Uplift

Wednesday night, I went to the Great Hall for a charity event (Project Uplift PH) organized by the Kapisanan Centre. The aim was to raise money for the recent typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines. In addition to some musical guests, there were food kiosks, raffles, and a silent auction. I bought some raffle tickets hoping to win but struck-out 0 for 17 items.

Wandering past the food tables, I started with a slider and calamansi slaw and a green raspberry ginger smoothie ($5 for both) from Chef G catering. The slider was crunchy with a slightly sweet sauce though the pork berry was bit too rich. The smoothie sounded like an odd combination but was actually quite tasty. Then it was next to Lamesa for a chicken arroz caldo ($5). This was chinese congee soup given a filipino twist. With flecks of crunchy fried scallions, seaweed, ginger, and chicken, this was warm, comforting, tasty food.

The musical act started with the Mecija sisters (Ohbijou). They played atmospheric shoe-gazey pop from Casey's new act Warm Myth and some old favourites from Ohbijou. But it was perhaps a little too chill for the noisy crowd, who were energized from the food, booze, and excitement from the raffle. There was a moment of silence when Casey gave a rather emotional speech about the current situation in the Philippines. Things got dancey with Abdominal and The Obliques, whose rap has a funky vibe from an upright bass and jazzy guitar. They were a last minute replacement for Maylee Todd who had to pull out. I was getting tired and left before Datu took to the stage with Scratch from The Roots, though the prospect of hip-hop combined with gamelan and South Asian percussion sounded intriguing.