Ruby Ibarra talks culture, new music and motherhood

Ruby Ibarra, the East Bay’s Filipina rapper, singer and songwriter, will be releasing new music later this year after winning this year’s national NPR Tiny Desk Contest and going on a summer tour.

NBC Bay Area’s Gia Vang sat down with Ibarra at her home and got a more personal look at her life as a mother, daughter and artist.

Inside her home is a room-turned-recording studio. It’s where Ibarra writes and records her music, including “Bakunawa,” a dragon in Philippine mythology.

The song crowned Ibarra and her all-Filipino band the winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest out of more than 7,500 submissions. This summer, the group hit the road on a 10-city tour that included a stop in Petaluma.

“For us to also deliver my music and my stories authentically and show up as ourselves was just a dream come true,” Ibarra said. “One of the goals going into the tour was to share my story with people that might not be familiar with what the Filipino American experience is, what immigrant people might experience.”

Ibarra honors her family and heritage, rapping in Bisaya on “Bakunawa.” The song also has another special meaning for her.

“A lot of people actually don’t know, but underneath that Bisaya spoken word is my daughter’s heartbeat,” she said.

Ibarra is working on new music she expects to release this year that collaborates with other Filipino American artists. It’s being released through Bolo Music Group, an independent record label she co-founded in 2023.

“We’re trying to build a foundation and a safe space for Filipino American artists to pursue the arts and to also, I think, be able to find a pipeline to start a music career, a creative career,” she said. “I continue to make music that’s 100% honest and 100% me.”