Tribu Paghidaet invited to perform in New York
The Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) has invited 25 performers from the Tribu Paghidaet to join in the independence day celebration in New York, USA on June 1, 2008. With such invitation, the city needs to spend P2 million for the two-day trip.
City Tourism Office chief Ben Jimena said the council in its invitation to the city government specifically wants the performers from the Tribu Paghidaet of Lapaz National High School to perform to the Filipino as well as American audience in their independence day celebration. The Tribu Paghidaet is this year's champion in the Dinagyang Festival competition.
Jimena said the city still has to look for funds to finance the trip of the members of the Tribu Paghidaet. The P2 million budget will cover round trip tickets and processing of the US travel Visa of the performers. The accommodation and food will be handled by the council which invited the group.
The group will perform on June 1 and will immediately return on June 3, 2008. The city is now coordinating with the council to extend the stay of the group and look for other interested Filipino groups in the US to maximize the presence of Tribu Paghidaet, said Jimena.
He added that they will create a group to select on who among the participants can join in the US trip. Jimena the performers should know multi-tasking. They can either be a performer and same time drummers during the presentation.
The US trip is a manifestation that Dinagyang is already global and Filipinos abroad want the Ilongoos to share that Dinagyang experience. It is also a promotion and will create awareness of the festival and Ilonggo culture abroad, said Jimena.