JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Folks, we have a winner. This year's NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest received nearly 7,500 entries from independent artists across the country. That's the most entries it has ever seen in its 11-year history. The artist who rose to the top is from California, the Bay Area, specifically, and her name is Ruby Ibarra.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAKUNAWA")
RUBY IBARRA: (Singing) I was born with two tongues, so I carry two guns. Sharper than a balisong blade in the sun. Stars and the sun 'cause the moon phase one. Got a rhythm like a monsoon bagyo with a drum.
SUMMERS: Ruby Ibarra joins us now. Congratulations.
IBARRA: Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for having me.
SUMMERS: How are you feeling about all of this? I cannot imagine what it must be like for you.
IBARRA: I am elated. I've been left speechless ever since I've - I found out the wonderful news. And I think I'm just very proud not only of myself but the band that I performed with. You know, this is a labor of love for all of us, and it really is a dream come true as independent artists.
SUMMERS: I want to hear more about the winning song. It's called "Bakunawa." What does that mean?
IBARRA: So the Bakunawa is actually a direct reference of a mythological creature based in Philippine mythology. It's about a dragon who swallows the moon.
(SOUNDBITE OF RUBY IBARRA SONG, "BAKUNAWA")
IBARRA: And I interpreted it as a metaphor for resistance and a battle cry against erasure because in the mythological story, this dragon swallows the moon and is then banished for swallowing the moon. And it's said that this dragon is the cause of natural phenomena such as earthquake, eclipses. And for me, I found something really powerful in that, especially since when I was writing this song, I was pregnant with my first child, with my daughter. And it felt like kind of a revolutionary statement of being resistant and fighting against being erased.
And I think, being a Filipina American artist as well and knowing my history, the Philippine history, which, you know, is a lot of colonial history and history that's been erased, to me it really spoke loudly, and I wanted to kind of flip that story and use it as a sense of empowerment.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BAKUNAWA")
IBARRA: (Singing) Can I break this cycle I was taught as truth? Rewrite my story, unlearn my youth. Thought I was these things...
SUMMERS: I'm so curious about how motherhood and creating this beautiful song while pregnant impacted your creative process and the way you thought about making this song.
IBARRA: It was absolutely powerful for me. It was such a wonderful process to know that, you know, I was entering this new chapter of motherhood, and here I was surrounded by these amazing, strong women such as June Millington, Han Han, Ouida and our amazing all-female band. And I just felt like my daughter was already, you know, in the room with us and was part of this process. It's totally changed my perspective as a person, but it's also changed my perspective as a songwriter in knowing that the songs that I create from this moment on are definitely songs that I want to be able to share with my daughter and have themes and stories that I want to engage in dialogue with her someday.
SUMMERS: Now, this is the first Tiny Desk Contest-winning entry that is performed in three different languages. Tell us about that creative decision.
IBARRA: That decision to incorporate different languages was definitely intentional. It was very important to me that we had to showcase other Filipino languages in this song, including Tagalog and Bisaya is what's in the music and in the spoken word at the end. And for me, it was particularly important to showcase the Bisaya Filipino language as well because the story of the Bakunawa is rooted from the Visayas, specifically from Cebu, and part of my family is also from the Visayas.
So to me, it was just very meaningful to be able to include that and to also show people that, you know, across the world, oftentimes, there's certain languages that are normalized or certain languages that become kind of the standard. Even in the Philippines alone, like, Tagalog is typically the language that, you know, people hear in mainstream music and in film. And I want - I've always wanted to challenge that narrative and to show people just, you know, the different vast languages that exist out there that very much deserve to be in music as well.
SUMMERS: That was Ruby Ibarra, the winner of the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest. You can see the video for her winning song on the NPR Music website now and catch her on tour later this summer. Ruby, thank you so much and excited to see you.
IBARRA: Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF RUBY IBARRA SONG, "BAKUNAWA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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