'Akupangktyur, sayawan at tuksuhan': The revolution according to Khavn

The revolution won’t be heard on Spotify, neither can it be seen or viewed on YouTube or TikTok. This is what the poet musician Khavn and his Bagumbayan All-Stars are well aware of, but it doesn’t stop them from hoisting their brand of rebellion and anarchy on streaming platforms, however occasionally tongue-in-cheek.

- JUANIYO ARCELLANA

AKYU PANGK TYUR Sayawan at Tuksuhan

"Akupangktyur, mga sayawan at tuksuhan" is by no means easy listening, in fact, rather difficult to get through, as it holds the cracked mirror of damaged culture to the faces of Pinoy listeners, if we be allowed to presently mix metaphors. It may come off as sloganeering in these most troubling of times, with nothing to say that our damaged culturati don’t already know, but trust the All-Stars to drive the point home and twist the knife for the sake of it: a society of bribe givers and takers, politicos dancing budots while siphoning off the people’s money, political families as dynasties entrenched in power for decades, extrajudicial killings just around the corner, prioritizing bullets over rice, any hope of redemption a mere mirage if existent at all even as mirage.