Guitar Foundation of the Philippines Inc.

The 2nd Cebu International Guitar Festival!

Kinablit 2019

An International Guitar Festival entitled Kinablit (plucking) referring to the traditional way of guitar playing among Filipinos which used to be more prevalent among the Visayan speaking regions of the Philippines especially during the early part of the 20th century. The festival aims to correlate the different plucking traditions that can be found in various countries where the guitar developed according to the customsof the populace: Flamenco guitar in Spain, Bossa Nova in Brazil, Fingerstyle and Chord melody in the United States of America just to name a few and our very own Kinablit in the Philippines. While flamenco, bossa nova, chord melody andfingerstyle have continuously evolved in to high levels of sophistication in terms of playing technique and abundance of new material, Kinablit is sadly on the verge of extinction and has been relegated to the most marginalized sectors of our cultural heritage. For an art form to survive, it must continuously adapt and be ready to embrace new sensibilities that can contribute to its growth and evolution.We are hoping that through this festival we can encourage a new generation of composers and guitarists to compose and perform more fresh materials for the Philippine guitar that is akin to our identity as a nation and at the same time celebrate our past which is very rich in musical tradition. With this in mind, we also hope to come up with an exhibit of pre and post war Filipino guitarists who were personalities themselves when radio ruled the airwaves. They served as inspiration to a whole generation of Filipino guitarists who are now considered as masters in their own right.

Recitals, Concerts, Workshops on Classical Guitar Playing and Instrument Making, Symposium, Lectures, Outreach and Exhibits. Click here to see program schedule and registration fees.

Schools/Universities, Town Assembly Halls/Gymnasium, Mall (for display and Formal Concerts)

• Performers – International, National and Local Artists including school and community based classical guitar oriented organizations.
• Audience – Students from the different schools and universities, guitar enthusiasts, musicians, music teachers and local communities.

At the moment, we are still developing our visual themes for the festival. We hope to have a final version on the 2nd of June 2019.