Fantasy Dinner with Dakila
Who would you invite to dinner? Contributor Jammin imagines meeting the First Asian American Rock Band
If you were to have dinner with some of the greats, alive or passed, who would you invite to your home? What would you serve? What prepared conversational topics would you organically bring up to promote your own intellectual prowess and unique interest in these personalities? Most importantly, why would you choose these people were their names and renown not to speak for themselves? All great questions within the playful fantasy of a celebrity tea party, but a bit too much to ponder for a logician like me. I thought of which greats to meet and the context of the meal - an after-shift dinner with Bulosan, three hard-boiled eggs with Rizal or preparing coconuts for Jose Villa Garcia - but when making considerations for dinner reservations; variables of language barriers, generational differences, and technological divides overrode any preparations for anxiety when rightfully fantasizing about a proper dinner party.
Despite my lofty creativity, the fantasy needed a more logical grounding and it became apparent that I would just not be the type of gregarious socialite to boldly invite the historic spectre of a polymathic doctor superhero to my humble El Monte apartment for some air-fried bangus. It became apparent that I would not have anyone over for dinner or host any gala or
gathering. What I realized to be most intimate, natural, and comfortable within the realms of the hypothetical, would be to go out for some burritos in the San Francisco Mission with 1970’s Pinoy psych rock jazz fusion band Dakila.
Coming from Tagalog for ‘greatness’, ‘noble’, or sounding like a fine drink- Dakila was one of the first few Filipino-American bands in San Francisco to sign to a major label in 1972. Their sole album release - insincerely marred to the detriment of the producers’ own hands - was still a hot fuzzing explosion of acid-rock psychedelia, Latin rock percussion, and afro-funk narratives all jam-packed in Tagalog, Spanish, and English. They were profound activists in promoting the rising face of the Asian American identity and developing the pan-continental self-image that was so important in the times of 20th-century global distress. So much of their artistry was enlivened through a desire for social activism and political consciousness - the desire to put Filipinos in the front and center of the fight hearkening to the ardor of Pinoys among the United Farm Workers movement or during the Spanish/American occupation of the Philippines. They’re a solid piece of American psych-rock history - the red white and blue - the black and the brown - the ever more colorful counterpart Mission to anything Haight and Ashbury.
We’d probably walk 26th Avenue, stop by a taqueria and then head back to someone’s brother’s friend of a friend’s apartment. I’d hope to discuss Santana records, Malo tapes, and maybe the new releases from Sly. We’d have those fiery conversations - the cunning and technical political discourses that come about with kababayan under oppression. Every member of Dakila has family ties to the military bases - a continued legacy of a US government program that granted citizenship to those that served in the army or navy. As a grandson of those naturalized through the history and service of the Air Force, I feel like we could connect through that.
When listening to their album, there’s something comforting about their fight, perspective, and narrative. It’s the familiarity and camaraderie of musicians, hipsters, students, and family joining in over street food.
They are working on a Dakila Movie “Searchin’ for My Soul: The Dakila Story” that’s coming out in 2024. Check it out here.
"MAKIBAKA HUWAG MATAKOT
(struggle without fear)
IKALAT (pass it around)"
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