Exciting lineup bolsters PhilPop’s opening salvo

CAYABYAB. Invigorating boost for the local music industry.

CHOOSING 14 of the best songs from more than 3,000 entries submitted to the Philippine Popular Music Festival is no easy task—but, the exciting endeavor is giving the beleaguered music industry the invigorating boost it deserves.

Envisioned to give the Filipino songwriter a fighting chance against piracy and unfair competition from foreign acts, PhilPop recalls the creation of the Metro Manila Popular Music Festival (or Metropop), which began its trailblazing, eight-edition run in 1978.

Metropop gave birth to a treasure trove of musical gems that include “Anak,” “Be My Lady,” “Minsan Pa,” “Ewan,” “Till I Met You,” “Lupa,” “Swerte-Swerte Lang,” “Hahanapin Ko,” “Magsimula Ka,” “Isang Mundo, Isang Awit,” “Kahit La La La, Pwede Na,” “Umagang Kay Ganda,” “Salamat, Salamat Musika,” “Give Me A Chance,” “A Smile in Your Heart,” “Sino Ang Baliw?” and “Kay Ganda ng Ating Musika,” the festival’s first Grand Prize winner.

Finals

Ryan Cayabayab, that song’s composer, is now the executive director of PhilPop, which will hold its finals at PICC on July 14. The self-effacing Mr. C explains, “PhilPop provides a channel through which our composers and songwriters can create fresh, new songs. We’re looking for tunes that define the present generation—hindi ‘yung tunog namin!”

The same sentiment was running in our mind when we agreed to join the group of adjudicators—composed of musicians, composers, singers, journalists, record executives and music critics—tasked to winnow down the hefty list.  We were “luckier,” because we joined the team after the first batch of judges had already narrowed the list down to 100.

Sound engineer Don Manalang, who was part of the first batch of judges, told us that  the tedious process was like separating chaff from grain, because his batch had to listen to all 3,000-plus entries!

Diversity

Manalang was also one of the five adjudicators in the team I was assigned to, which included singer Mark Bautista, record executive Vic Valenciano,  composer-musical director Butch Miraflor, and team leader Vincent Pillen. As we listened to the entries, we couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty and diversity of the 100 tunes on our playlist.

The lineup was an exhilarating potpourri of genres and musical influences—reggae, rock, regional, world music, jazz, R&B, urban, hip-hop, novelty, pop ballads, etc. It was a telling reflection of popular music’s constantly evolving taste!

Early this week, we learned that a good number of our top picks made it to the finals.

PhilPop’s Top 14, in no particular order: “Takusa” by Byron Ricamara; “Minsa’y Isang Bansa” by Gary Granada; “3 a.m.” by Keiko Necesario; “Kesa” by Edwin Marollano; “Bawat Hakbang” by Karl Vincent Villuga; “Negastar” by Michael Angelo Villegas; “Bigtime” by Trina Belamide; “Piso” by Kristofferson Melecio; “Dulo ng Dila” by Noah Zuñiga; “Himig ng Panahon” by Timothy Anjello Alfaro; “Tayo-Tayo Lang” by Ronaldo Sorioso; “Slowdancing” by John Kennard Eleazar Faraon; “Brown” by James Leyte, and “Kontrabida” by Soc Villanueva.