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And the winner of the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest is (drumroll, please) … Ruby Ibarra! Hailing from the Bay Space by the use of the Philippines, Ibarra is a rapper, singer and spoken phrase artist whose entry, “Bakunawa,” shocked the Contest judges with its passionate supply, genre-defying sound and multi-generational band.
“Bakunawa” is carried out in three languages (English, Tagalog and Bisaya), and tells the Filipino folklore story of the Bakunawa dragon who swallows the moon. It is also impressed by the beginning of Ibarra’s first baby.
“This track interprets the story as a metaphor for resistance and a battle cry towards erasure,” Ibarra says. “A lot of Philippine historical past consists of colonization, imperialism and martial regulation — however on the opposite aspect of that may be a wealthy historical past of Filipino individuals who have lengthy resisted, organized and led revolutionary uprisings. This track, for me, is a press release that my daughter is my revolution and my hope that she shall be liberated from the consequences of our cultural historical past.”
Actually, Ibarra was pregnant together with her daughter when she recorded her entry. “I wished to step into motherhood breaking the generational trauma, celebrating and accepting all components of myself and reclaiming my energy,” she shares.
Ibarra says that each element in her entry is intentional — together with the band she put collectively to create it. She’s accompanied by Ouida, Han Han and June Millington (sure, that is the June from ’70s rock band Fanny) on vocals, in addition to Anna Candari on guitar, Jojo Ramirez on drums and Camille Ramirez on bass. Ibarra informed us she wished these intergenerational artists to symbolize how oral mythologies are handed down over time.
Every of our judges have been floored by Ibarra’s entry and agreed that she is a star. It’s possible you’ll bear in mind “Bakunawa” from when NPR Music’s Bobby Carter and Robin Hilton featured it on the first episode of our Prime Shelf sequence. Alt. Latino and Tiny Desk host Felix Contreras says: “Ruby is blazing a path with a sound that many extra folks want to listen to.” Publicist Judy Miller Silverman agreed, noting that Ruby and her band have “a transparent ardour to embrace historical past and tradition in a contemporary method.”
And this is not the primary time Ibarra’s impressed NPR together with her wealthy storytelling and musical expertise. Her 2019 entry, “Sometime,” an ode to her mom, was featured on Weekend Version. “I’m what I speak about in my music,” she mentioned then. “I am Pinay. I am highly effective. I am fearless. I am unfiltered.”
You possibly can hear extra from Ibarra in her personal phrases by tuning in to All Issues Thought of this afternoon.
Quickly, Ibarra and her band will journey to Washington, D.C., to carry out a Tiny Desk live performance at NPR’s headquarters. Then, they’re going to be performing in 10 cities across the nation this summer time, alongside Tiny Desk alums and new native artists. You possibly can study extra in regards to the Tiny Desk Contest On The Highway tour and get tickets at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.
