Composer Anya Lagman reflects on how three Filipino artists—including musical theater composer Paulo Tiról and rapper Ruby Ibarra—are using their art to translate the struggles and triumphs of the OFW experience into music that demands the world listen.
Picture this: It’s a Sunday afternoon in Hong Kong, and hundreds of Filipina women transform the city’s concrete plazas into vibrant gatherings, sharing food and laughter. Thousands of miles across the ocean, a Filipina rapper commands a stage, code-switching between English and Tagalog as she tells stories of sacrifice and survival. And, in an American theater, audiences weep as harmonies capture the weight of leaving everything behind for the promise of new possibilities.
These aren’t separate moments. They’re connected by an invisible thread of music that has long been a resonating force for Filipinos. We are unbeatable at karaoke, belting out power ballads that showcase vocal prowess as well as passion and soul. But beyond the high notes lie deeper, more profound songs—the ones that tell stories of identity and culture.
While beloved OPM classics continue to reunite us wherever we are in the world, they do not capture the full complexity of migration nor the complex emotional landscape of the immigrant experience of over 2 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
That is, until I discovered artists like Paulo Tiról and Ruby Ibarra, who, like me, are driven to translate experiences that have long lived in whispered phone calls and remittance slips into music that demands the world to listen. Across our respective genres of musical theater, rap, and classical composition, we embrace traditional forms and transform them to tell Filipino stories with vulnerability and confidence.
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Paulo Tiról: Musical Theater Meets Migration
On This Side of the World isn’t your typical jukebox musical. With complex six-part harmonies and lyrical depth, Paulo Tiról’s groundbreaking production captures the immigrant experience as a textured journey of resilience, sacrifice, and hope.
The show premiered in May 2023 at the East West Players in Los Angeles, the largest and longest-running Asian American theater in the US. It tells the story of a woman boarding a one-way flight to the US, carrying with her a suitcase of letters—each one sharing a unique story of immigration. As she reads them, she gains strength as she starts her own journey.
Paulo’s personal journey mirrors his musical narrative. From corporate life in Manila, to performing liturgical music and composing by ear, to pursuing music therapy in Boston, to becoming a full-time composer in New York. His path has been one of reinvention and quiet faith. What began as his graduate project at NYU a decade prior, supported by a full scholarship, has grown into On This Side of the World, which Paulo describes as a body of work that presents Filipino immigrant stories as “worthy of being theatricalized as Evan Hansen’s or Elphaba’s.”
“I was proud and grateful that these songs were articulating thoughts, feelings, and questions that audience members might not have been able to express, or even pause to consider,” Paulo reflects. He drew inspiration from friends and family, making the compositions emotionally expansive—at once poignant and playful. Even with the use of Filipino-coded terms, Tagalog dialogue, and immigration lingo such as the F-1 visa, the show resonates beyond one culture.
While the details may be specific, the themes of loneliness, longing, identity, and belonging are undeniably universal. Anchored by his own sense of purpose, what Paulo brings to the stage are not simply stories of sacrifice, but of resilience and the quiet strength it takes to begin again.
Have a listen to the world premiere cast recording of On This Side of the World.
Ruby Ibarra: Rap As Resistance
In the Bay Area, home of the second-largest Filipino American community, Ruby Ibarra made history this year by winning NPR’s prestigious Tiny Desk Concert against 7,500 global submissions. The annual competition gives independent artists the opportunity to perform at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, a platform where the likes of Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, and Yo-Yo Ma have shared their music. Alongside the performance opportunity, the victory also earned her a 10-stop national tour.
Ruby’s win, to me, is well-deserved, and, to her, “an absolute dream come true!” She is a master storyteller whose presence commands attention, and she actively makes sure that her “energy and emotion are transparent in her music.” Beyond presence, language itself becomes one of her most powerful instruments.
“In rap, the lyrics really take center stage—often the focal point of the song,” Ruby explains. With agility and intention, she shifts seamlessly between English, Bisaya, and Tagalog, showcasing the beauty and diversity of Filipino languages. Her words create kaleidoscopic soundscapes, making her immigrant experience resonate through percussive layering.
Influenced by Lauryn Hill, Tracy Chapman, and Nina Simone, she approaches her craft with the same instinct for truth. “I’ve always been drawn to rap music because of its roots in being the voice for the people and its community.” Her songs document immigrants’ extraordinary journeys, drawing from her own life and her mother’s experiences.
When asked about defining the Filipino-American sound, Ruby believes it’s still in the making. “All of us are still shaping and developing that,” she shares, “and the beauty comes from how no one artist sounds exactly like another.” Through co-founding Bolo Music Group, she’s witnessed how Filipinos express themselves across countless genres, each with its own distinct voice.
Watch her Tiny Desk Concert-winning performance here.
Anya Lagman: Classical Voices For OFW Mothers
As for my own work, the choral composition “I Am Mother” pays tribute to Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong. When I first encountered them as a child, I barely noticed them gathered in public spaces, sometimes sitting on open cardboard boxes for comfort, outside luxury storefronts where they would congregate, chit-chat, dance, and eat. It was only as an adult, commissioned by Luna Composition Lab and the Cincinnati May Festival in March 2023, that I returned to this memory, this time with a sense of responsibility and compassion.
In researching for the project, I read articles and testimonials from OFW women, sharing their stories with American librettist Catherine Holliss. Though not an immigrant herself, Catherine connected deeply with the central theme: motherhood. These women cared for other people’s children while living oceans away from their own families.
These mothers used their instincts and skills to nurture other people’s children, while circumstances made it so that their own children grew up without their physical presence, so that they could send remittances home. Even the Philippine government has hailed our OFWs as bagong bayani, or modern-day heroes. But the phrase never felt enough. I was compelled to reveal why they are heroes: what they sacrifice, what they endure, and, most of all, what they deserve: to be seen, honored, and empowered.
The women of MUSE Cincinnati Women’s Choir, who premiered the piece at the May Festival in 2023, brought “I Am Mother” to life with an understanding that could only come from lived experience. They were themselves mothers and daughters. Their voices carried the emotional weight of the story of women whom they had never met, but deeply understood through the power of music. The piece was performed again, first in Los Angeles, and then in Manila with alumni of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, where the Filipino choir’s interpretation added another layer of depth.
Three-quarters of “I Am Mother” captures the cacophony of cries about the realities mothers face caring for families other than their own. But the final section shifts to those Sundays, their only day off, when they gather joyfully. These women don’t just survive the migration story; they transform it into community, turning concrete plazas into homes away from home. In choosing to leave, to adapt, for the sake of the people they love, they embody the very essence of what it means to migrate with purpose and grace.
Although inspired by a specific community, “I Am Mother” has become an anthem for motherhood and the sacrifices that come with it. Most importantly, the piece gives a voice to women and to the power of their unconditional love. It allows them to stand and declare: “We are mothers with a thousand miles between us.”
Watch the performance of “I Am Mother.”
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The Sound Of Tomorrow
There will never be just one defining Filipino sound. Our diaspora is diverse, multifaceted, and beautiful. From musical theater to rap to classical music, Filipinos are boldly claiming space, unafraid to use their voices as vessels for community and truth. As more Filipino artists enter global conversations, we’re reminded to own our stories. Not just where we come from, but where we’re going. Migration, after all, isn’t only about crossing borders; it’s about moving through life’s chapters. And while adjustments can be uncomfortable, they’re also transformative. In learning to embrace change, we become truer versions of ourselves, proudly carrying our Filipino stories into the world.
Anya Lagman is a 23-year-old award-winning Filipina composer, producer, and pianist based in Los Angeles and Manila. Her work has been featured in the Emmy-winning series Scavengers Reign and Common Side Effects. She has collaborated with ensembles such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, with performances across the US, the Philippines, and Switzerland. Anya graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Composition from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
