Notable upstarts emerge from first Philpop

GRAND CHAMPION. Karl Villuga (left) gets a little help from his group, Akafellas, in his song “Bawat Hakbang” which tops the first Philpop (Philippine Popular Music Festival).

There is reason to believe that the maiden edition of Philpop (Philippine Popular Music Festival) succeeded in its objective of finding the most promising new generation of songwriters.

While some who made it to the top 14 finalists had either written songs for other artists or released their own albums, majority of them could be considered amateurs—having joined a competition for the first time, that is.

Notable among these upstarts are:

Noah Zuñiga, a guitarist in the pop-rock band Klay, and whose song, “Dulo ng Dila,” reportedly took only a few hours to write;

John Kennard Eleazar Faraon, an information technology student and amateur songwriter who wrote his song, “Slowdancing,” at home while fiddling with electronic gadgets;

James B. Leyte, a night shift worker in the cellular service support of an engineering company, whose fetish for girls with a particular hair color resulted in his writing the song “Brown;”

JAMES B. Leyte (left) peforms his own song, “Brown,” backed by Brownman Revival.

Keiko Necesario, a music conservatory dropout who wrote her song “3 a.m.” after coming from a wake with her crush;

Kristofferson B. Melecio, a professional songwriter who wrote “Piso” as a commentary on society.

All these five composers had strong chances of cracking the winners’ circle since their songs had unique lyrical content with impressive hooks in their structure.

Setback

We even thought Melecio—who tapped Joey Ayala to interpret his piece—and Gary Granada’s “Minsa’y Isang Bansa” would go head-to-head for the grand prize.

GARY Granada interprets his own song, “Minsa’y Isang Bansa,” with pianist Val Villanueva.

However, Granada and another veteran songwriter, Trina Belamide, suffered from an infuriating backlash against the undue advantage—alleged by online kibitzers—that these two perennial contest winners appeared to have at the start of elimination rounds.

We still believe Granada could have emerged grand champion if he had a younger singer interpret his song. The social realism sentiments of his song best captured the essence of the organizers’ spiels at the start of the finals night held recently at the PICC: “Music is also about nation-building.”

On finals night, Granada sounded a little off vocally, and he didn’t look comfortable. His performance was like a lounge act, which obviously didn’t match the serious vibe of his song.

But then again, it was apparent that Granada was bound to lose, considering some of the “guidelines” that the panel of judges followed: The winning songs must have the pop appeal that would ensure them of radio airplay; and their lyrics must be simple enough for the masses to understand.

Somehow those “rules” sucked, because nobody can predict what sounds will be good for radio. Also, spoonfeeding the masa with “simple” lyrics is an insult to their intelligence.

Winners

As for the winners, the sound of grand champ Karl Villuga’s “Bawat Hakbang” and second runner-up Soc Villanueva’s “Kontrabida” seemed to have latched on to the same R&B trend—

THREE of the seven judges (from left): singer-songwriter Noel Cabangon, radio DJ Chico Garcia, composer Louie Ocampo

nothing groundbreaking.

First runner-up Toto Sorioso’s “Tayo-Tayo Lang” was a wise pick since the folk-rock song was perfectly crafted—evoking vivid images of a club scene involving a performer and his audience.

When the CD comes out, we expect the Smart People’s Choice (winner via text votes), Leyte’s “Brown,” as well as Edwin Marollano’s “Kesa,” to be hits among the campus crowd.

Organizers said there are plans for the top 14 to go on a nationwide campus tour to further inspire more budding songwriters.