piNoisepop Music Festival Co-Founders

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS:

Ogie Gonzales, co-Founder piNoisepop


Ogie Gonzales is one of the founders of the piNoisepop Asian American Music Festival. During the hardcore/punk underground era of the 1980s and early 1990s in Manila, Philippines, he co-founded, played, and recorded with the punk band V.O.D. (Valley of Death), whose songs can be heard on the album 'Where Do We Go From Here?' produced by the independent label, Twisted Red Cross. He is also an accomplished practitioner of indigenous music from the Philippines. Ogie and his brother Jesse immigrated to the United States in 1989, where he continued playing music. In 1995, Ogie started volunteering for San Francisco's theater group Teatro Ng Tanan, where he performed and composed musical scores for the stage, using both western and Philippine indigenous instruments. He also composed for Lorna Aquino Chui's one-woman show, 'Babae.' In 1997, he joined the experimental comedy troupe Tongue in A Mood, where he met and helped form the Bobby Banduria band, which combines traditional Philippine instruments like the banduria, laud, octavina, and violin with a pop/jazzy/funk rhythm section. Their lyrics and style are straight from Filipino Americana. Ogie has collaborated with numerous playwrights, poets, and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area Filipino American community, as well as studying kulintang(an) under Danongan Sibay Kalanduyan. In 1998, Ogie, his brother Jesse Gonzales, and Tongue in A Mood's artistic director Allan Manalo, organized "piNoisepop," a continuing annual music festival to promote original Filipino American music. The festival makes its home at Bindlestiff Studio, an epicenter for Filipino American performing arts.

Jesse Gonzales, co-Founder piNoisepop 


Jesus Perez Guillermo Gonzales was born and raised in Manila, Philippines and currently lives in San Francisco, California. He is the co-founder of the piNoisepop Asian American Music Fetival. Jesse's introduction to alternative and independent music came when he began listening to WXB102 FM, a radio station in Manila that played a lot of new wave, punk rock tunes from Europe, the United States, and from home grown bands. It was in the same time period that Jesse joined his brother Ogie in a punk/hardcore band called Valley of Death (V.O.D.). In June 1989, the band broke up and the Gonzales brothers migrated to the United States. In 1995, Jesse started volunteering with Teatro Ng Tanan (TNT), a nonprofit Filipino American theatre organization based in San Francisco that presents hands-on theater workshop combining indigenous traditions, community issues and holiday themes. In 1996, he volunteered to be one of the musicians for TNT's production of 'Panunuluyan: A Search For An Inn'. Through his involvement with TNT, Jesse met new friends, artists, and musicians in the community. It was also in San Francisco where he was exposed to the independent music and arts scene. In November 1998, Jesse and his brother founded the piNoisepop Filipino American/Asian American Music Festival. In September 2002, Jesse served on the music curatorial committee of Kearny Street Workshop's APAture, an annual arts festival presenting the work of emerging Asian Pacific American artists in San Francisco. In 2003, Jesse presented the SF Bay Guardian's 2003 Goldie Award to From Monument To Masses in the music category. Jesse currently plays bass for indie pop band, The Skyflakes. 

Through understanding, supporting and adapting Manila's underground music culture, Jesse has the background, interests, and inspiration to keep the Filipino-American/Asian American independent art and music scene alive.

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