Born and raised in the river valley of Agusan in Northeastern Mindanao, Southern Philippines to a Camiguingnon mother and Ilocano father, Grace Nono is an ethnomusicologist and interdisciplinary scholar, music-performing artist, and cultural worker.

As scholar, Grace has published: Babaylan Sing Back: Philippine Shamans and Voice, Gender and Place (Ateneo University Press, 2022; Cornell University Press–Southeast Asia Program, 2021); Song of the Babaylan: Living Voices, Medicines, Spiritualities of Philippine Ritualist-Oralist-Healers (Institute of Spirituality in Asia, 2013); and The Shared Voice: Chanted and Spoken Narratives from the Philippines (ANVIL Publishing and Fundacion Santiago, 2008). In addition, she has contributed chapters to four edited volumes, has published five audio and print titles on Philippine traditional musics, and has co-produced two documentary films – Sacred Voices, Sacred Lands (Forthcoming) and Wisdom Keepers of the Earth (2022) on Philippine oral and ritual traditions from Culture Bearers’ standpoints. Grace has taught courses at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, Miriam College, the California Institute of Integral Studies, Harvard Divinity School, and the UN University of Peace. She has also given numerous public lectures in institutions in the Philippines, the United States, Canada, and Japan.

As performing artist/singer, Grace specializes in the performance of a number of oral chants, many of them with sacred themes, taught to her by Indigenous, Muslim, and Christian Culture Bearers, interreligious and intercultural dialogue through the arts being one of her advocacies. Grace has been featured in solo and collaborative performances in over sixty cities and venues in over twenty countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. Among these venues are the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila, the House of World Cultures in Berlin, the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, the Lincoln Center’s La Casita Festival and the Asian American Arts Alliance’s Locating the Sacred Festival in New York City, the Asia Society in New York City and Hong Kong, the Soul Force Sacred Music Festival in California, the Rainforest World Music Festival in Kutching, Sarawak, the Singapore Arts Festival and the National Museum in Singapore, the Music Village Festival in London, the Gathering of Drummers in Prague, concerts in Paris and Monte Carlo, WOMAD in Yokohama, the World Exposition on Nature’s Wisdom in Nagoya, the Penang World Music Festival in Penang, the Asian Fantasy Orchestra tours in New Delhi, Bombay, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Miyazaki, Bangkok, Vientiane, Yangon, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, various presentations in Huairou, Bangkok, Jakarta, Nanning, Shanghai, Seoul, Penang, Taipei, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Butuan, Bunawan, Davao, Ilo-ilo, Palawan, Mindoro, Bicol, Baguio, Zambales, Cagayan Valley, and Sagada. Related to her performances, Grace has released six award-winning solo albums, and has contributed tracks to around fifteen recording compilations.

As cultural worker, Grace founded the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, a Philippine non-profit organization that has been engaged in cultural regeneration initiatives for almost three decades. The Tao Foundation manages three School of Living Traditions in the province of Aguan del Sur, runs the Himig at Galaw ng Ninuno Ninuno: Philippine Traditional Music and Movement Series, the PAMATI Encounters, and several other programs. The Tao Foundation has partnered with local communities and institutions, the National Commission for Culture and Arts, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Sanctuary Fund, the Toyota Foundation, the Advocates of Philippine Fair Trade, the Australia-Philippines Community Cooperation Program, and UNESCO. In addition to her work with several communities, Grace is now busy co-establishing an Eco, Agri, and Heritage Park with native tree species, endemic fish, and organically-grown vegetables in her hometown in northeastern Mindanao.

Grace received her bachelor’s in Humanities and master’s in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines-Diliman; a second master’s in Religious and Gender Studies from Yale University, and a doctorate in Ethnomusicology from New York University. Grace was also awarded a post-doctoral position by the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, and fellowships from the Asian Cultural Council in New York, the Asia-Pacific Performance Exchange program in Los Angeles, the NYU Global Research Initiative in Florence, the Asia-Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO in Kyoto, and the Asian Institute of Management’s Managing the Arts Program in Makati.

To date, Grace has won over 45 awards, including the SUDI National Music Award, The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service or TOWNS award, the Ten Outstanding Young Men or TOYM award, the University of the Philippines Distinguished Alumni award, three national book awards, three album of the year awards, three best world music album awards, several Catholic Mass Media, Katha, Awit, National Press Club, and other awards for her musical, scholarly, and other cultural contributions.

Grace lives in the Philippines with her daughter Tao, their cats and dogs, and fellow-sojourners.