DATU

Alexander Junior & Romeo Candido

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Electronic-tribal music duo DATU is a modern Filipino music group, consisting of producers Alexander Junior (formerly of Times Neue Roman, and Styrofoam Ones), and Romeo Candido (formerly of KUYA, and Prison Dancer). DATU showcases movement, gongs, and storytelling through singing and rap, reinvigorating traditional Filipino music with their cultural transcendence, creating a brand new sound. After years of producing and collaborating with other Filipino-Canadian artists including Toronto rapper Han Han and dance troupe HATAW, DATU's debut EP, High Blood was just released this Summer 2017 and is a unique blend of traditional and new, delivering a fresh take on the alt-world genre.

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Hailing from the intensely diverse cultural hub of Toronto, DATU taps into city’s unmistakable legacy of genre merging, with their sound of ethereal trip-hop spun together harmoniously with Filipino mysticism and tradition. Already capturing the attention of The FADER, DATU’s first EP, High Blood, features more daring culture jamming, using the ancestral rhythms of traditional gongs, futuristic Dilla-inspired loops, and the twilight-filtered electronic sounds the band continue to be inspired by. Like tribal music of the past, DATU tells the stories of its own tribe — tales of love, deconstruction, and the search for meaning. The duo uses the sounds and visuals of High Blood to tackle archaic notions of patriarchy and norms associated with their cultural traditions. The result transports listeners to a place between their Filipino ancestry and a Canadian future.

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Along with promoting Filipino culture, DATU is on a mission to challenge traditional cultural notions through their music and embolden the Filipinx community. The band’s name, customarily a title for Chiefs and Princes, is used to challenge the patriarchal framework that’s attached to it by continually celebrating and prominently featuring women, LGBTQ artists and Filipinx talent in their music, visual content, and all other artistic projects attached to DATU.