Friday Recommendation #15

It’s time to return to FMA videos. To this end, I recently found an interesting interview with GM Rodel “Smoking Sticks” Dagooc. He talks about his journey from karate to Filipino Martial Arts. While the interview is not in-depth, it does provide interesting information about GM Rodel.

The late GM Remy Presas was passionate about spreading his beloved art of Modern Arnis. But he also told us he wanted to spread “Filipino culture.” He did a fantastic job in this regard. Thousands of seminar attendees and students learned about the Philippines and Filipino culture through Professor. I admit that I knew diddly squat about Filipino culture before my involvement in Modern Arnis. Due to the large Filipino population in Toronto, I have learned a lot more since moving here in 2007. Oh yes, chicken adobo, anyone? Yum!

Anyway, I learned a bit more about GM Rodel’s background in this interview as he comes from the island of Panay, which is next to Professor Presas’ home island of Negros Occidental. Due to the interview, I was compelled to look it up on Google Maps. Always something new to learn!