MANILA, Philippines – Filipina-American rapper and scientist Ruby Ibarra has officially joined the ranks of independent artists to grace NPR’s Tiny Desk!
Ruby is the winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, emerging victorious over 7,500 entries from independent musicians across the United States.
Ibarra, who hails from Tacloban City, Philippines and grew up in the Bay Area, delivered a powerful and deeply personal set that paid tribute to her cultural roots and Filipino heritage.
The video, posted on YouTube on Thursday, May 29, starts with Ruby singing her winning entry, “Bakunawa,” named after the serpent-like dragon in Filipino mythology. NPR said the song —sung in English, Tagalog, and Bisaya — “stunned this year’s panel of judges with its multilingual, intergenerational band and passionate emcee.”
“When arriving at the Tiny Desk, Ibarra was poised, gracious and a little reserved. We could tell she was taking in the moment that she would later call “surreal.” But as soon as she got situated behind the Desk, she locked in,” NPR wrote.
Ibarra performed with an all-Filipino band at NPR’s Washington, DC headquarters, featuring R&B singer Ouida, Pinay Voltron, Astralogik, and Filipino rock legend June Millington.
She followed up with her second song “7000 miles,” which explores the trials and dreams of migration; and her last song “Someday,” where she sings: “Mama, we gon’ make it here someday,” and Mama, we gon’ make it here today.”
Between songs, Ibarra introduced herself to the audience and said: “Being human is not illegal. Immigrants have been here, lived here, worked here. And this immigrant is here. From Tacloban City, Philippines, all the way to Washington, DC, my name is Ruby Ibarra.”
Beyond music, Ibarra also works as a biotech scientist in San Francisco, where she worked on COVID-19 testing and vaccine development.
She has received numerous accolades for her body of work, including the 2023 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music and the Youth Leadership Award from San Francisco’s Immigrant Rights Commission. She is also the co-founder of the Pinays Rising Scholarship Program, an initiative supporting young Filipina-Americans.
Accepting her Youth Leadership Award in 2021, Ruby thanked her mentors, role models, and collaborators, many of whom are also first- and second-generation immigrants.
She also thanked her mother, “who showed me at an early age that being an immigrant does not tell me where home is, but that it helps guide me to building home through community.”
Ruby also produced the song “A Thousand Cuts” in just five days, following the request of filmmaker Ramona Diaz, who released her documentary of the same name at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020. It chronicles journalist and Rappler founder Maria Ressa’s fight for press freedom under the Duterte administration. – Rappler.com