Bakunawa

Bakunawa rises from the ocean, so mesmerized by the light of the seven moons that she tries to devour them all. Will the Ancestors and the Community save us from the darkness?  Part sonic ritual, part diasporic storytelling, BAKUNAWA: Opera of the Seven Moons is a cinematic opera that re-claims our precolonial Philippine mythology back from centuries of colonial erasure, re-imagining the creation story of the first Lunar Eclipse.

Micaela Tobin is a sound artist based in Los Angeles, CA who specializes in experimental voice and experimental opera. As a composer with a background in opera performance, Micaela integrates voice and electronics within the genres of noise and drone music. Her work incorporates ritualized gesture and amplified object-symbolism as means of exploring her diasporic identity as a firstgeneration Filipina-American challenging colonial stories and systems.

Composing under the moniker “White Boy Scream,” her most recent full length album, “BAKUNAWA” (Deathbomb Arc) includes elements of sonic ritual, ancient myth, and ancestral memory. Of the album, Steve Smith of The New Yorker Magazine asserts that “opera would do well to pay attention.” In May 2021, Micaela premiered the cinematic adaptation of the album through REDCAT, titled “BAKUNAWA: Opera of the Seven Moons.” Micaela is currently a voice teacher on faculty at the California Institute for the Arts

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