Ruby Ibarra performs her Tiny Desk Concert at NPR!

GMA Network

6 days ago

Ruby Ibarra continues to do the Philippines proud!
The Fil-Am rapper (and scientist) just performed at NPR's super popular Tiny Desk Concert in Washington D.C., which is among her prizes for winning NPR's Tiny Desk Contest.
Ruby and the all-Filipino band she assembled for the gig performed three songs — her winning entry "Bakunawa," "7,000 miles," and "Someday" — and repped the Philippines through and through.
Where "Bakunawa" had her rapping in English, Tagalog, and Bisaya, "7,000 miles" had her talking about "my journey, of everything I've witness I've felt, and I've held from that distance from the Philippines to America."
She ended the song by introducing herself triumphantly: "From Tacloban City, Philippines all the way to Washington DC, my name is Ruby Ibarra. Mama, I made it in America."
Ruby closed off her set with "Someday," the song she used when she first entered the Tiny Desk Contest six years ago.
"We didn't win at that time, and I admit I was heartbroken. Winning this time around feels so much better," Ruby said, adding "that journey in between those six years has allowed me to see myself more clearly. To recognize I never have to compromise my art and I never have to ask permission to be myself."
"That journey has been everything," Ruby said, adding with flair: "This last song is called 'Someday,' but today is the day."
Ruby won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest earlier in May, besting nearly 7,500 entries, "a record for the project, now in its 11th year," NPR said.
Apart from the opportunity to perform her own Tiny Desk Concert, Ruby will also go on a 10-city tour.
When Ruby and her family migrated to the US in 1991, her parents brought with them only one record: Francis Magalona's "Yo." She was only two years old then, and when she turned five, she was introduced to Francis M.
"What attracted me were the melody and the tone of resistance. It's really the voice of the youth and the unheard. It's an expression that empowers people."
And now Ruby's on NPR, repping the Philippines so beautifully.
We say don't sleep on Ruby. Our fearless prediction is she's going to take on the world soon.
— LA, GMA Integrated News