What set of criteria did you use to audition or choose the songs for Dalit?

They're all Visayan and they're all love laments, that's the thread that connects most of the songs. They are love songs but they are also laments. They're sad, but when you sing them, it comes out as a triumph because you're able to sing your grief and sadness. Nagbabago ang tono, it transforms.

This is the first time for me to explore Visayan songs – but those that already have a lot of Hispanic influences. The Hispanic influence in Visayan music started only during Spanish colonization. Before the Spaniards came, and we have such a long precolonial history, siyempre hindi ganun ang music ng kabisayaan. But it doesn't mean that this newer form has erased the previous one. It can be co-existing. It's dynamic.

What was it like for you to put this album together?

I didn't do the kind of heavy fieldwork which I normally do for my book projects. Mas relaxed ito. It came along with all my other research.

What I admire most about your work is that yo

u innovate. Your songs are not museum pieces, but dynamic, evolving works of art. So what are the typical reactions that you get from your sources when they hear your musical innovations?

One said in Visayan: "mabubuhay ang mga patay!"

Is that a good or bad thing?

(Laughs) Whatever. But the thing to remember is that Bob (Aves) did a lot of research sa instrumentation so that it can be related with other revival movements of this kind of music. Actually the dalit is related to gypsy music in Europe, Portuguese fado–mga marubdob na mga kanta. So it's a musical style family that can be found all over. And Bob tried to connect with those similar movements from around the world. The music that comes out is also a personal statement and will depend on your own exposure. If somebody else would arrange the same songs, it would sound different.