David Byrne: Songs from Here Lies Love
Saturday, 3 February 2007, 8:00 PM
Carnegie Hall, NYC

“Here Lies Love” is David Byrnes’s new “song cycle” about the life of Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady and erstwhile powerful political figure of the Philippines.
The music is informed by Mrs. Marcos’ love of disco. Fatboy Slim made musical contributions to the mildly operatic, heavily theatrical piece.

Performed by David Byrne and his current road band, and mostly sung by two female singers (Joan Almedilla and Ganda Suthivarakom), “Here Lies Love” was both weird and splendid. The music was very rythmic and dancey, full of classic David Byrne melodies. The band was clad in the traditional Barong Tagalog.

(A Barong Tagalog (or simply Barong) is an embroidered formal garment of the Philippines. It is very lightweight and worn untucked, similar to a coat. It is the common wedding and formal attire for Filipino men. The term “Barong Tagalog” literally means “Tagalog dress” (i.e., baro ng Tagalog or dress of the Tagalog) in the Filipino language).

“Here Lies Love” is what Imelda wants inscribed on her gravestone.