If there’s one place I can call home in the Philippines, it’s Conspiracy Garden Café at 59 Visayas Avenue in Quezon City, Manila. It’s a combination art gallery, music hall and excellent restaurant that occupies the first floor of a stately old home rumored to have been one of Imelda Marcos’ party houses back in the day.

Conspiracy was hatched by a group of “Co-Inspirers” who banded together to create a haven and a business venture for artists. The talented inner circle consists of singer/songwriters Joey Ayala, his sister Cynthia Alexander, Gary Granada, Bayang Barrios, Noel Cabangon and Cookie Chua. All of them are well known for their connections to the roots of Pinoy culture, and their devotion to supporting worthy humanist causes.

It was my good fortune to hook up with the Conspiracy crew as the result of recording some of my own songs at Shinji Tanaka’s Sound Creation Studio in nearby Tandang Sora. My bassist for the session was Onie Badiang, formerly of Yano Band, and now Joey Ayala’s bass player. My guitarist was Romel “Sancho!” Sanchez, who gigs occasionally with Cynthia as “The Other Guitarist”.

I first met Joey and Cynthia when Sancho! arranged for me to film interviews with them at Shinji’s studio, after which they took me to Conspiracy for the first time. I had the immediate sense of coming home to a familiar place

You enter Conspiracy through a gothic looking stone tunnel that runs under the building that fronts on Visayas Avenue. Sort of a medieval birth canal…something the oddball artists that hang out there might call it. Just out of the tunnel you enter the garden terrace by way of a fountain. Tables sit under a canopy to keep the willing victims dry in case of rain, and you can hear the music that’s playing inside at conversational levels. Here, good food and drink are shared along with spirited discussion of anything from lofty literature to lusty gossip, from quantum mechanics to the physics of the bio-erotic horizontal plane.

Probably the two most popular topics are art and political corruption. These two elements were cleverly combined by the artist Dindo Llana in his way-too-cool 3D display called “Gloria’s (as in Arroyo) Sari Sari Store”. Conspiracy customers can purchase cans of soup and condensed milk, as well as bottles of patis, each with a label boasting a caricature of a famously corrupt and/or inept Filipino politician. The idea being that they are all for sale. A larger exhibit of “Auntie Glo’s” at a major Manila art museum so outraged some of the Big Bucks Benefactors that they threatened to pull their funding. This is the stuff of which Conspiracy is made.

Manager Tita “The Sarge Living Large in Charge” deQuiros is the wife of Inquirer columnist Conrad deQuiros. Both of them, like the Conspiracy artists, are lifelong activists. Tita comes from a family of writers, so it’s no surprise that Conspiracy hosts Writers’ Tuesday every week. Poetry readings, satire and controversial topics are dished up and discussed before the evening’s music performances.

The entire place is one big art gallery. The walls of the entry hallway, the café and the music hall feature the art of a different artist or group of artists each month. Occasional large exhibits spill out into the garden and the tunnel. At the entrance to the house are two counters with CDs of the Conspiracy artists’ music, and a nice selection of Pinoy ethnic arts and crafts that designed and made by Bayang Barrios and her artist friends.

Then, there’s the café menu. Hooboy! We’re talking serious masarapage here. Whether you’re an omnivore or a dedicated vegan, you’ll find something that’ll get your submaxillary salivary glands jumpin’. And at prices that won’t require a bank loan to satisfy your appetite. If the pig face sisig doesn’t strike your fancy, ask about the tofu version. Just as tasty as the porcine dish, and no animals buy the farm. Conspiracy chefs also roll their own bagoong…a milder, fresher tasting version of the bottled stuff.

The true crown jewel of Conspiracy has to be the music. During any given live performance, it’s not unusual to hear some of the patrons sing along…or whistle…or play table conga to the beat. There’s also a nice riparté going on between musicians and the customers, totally breaking the “Fourth Wall” of the stage. The experience is more like hanging out in their homes…which I suppose it is.

I’ve had the pleasure of both shooting video and jamming on flute or percussion with some of the artists there. Case in point: the last time I was there it was to shoot more video of Cynthia Alexander. Her keyboardist/percussionist Mlou (I call her“Smiley”) Matute was delayed getting to the gig, and so Cynthia asked me to sit in on djembe till Mlou showed up. Fortunately for me, my artist friend and fellow vidiot Aivan Camposuelo was there with her family, so I gladly turned my video camera over to her to shoot while I got my percussive rocks off.

Other memorable musical moments for me were djamming the djembe with Noel Cabangon, and surprising Cookie Chua with a ninja flute attack as she sang Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen”. Another evening I was playing tenor recorder flute with Heber Bartolome, and Cynthia got inspired and jumped onstage to play an old bass guitar that was laying around. She’s a ballsy bassist her own bad self, and somehow managed to make that el cheapo guitar sound like a fretless bass.

Then there were Piano Nights with Rica Arambulo and Gary Granada, with us playing Stump The Band, challenging them to improvise accompaniment to just about any song we could name…in any key. Ultimate karaoke with live musicians.

Conspiracy Garden also features other artists and groups besides the core musicians. There’s different entertainment every night that runs the gamut from Indonesian shadow puppet plays to recitals by students from UP Diliman and University of Santo Tomas. You could spend a month of nights there and never get bored.

Search YouTube for Conspiracy Garden videos and you’ll see why. What makes Conspiracy magic is a unique combination of seriously good art, great food and delicious music in the company of some of the most interesting people on the planet, not to mention a very laid back Conspiracy Cat.

For me home is where the art is. At 59 Visayas Avenue in Quezon City. As a Conspiracy Advocate card carrying member, I can’t wait to get back there.

is there a chance that i can get the conspiracy garden cafe schedule for august? i will only stay in manila for a week or two, and i want to catch noel cabangon, or watch a really good gig. before i moved overseas, i was often at your cafe. it will be really nice if you could help me out. i also want to say hi to noel.

warm greetings from hamburg.

ingat,
lora

Yes may entrance fee for the main music hall, but if you’re going to hangout in the garden area, no charge na yun. Only those who sit inside get charged.

Music CD’s are also available for the artists you’ve mentioned, and then some.

Thanks again!