Meet Babay L. Angles / Bomba Brown Angelica Janabajal Tolentino | Artist, Dj, Rest Practitioner, Educator, Community Organizer, and Cultural Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Babay L. Angles / Bomba Brown Angelica Janabajal Tolentino and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Babay L. Angles / Bomba Brown, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I wanted to be able to dream and create spaces in the world that I didn’t see. I wanted to be able to honor my artistic gifts in the most joyful and impactful ways for myself, my ancestors, and my community. Starting my own business was an affirmation and belief in my own agency. I didn’t know the ins and outs of business. I just knew I wanted to be able to synthesize my gifts as a dancer, educator, community organizer, Dj, and artist. There had to be able to be a way for me to do what I love, sustain myself, and help bring positivity to my community. I wanted rest. I wanted creativity, I wanted independence. After working as a teacher and artist for other people for over 15 years, I felt that I wanted to be able to offer my skills and tools in the community more freely. I didn’t want to be bound my institutions that often restricted how I could share. I was tired of being tired. My grandmother Consuelo Duero Tolentino sold rice at the Palenke. My Auntie Doring made clothes, sold cigarettes, fish, and was a caregiver. I was terrified to start my own business but I trusted that I carry my ancestors’ brilliance, resilience, innovation, and humor. I and we can do this.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My. name is Babay L. Angles aka Bomba Brown / Ifadoja Oyajokun /Angelica Janabajal Tolentino and I am a San Diego, CA-based, Pilipinx interdisciplinary performance artist, DJ, joy and rest practitioner, educator, and community organizer from San Diego, CA, Okinawa, Japan, and Olongapo, Philippines. I hold a B.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and a Masters of Arts in Urban Education and Social Justice with a Single Subject Teaching Credential in Social Studies. I have over 15 years of experience as an educator, mental health worker, and grassroots organizer in South East San Diego and Oakland, CA. I also have over 15 years experience battling/cyphering throughout the West Coast of the United States in the styles of Breaking and Rocking with Time II Rock Crew and Soul Heavy Crew and 7 years of studying modern/contemporary movement.

As an artist, I practice deep listening and channel movements to express the inherited resilience and violence of the Pilipinx psyche. I fuse intuitive movements inspired by funk, bass, Percussion, environmental sound, breath, and site specific location. Weaving connections between the strength of Pilipinx of the diaspora, people of color, womxn, queer and trans communities, indigenous peoples and those at the margins, I build community through shared creation of holistic artistic resistance and wellness.

I am also the creative director of Olongapo Disco, a project fiscally sponsored by the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation. Olongapo Disco is a project that asks the question: What are the ancestral joy technologies that we need to remember, remix, and create to survive and thrive and this moment? We create artistic experiences that create rest, joy, and intergenerational healing for community. We weave sound, dance, installation, education and social justice organizing and serve BIPOC community focusing on South East San Diego.

I have been awarded by the Far South Border North Collaborative, National Endowment of Humanities, California Arts Council and Arts and Culture Commission of San Diego. I have also been a fellow for Betty’s Daughter Public Performance and Action Fellowship in 2017 and 2018 and have performed in a choreopractic ritual performance titled, “125th and Freedom.” I have been a Work Up 4.0 resident artist for Gibney Dance. I was a cofounder of Walang Hiya NYC, a collective of Pilipinx shapeshifters generating intergenerational healing through performance and education. Our work “Walang Hiya 2019” a public procession/ritual/pageant sought to transmute ancestral shame into collective wellness was shown in Jackson Heights, Queens. I have also been an Impact Fellow for Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative in 2021. I collaborated with a group of artists and cultural workers to strengthen and advance BDAC’s impact measurement and evaluation praxis. I Investigated the viability, efficacy, and transformative power of community-based arts interventions. Here I evaluated a national portfolio of LatinX arts and culture projects in partnership with the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) and its Catalyst for Change Award program.

I am also a Dj, Bomba Brown. I grew up to the sounds of James Brown in the kitchen on Saturday morning and in them sweaty Hip Hop and Funk cyphers. I blend sound, movement, art, and spirituality to practice self-regeneration and to get FREE. I honor sound as prayer and autoethnography, letting the melodies, keys, BASS, them horns, dat funk tell the story of all that has shaped my communities’ joy, solidarity, and resilience. I am grateful to have built, taught, learned, and performed nationally and internationally with The Shake It Show, Time 2 Rock, Soul Heavy Crew, House of Tastea, and Walang Hiya NYC. I love lemons, vibrant colors, adornment, soft surfaces, quiet, booming bass, inter-generational healing, laughter, childlike joy, integrity and the sun. My sound brings a lotta bass, funk, disco, ballroom, hip hop, soul, and all things Chaka Khan. I create spaces for BIPOC community to rest, release, and experience joy together through music, dance, and connection. I have been featured as dj and radio host in NY, LA, SD, and CDMX.
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Catch BB monthly:

The Shake It Show on Half Moon BK every 3rd Saturday from 10a – 12p PST at www.halfmoonbk.com

The Shake It Show on Orange Radio every 2nd Monday from 4p – 6p PST https://orangeradio.us/

I am also a cultural strategist and rest practitioner. I work with individuals and arts and culture organizations to intentionally design rest and joy. I work 1 on 1 with individual caregivers and clients such as non profit workers, educators, and mental health practitioners who have experienced burn out to help them relearn how to give themselves the care and rest they often give to others. I also help arts and culture organizations restfully design and project manage art and political campaigns to help communities cultivate radical imagination, healing, and justice.

My current interests are joy, rest, disco, funk, bass, surfing, and intergenerational healing. My most recent work Olongapo Disco: Dreaming New Myth Across the Diaspora will be activated at the EXCHANGE Pavillion as part of World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana 2024 on November 14, 2024 from 3p – 7p.

This journey has not been easy. Growing up in South East San Diego, being an artist and entrepreneur was not encouraged. Public schooling did not support my artistic and entrepreneurial development. Our school focused on ROTC. As a Pilipinx young woman, I had to make many decisions early on to care for my family and choose financial stability over creativity. I worked really hard as a teacher and community organizer for over 15 years and experienced deep trauma and burnout. My father Ricardo Duero Tolentino passed away and my high school student Jubrille Jordan was murdered in 2014. These were major catalysts in my life, that shook me into realizing that life can change in a split second. You can lose everything in an instant. But in that, I also believed that you could change your life positively in an instant, in a snap, just like that as well. These major events got me to ask myself, who am I, what do I really want, and how do I honor the time I have here? How do I honor my ancestors? How do I honor the joy that is left behind in their loss? I took my healing journey very seriously. I went to therapy and and am still in therapy. I learned spiritual practices from powerful women from the Global South that helped ground me and bring me closer to my gifts and my ancestors. I SURFED. I made Art. I PRAYED. I DANCED. I literally had to move the grief out of my body. Through these sacrifices and trials, I have learned to transform my grief into healing, power, joy, and rest for my community. I am grounded in my lessons and committed to living and practicing my FREEDOM. I will continue to recover the resilience and brilliance from my ancestors, from their joy, their adornment practices, tattoos, love of Funk and James Brown, loud whistles, full hearted laughs, and DEEP integrity and weave it into my community and our future.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
In the morning, I would take my friend to Tourmaline Surf Park. I love this place and the community in the parking lot. I surf there every morning and afternoon. Going to the ocean and being around people who are connected to expansiveness and what is most important is a beautiful thing. I’ve met folks who have gone through many struggles in life but find healing in the ocean. I love Tourmaline!

I’d also stop by Barrio Logan, National City, and South East San Diego. In Barrio Logan I’d visit Libelula Books and Por Vida Cafe. I’d go to the National City Swap Meet and the Spring Valley Swap Meet to listen to beautiful music, eat pupusas and fresh fruit, and find treasure in the archive of all the different vendors. I’d visit Villa Manila later to have Kamayan and say hello to Ria. They’ve fed my family for years.

At night I’d hang out any where friends were spinning music (Funk,Hip Hop, House, Cumbia, Salsa, Jazz, Amapiano) like Bluefoot, Part Time Lover, Friends of Friends, Mujeres Brew House, etc. I’d go find where Mae or Mae Not, Miko, ET, Waterpark Jones, Mane One, Chulita Vinyl Club SD, Checka, Chata, or Sasha Marie are playing. Or I’d go where friends from New Style Hustle SD or Whacking San Diego are dancing!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to all my ancestors, mentors, teachers, sisters, dancers, community organizers who have held me and brought me to where I am today.

Gratitude to….

The directions of

East. Dáya

South. Abagatan.

West. Laud.

North. Amianan

Air

Fire

Water

The Earth

Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall

This work would not be possible without the following ancestors and teachers:

Ancestors

Jacinto Janabajal, Juanita Deleon, Anching Janabajal, Ne Janabajal, Poreng Janabajal, Chapepang Janabajal, Agapito Deleon Janabajal, Francisco Pangan, Lola Rita, Maxima Nardo, Eduvijis Pangan Janabajal, Gabino Pangan, Jacinto Pangan Janabajal, Auntie Ye, Angel Tolentino, Eusebio Pangilinan Tolentino, Ricardo Duero Tolentino, Aquilina Lacsina, Pedro Tayag Duero, Pepito Duero, Rosita Duero, Adelaide Duero, Matilde Duero, Marina Duero, Consolación Duero, Consuelo Duero Tolentino, Adoracion Leon Guerrero, Bella Villanueva, Jason Villanueva, Moises Tolentino, Mario Tolentino, Arturo Reyes, Ana Marie Reyes, Ate Huling, Jubrille Jordan, Allen Alfonso, Flor Zaragoza, Pepsi Paloma, Jennifer Laude.

Teachers and Supporters:

Diana Tolentino, Carmelita Tolentino, Paz Janabajal, Kamalayan Kollective, Jackie Taylor, Carmela Capinpin, Maureen Abugan, Chris Datiles, Gracelynne West, Mandy Lucas, Wayne Yang, Gabriela Network, Ley Ebrada, Olive Panes, Kuttin Kandi, Ree Obana, Ugnayan, Micha Cardenas, Time2Rock, Soul Heavy Crew, Bugeyed Bandit, Siuer, Drah, Maddogg Joe, Paperson, Ann Smooth, Angela C. Bajet, Peoples Education Movement, Patrick Camangian, Castro Temachtiani, Kristia Castrillo, Liza Gesuden, Virak Saroeun, Rick Ayers, Karen Salazar, Arise High School, G Reyes, Liz Solis, Berenice Dimas, Armil Grace, Artnelson Concordia, Ebony Golden, Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative, Human Odyssey, Malcolm X Betts, Mimi Gabriel, Kinding Sindaw, Tita Potri, Rina Espiritu, Alexis Convento, Ben Oni X, Ramen Bitch, Bibingka Mama, Bubble T, Body Rolls BK, Sir Rudy Reveche, sára abdullah, Sade Adona & 256 Healing Arts, Jana Lynn Umipig, Diana Cervera, Cynthia Alberto, Tito Vida, Jacob Walse-Dominguez, Lorena, House of Tastea, Whacking San Diego, Lorena Valenzuela, Strike With Force Team, Jules De Guzman, Alizé Jimenez, Haven Ongoco-Rittershofer, Angela Angel, Aurerose Piaña, Revolutionary Growers Garden, Dinah Poellnitz, Leti Gómez Franco, Karla Centeno-Aguirre, Doña Fefa, Alex Waters, Jacobs Center of Neighborhood Innovation, Miko Aguilar, Seagge Abella.

Website: https://www.babaylangles.co/bio.html

Instagram: @babaylangles @olongapodisco @bombabrownlovesyou @theshakeitshow @bombabrownwellness

Image Credits
Photographer Angela C. Bajet @acbajetphoto and Bala for Photo in New York with Red and White Outfit