Three Stars

"It's always going to stay with me. I don't think that's something my parents can take away."

Young Filipino DJ Ronski is talking about his passion for two turntables and a mixer, something this piece shows him and his parents trying to understand.

I enjoyed the segment. It moved and sounded good, but I have some questions.

Youth Radio producer Alice Dugan is able. Her voice is bright, her writing is spare and precise. She's on it and we go with her.

That's a good thing, since
the focus of the piece is less certain: is this Ron's story or the story of other young Filipino-Americans? And is it the story of artists breaking away from the pack? Or of young people re-negotiating their dreams?

There's a bit of all of this here, which you'd expect. But as a listener you're also expecting' some resolution, which we DON'T get. We're left with one stream showing parents delight in their son's hobby.
We know less about how the son feels about his DJ career as he hits his twenties. We know he's still passionate but how? And how much? And what does Ronski's story tell us about other young Filipino-American DJ?

The clips from from celebrated Filipino DJ Hubert are ambiguous too. Recorded by phone -- for reasons not explained in the text -- Hubert leaves us dangling too.

This might be a fun web extra or part of a program on Filipino or Southeast Asian issues.

Anthea Raymond
PRX Editorial Board
Los Angeles
August 29, 2006