Elle Mannion | May 29, 2025 We received nearly 7,500 entries from independent artists across the country for the Tiny Desk Contest. That’s a record for the project, now in its 11th year, which has catapulted the careers of artists like Grammy winners Fantastic Negrito and Tank and the Bangas. Now we have a new star: Ruby Ibarra, a Filipina American rapper from the Bay Area. Ibarra’s Contest entry, “Bakunawa,” 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.
Community and culture are two guiding forces in Ibarra’s music. She put together an all-Filipino band for this performance, which includes R&B singer Ouida and members of Pinay Voltron and Astralogik, plus rock legend June Millington. But beyond these musicians, Ibarra’s crew runs deep; our office was packed with the artists’ friends and family.
On “Bakunawa,” a song about Filipino folklore and motherhood, Ibarra performs in English, Tagalog and Bisaya, switching effortlessly between the three languages from one verse to the next. On “7000 Miles,” she raps about her and her family’s experiences as immigrants. “My mom will make it in America” is a verse she repeats while looking into the teary eyes of her mother, who sits front row in the audience with a box of tissues. At the end of “Someday,” Ibarra changes the song’s refrain from “Mama, we gon’ make it here someday” to “Mama, we gon’ make it here today.”
Between flows, Ibarra introduces herself and makes a statement: “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, D.C., my name is Ruby Ibarra.”
SET LIST “Bakunawa” “7000 Miles” “Someday”
MUSICIANS Ruby Ibarra: vocals Ouida: vocals June Millington: guitar, vocals Anna Macan: guitar, background vocals Camille Ramirez: bass, flute, background vocals Angelo “LASI” Macaraeg: keys, guitar JoJo Gajardo Ramirez: drums Charito Soriano: background vocals
TINY DESK TEAM Producers: Elle Mannion, Bobby Carter Director: Kara Frame Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell Tiny Desk Contest Team: Elle Mannion, Dora Levite, Otis Hart Video Editor: Sofia Seidel Videographers: Kara Frame, Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Sofia Seidel Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer Photographer: Grace Raver Tiny Desk Series Editor: Lars Gotrich Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
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