ICYMI: Fête dela Musique at 25 features diverse Filipino music in its grandest festival to date

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Fête dela Musique has been giving Filipino fans free musical performances annually in different venues across major cities of the country, with pocket stages that feature specific music genres – funk, soul, blues, rock, indie-folk, hiphop/R&B, electronica, and synth-pop.

Sponsored by Globe, in partnership with Alliance Française de Manille, the annual musical event Fête dela Musique kicked off on June 21 at A-Venue Main Stage, and continuing the next day at Greenbelt 3 Main Stage and Poblacion Pocket Stages—gathering some of the country’s best veteran and newest musical talents.

Anyone who has attended any Fête event knows that the death knell for “Original Pilipino Music” has ceased to sound off long ago. Indeed, this observation seems evident at this year’s Main Stage in Greenbelt, as Fête offered the widest spectrum for the musical palette of discerning Pinoy audience: Subdued indie-pop next to distorted, screaming guitars followed by world music and Afro-Latin rhythms.

One of the first bands to grace the Greenbelt 3 Main Stage, folk-rock band Pinkmen played Beatlesque, acoustic guitar-driven songs. Ska band Todo Pasa played original and cover songs of ‘70s soul, ska, and jazz standards. She’s Only Sixteen blasted overdriven, guitar-fueled garage rock, while The Ransom Collective featured percussive indie-folk, in the vein of Mumford & Sons and The Head and the Heart.

“Good evening, everyone. We’ll do a song from one of my musical idols, Billie Holiday,” declared Skarlet Brown of the jazz band Project Yazz and Skarlet Brown (also of Brownbeat Allstars and Put3ska fame). They played “Don’t Explain,” one of Holiday’s famous tunes about a jilted lover. The band perfectly demonstrates the meeting of new and old bloods in Pinoy music – ¾ of the band are aged below 30, all equally talented.

More bands followed: Indie band Ciudad played melancholic, spaced-out mellow rock. Itchyworms rocked out classic tunes “Ayokong Tumanda,” “Salapi,” and the blues powerhouse track “’Di Na Muli.” Crowd darlings Autotelic had audience singing to their catchy synth-pop songs replete with sing-along choruses. Quest, as charismatic as ever, had the crowd riled up and fist-pumping with his song “Sige Lang.” The percussion duo Hernandez Brothers bashed drum skins, congos, and djembes to Afro-Latin rhythm beats, with a nod to the Afro-Cuban legend Mongo Santamaria.

Fans were treated to all these diverse sounds at the festival, while Globe customers were able to claim a bottle of beer by using their Globe Rewards points or by purchasing a reusable tumbler at the water refilling station. In return, Globe donated one tree sapling for every claimed beer to Hineleban Foundation, an NGO focused on the reforestation of mountains in Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur. Globe Postpaid or Platinum subscribers were also able to cool down and hang out at the Globe Lounge near the Main Stages and at select Pocket Stages in Poblacion. 

The #GlobeFete experience not only took fans on a trip down memory lane with some of the bands they grew up listening to but also introduced new acts that are worth staying for. #ThePLAN to feast to an unforgettable weekend of music, art, and learning was completed and Globe Postpaid subscribers can expect more entertainment experiences that Globe has in store for them. Watch out for more exclusive perks at https://www.globe.com.ph/postpaid.html.