Proud GPF Japan volunteers who helped make the Filipino Music Festival possible.

Melody and Music 2014, an annual music festival organized by Filipino volunteers of Global Peace Foundation-Japan, brought together Japanese and Filipinos in Hibiya Park in Tokyo on June 22 to support GPF’s All-Lights Village Project in the Philippines. Despite opening in the rain, the festival was a beautiful cultural exchange in the middle of Japan’s capital.

To open the festivities, Ms. Noemi Ogura and Mr. Vergel Sansano, general coordinator and project manager of the festival respectively, explained the program’s background and goal to strengthen relations between the Filipino and Japanese communities through artistic exchange and service. Global Peace Foundation – Japan Chairman Mr. Aya Goto introduced the All-Lights Village Project, a community-based sustainable development model now active in five countries.

The opening act, Filipino Tribal Dance called Kanyaw, starts the festival off right.

Global Peace Foundation-Japan has sponsored a number of All-Lights Villages in the Philippines and Indonesia. The project has cultivated deep bonds among people of the two nations. The special guest, Honorable Angelica Escalona, Minister of Cultural Affairs of the Filipino Embassy in Japan, invited everyone to enjoy the multicultural harmonies of the festival.

The lead performance was a Filipino tribal dance, “Kanyaw,” followed by an array of high-energy Japanese and Filipino artists like Pinoy Jazz, T42, LUMAD Japan, City Rhythms, Kundiman and Pinoy Rock. The festival created familial connections in a community where individuals often feel disconnected and alienated. It was a powerful display of the arts reaching beyond language, culture, religion and tradition, uniting people for a common cause of service to others. Resident Filipinos perform the tribal dance, “Kanyaw.”