AmiananPop Songwriting Festival Highlights Northern Luzon's Pop Music and Dialects
Not to be divisive but to promote North Luzon culture and identity, singer-songwriters Davey Langit, Ebe Dancel, together with Maestro Ryan Cayabyab, Noel Cabangon, Gary Granada, Ma. Cristina Joy Balajadia, Melvin Morallos, Christopher Donaal, and Agat Morallos established AmiananPop Music Inc. Along with its ten finalists, it is officially launching the maiden edition
of its songwriting festival, which will take place online this December 4,
2021.
Taking a page from fellow
contemporaries, Visayan Pop Music Festival (Vispop) and Mindanao Popular Music
Festival (MinPop), the newly formed institution puts a spotlight on a new breed
of composers, interpreters, musicians, and producers representing the Ilocos,
Cordillera, and Cagayan region, as well as some non-Tagalog speaking
areas in Central Luzon.
Through AmiananPop Songwriting
Festival 2021, artists from the North are encouraged to write, record, and
produce songs in their own language as a way to present one’s individuality and
debunk misconceptions about non-Manileño Filipino cultures. “Every language
and/or dialect is unique, and so are the stories and nuances that come with it,
and that is why this is the ultimate goal of the movement, to create a
community of storytellers that will represent the NOW generation of Northern
singer/songwriters,” says AmiananPop Co-Founder and Chairman Davey Langit.
The annual competition is committed to
bringing modern regional pop music at the forefront of mainstream consciousness
by making sure that the songs are well-produced and could compete on a global
level. As Ebe Dancel, Co-Founder and President of AmiananPop sums it up, “All
the finalists have excellently-written and arranged songs, and the melodies are
great. How do we bridge the gap? We make sure that the songs are well-produced,
so that when people not familiar with the language hear them, they will be
encouraged to look for the translation of all songs.”
Going all out on its debut edition,
AmiananPop aims to secure its place on the Philippine music map with its
insistence to subvert old practices and embrace new forms of music-making that
is at par with the professional level in highly urbanized areas such as Metro
Manila. Using the tagline Sikamimet!, which is an Ilocano word for ‘it’s
our turn,” the regional songwriting event is keen on igniting a new music
movement from North Luzon that turns the resounding battle cry into a marker of
an evolving and dynamically growing scene.
“We have to bring it to the fore and
show the people that we have an evolving culture, particularly, in music,”
Co-Founder and Board Member Noel Cabangon explains the basis behind
AmiananPop’s vision. “The songs that we know are already traditional songs.
What about the stories and song of the new generation? That’s how important
cultural evolution is. Dapat kasabay ng pag-evolve ng panahon ang kultura.”
This year’s finalists have shown promise
in making generation-defining anthems that not only assert cultural identity in
a compelling way, but also reflect the social conditions of their immediate
environment and the community that shaped their individuality. The North Luzon
artists that impressed the adjudicators in the preliminary rounds include:
Angelic Mateo, SUNGBAT
Harold Lumandaz, URAYEN KA
Jomabel Trapse, BISIKLETA
Fernan Castro Estrada (Composer) &
Melchor Orpilla (Lyricicst), LAINËNG ONAN ARO
Ryan Madrid (Composer) & Kimberly
Collado (Lyricist), PUDNO NGA AYAT
Ruth Lee Resuello, AGKA MAPAGA
Ruth Lee Resuello, ANTO KASI NGARAN TU
MAN
Rivah-Anne Singson & Remedios
Singson, NAPACURUG NGA AYA
Red Gumayagay, ARAPAAP
Patrick Visto, LAB STORY
The selection went through rigorous
process of adjudication led by Chairman Davey Langit, President Ebe Dancel, as
well as Foundation Board Members Maestro Ryan Cayabyab, Noel Cabangon, Gary
Granada, Ma. Cristina Joy Balajadia, Melvin Morallos, Christopher Donaal, and
Agat Morallos.
According to Co-Founder Noel Cabangon,
the finalists are selected based on musicality, lyrics, creativity and new
sound. “We determine entries not on their winnability but how the songs are
creatively crafted,” the award-winning and critically acclaimed
singer-songwriter adds.
AmiananPop Songwriting Festival 2021 is the
first project of AmiananPop Music Inc., a non-stock, non-profit organization
that aims to champion the beauty and diversity of contemporary pop music in
North Luzon and its peripheral regions. This year’s festival is co-presented by
official partners and sponsors: PhilPop, FILSCAP, NLEX-SCREX, PotenCee, Office
of Senator Risa Hontiveros, Office of Cong. Kristine Singson, Office of Cong. Christopher
de Venecia, Mansho, and Island Living.
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