Meet Bahay Kubo, Saskatoon’s first Filipino drag collective
Photo from @bahaykubo_yxe/Instagram
With the entry of Filipino drag queens Kiki Coe and Melinda Verga in “Canada’s Drag Race” last October, the Filipino-Canadian drag community has been gaining more attention. This week, the Filipina queens who’ve banded together to form Saskatoon’s first Filipino drag collective were featured in a local newspaper. Meet Bahay Kubo.
Joining founder Amy Grant in Bahay Kubo are queens Freya Grant, Vengina “Via” Grant, Shisha Belle, Roxanne, The Realness, and AnnaLynne Mokho.
The collective, which made its debut in August, clarifies that it isn’t a drag house but “a group of Filipina drag performers trying to showcase Philippine culture.”
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The collective chose Bahay Kubo as its name because of its cultural and historical significance. The group recognizes how the symbol is linked to traditional Filipino rural and agricultural practices, its crucial role as a sanctuary and stronghold for Filipino revolutionaries during Spanish colonization, and how it continues to persist in both the imagined and real-life Philippines.
“We decided with bahay kubo because it is a sanctuary for us to not only get to know other Filipina performers but also get reacquainted with our Filipina heritage,” the queens explain.
In an interview with The StarPhoenix, Grant says about Bahay Kubo, “We all vibe with each other, we relate to each other, and the humor that we have is based on some of our shared struggles and how we laugh about it.”
“Filipino drag is all about fun,” she adds. “Yes, we’re all glammed up and all that, but we’re all just being goofy around each other. Love is in the air, and everyone can feel it.”
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When Grant was starting her drag journey in the city, she was one of the few Filipinos on stage or in the audience at shows. “When people think about the drag community in Saskatoon, it’s often people that are not like us,” she says. “It’s very condensed with non-POC. I felt like I had to work three times as hard to prove myself.” Now, that’s changing.
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Last September, Filipino-Canadian Association of Saskatchewan (FILCAS) invited Bahay Kubo to co-host a screening for “Prairie Queen,” a documentary on Alberta-based Francheska Dynamites that shows the struggles that come with being a Filipino drag queen, immigrant, and breadwinner.
This is just the beginning for Bahay Kubo as they set their sights on bigger stages and offer community to more queer Filipinos in Saskatoon.
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