Culture Vulture Kuno #1

SAYAW DARLING

I said to myself that this post, as it sounded in my head, would end up like a critique of pop culture in a Saturday morning paper. So, as to indulge my fantasies, and to make an even bigger fool of myself, I made a header, complete with a very disguising Photoshop edited head shot, just like my favorite pop culture columnists from the Philippine Star's SUPREME. Now, let me begin.

Avid watchers of Star World will know of the commercial of Channel [V]'s AMP or Asia's Music Platform. The commercial, approximately 30 seconds long, is annoyingly repeated at least once every commercial break. It basically talks about how Asian pop culture has infiltrated the mainstream by citing Korean break dancers, and how the Asian music industry has flourished over the past few years. What caught my attention most in the commercial though was the reported statistic that a few years ago, 70% of music in the Philippines was imported, but now... "Local music rules the airwaves." The statistics seem right enough. Local music is surely dominating the local music charts. The problem is that "local music" is basically Willie Revillame, Joey de Leon, and the Sexbomb Dancers.

RADIO NOW

If you haven't heard about FM radio being back "in," then you've probably been spending too much time with your ipod. A lot has surely changed in the world of short wave radios since the last time FM radio was en vogue which was in the late 90's. Mo Twister is back from the States, where he seems to have gotten his ethics dessicated. Campus Radio has shifted from a middle and upper class radio station, to the CDEF class Barangay LS (forever.) A multitude of CDEF radio FM stations started sprouting around like mushrooms. Love Radio is still the number one radio station in Metro Manila.

KOKOROKOKO

What makes love radio so popular? Is it the pun filled names of their DJ's like Sexy-terry, Christyuper, and Nicole Ayala? Is it the Station ID from hell that invokes the laughing of demons? Is it that infernal rat Kokorokoko, who continually plagues our ears with the most un-tasteful jokes? Maybe it's the fact that they replay Yeng Constantino's "Habangbuhay" 1000 times a day. I don't know for sure, but what I do know is that many of us who ride the jeep during the morning cringe and moan at the all too familiar guitar pluck of "Habangbuhay's" intro. After then enduring the hundredth replay of the song in the jeep, we finally relax our faces, only to groan once more because Joey de Leon's "Itaktak Mo" starts playing, followed by "Iyugyug Mo" by Willie Revillame. It's a vicious cycle of repetitive melodies. Then Kokorokoko cracks a joke. By this time, I have my bible in hand, and I'm praying for salvation. By the time I exit the Jeepney, I'm humming "Iyugyug Mo" under my breath. My conspiracy theory is now that Love Radio is continually played in public transport vehicles to seek out and brainwash the middle class.

RULES THE AIRWAVES

What I would give to rewind time a few years back, when 70% of the music was imported. Sure, you had Filipinos with odd accents singing Westlife's "Seasons in the Sun" (We ad juy weh 'ad pan, weh 'ad sesons en da san) or the Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way" (ent nating bat a hurt-echh) but at least the music actually had lyrics that made sense, instead of today's songs of yug-yog, tak-tak, doodoo-da-hahaha, and other such babble. I'm so infuriated by the lack of musical taste of the masses that I'm even beginning to miss the screamfests/songs of Regine Velasquez during her hayday. What I miss most though are those interpretative dances plus lipsynch that everyone used to do when a slow Westlife song would come on.

AMP*ta

I wonder if Asia's Music Platform, the show that so proudly announced the victory of local music over taste, will ever showcase Willie Revillame featuring the G-Girls. Imagine some Thai guy with an Australian accent introducing the best that Philippine music has to offer. Imagine the reaction of the Asian community when a 40 year old man and a group of twenty-something overly made up wimen start undulating onstage while singing "iyugyug mo" over and over and over again.

PLEASE DON'T STOP THE MUSIC

The Philippine music industry needs a serious revamp. Proper bands like Urbandub are being outsold by Willie Revillame and some other sell out bands who started proper and ended up just plain Jologs (shout out to Cueshe.) The main reason Willie and Joey are outselling real musicians is that they are being supported by recording companies that are sister companies of media companies that show television shows that rely on the brainwashed musical taste of the masses to be able to grab viewers. Another shout out to those companies concerned. Please don't brainwash us, we have a future abroad. There are hundreds of musicians that deserve the spotlight more than WIllie, Joey, Sam, Piolo, and Yeng. Sometimes recording companies are so stuck with the "formula" that will grab the audience, ergo the repetitive beats, that they forget to innovate. Innovation is a must for music to thrive in a society. The main point of everything is that local music may rule the airwaves, but local music doesn't thrive in stagnancy.