes, rooftops and bumpers of the most popular motorsport in the world, F1 performs best as all good racing movies do: when all the annoying storylines have been dealt with so we can get back to the track, the whole reason we and our dads bothered heading to the theatre. This is good given the fact that the canned, often clunky non-racing scenes alternately drag or work against the film's theme. For example, Hayes's constant flirting with team technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) might not flesh out either of the characters, but where would we be without a romantic subplot? The contrived one-liners don't evoke an Ocean's 11 old-school vibe so much as draw attention to how far from classic this film is. Maybe we can excuse Bardem for unironically uttering the line, "The board is up my ass." Or rejigging Talladega Nights ' satirical quip "If you're not first, you're last" into the more self-serious "Sometimes when you lose, you win." And what about when McKenna cuttingly remarks, "They're saying Sonny Hayes isn't a has-been — he's a never-was"? Well, that one's a bit harder to forgive. For those without deep knowledge of Formula 1, what may be worse is the logic of the races themselves. Hayes's whole schtick is fudging the arcane rules of the sport to force an advantage — a sort of Moneyball rehash for Pitt, except with fewer whiteboards. For those of us lacking the experiential understanding of how, for example, damaged wings can lead to red flags, it may be a bit hard to keep track of the how or why of it all. If it weren't for the frequently yelled explanations from racing analysts describing just how Hayes has subverted the rules, it may be impossible to follow why he's so impressive at all. Or whether he's ingeniously winning or blatantly losing when he and his partner crash into a barrier. And another barrier. And lose. And lose again. And, infuriatingly, tease the audience with more failure to the point where you wonder whether these are the same guys tailgating you on duller stretches of Highway 1. Which, again, is less important than how fast the cars go. Complaining about the structure feels like a fool's errand — though it would be even more foolish not to mention how the ending seems to invalidate everything that came before. There's a bait-and-switch that takes Hayes's character arc and completely undoes it. The film uses a thousand symbols pointing out how the allure of racing glory has been destroying him, only to then twist them around to say he was always right to yearn for it. It is the screenwriting equivalent of Fast & Furious actors' contractual requirement that they don't lose fights, in order to ensure they continue looking heroic. It is the character-growth equivalent of having their cake and eating it, too, and then eating seven more. And then opening a bakery. It's a silly, counterproductive narrative failing. But really, who cares? We're here to see cars go fast. And when Pitt's behind the wheel, do they ever.
