Favourable Impressions

Building upon their earlier video work, Dodong and the Dai’s (developed during Saluhan’s Mainit Illusion/Mainit Fantasy commission with Arts House in 2024), Catherine Ortega-Sandow, MJ Flamiano, and Kenneth L. Suico perform a cover of Magellan (1972), a satirical song by Cebuano singer-comedian Yoyoy Villame.

The song narrates a simplified version of the Philippines’ so-called discovery and the colonial impacts of Spanish rule, culminating in the resistance of Indigenous warrior Lapu-Lapu, who defeats Magellan. Revisiting their characters for this new iteration at Blindside, the artists explore contemporary Filipino aesthetics—drawing on karaoke culture, New Wave influences, and the queering of Catholic rituals and iconography.

Photography: Phuong Le

Acknowledgements:

Presented at Blindside ARI, 28 May - 14 June 2025

Videography by Mischa Wang

Recording and mixing by Society Audio

Magellan by Yoyoy Villame and released in 1972 by Kinampay Records