Internet Age (1994-2003): Philippine Media, Culture, and Music

                                        Philippine Media in the Modern Era
  


Types of Media:

Print

Print media began in the Philippines during the Spanish era, through Spanish-language newsletters. National newspapers during that era, however, aided greatly to the Philippine Revolution. The first English language newspapers came out in 1898, which ushered in the era of modern media. 

Of the print media, the most popular are the newspapers, both broadsheets or tabloids, being the cheapest and most accessible to the public. Several newspapers enjoy national distribution, although each region in the country also has its own regional newspapers. Apart from these, the print industry, through varied trade, educational, and magazine publishers, produces glossy and non-glossy magazines, comic books, pocketbook series, textbooks, trade books, and periodicals.

Broadcasting

Among the electronic media forms, radio and television enjoy the highest patronage, with every Filipino home having one or both appliances.

Radio

Radio broadcasting began in the Philippines in 1922. Since then, radio has become the most accessible electronic media. Filipinos either own or enjoy its services even in public transportation or areas. Aside from the newspaper, it is the most favored source of information, opinion, and entertainment. 

Philippine radio stations broadcast in either FM or AM bands. Some stations, especially in the AM band, broadcast mostly talk or news programs. Music radio stations are usually found in the FM band. Often, radio stations specialize in a particular type of music, such as pop, classical, new wave, or mellow. Radio stations also broadcast either nationally or regionally.

Television

The first television broadcast in the Philippines occurred in the 1950s. Since then, the television industry has been considered as a very strong influence on society. There are hundreds of local stations that populate the airwaves, most of them belonging to a broadcast network, the largest of which are ABS-CBN and GMA, also the most popular television stations. 

Television networks and stations broadcast through satellite or “free” channels and cable channels. Most channels broadcast in both English and Filipino languages, and programming is mostly general interest. Networks, though, often reserve certain stations for a specific format, such as music, news, animation, children's programs, educational TV, etc. Philippine TV programs range from canned foreign series to locally produced soap operas or telenovelas, fantaseryes, news and information programs, variety shows, game shows, educational shows and reality TV, starred in by a bevy of Philippine celebrities. Most of these celebrities are connected to a specific television network. 

The content of television programs is monitored by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), which also assigns ratings to the TV shows.

Cinema

Considered as the youngest of Philippine arts, film first appeared in the Philippines in 1904. As a media form, Philippine cinema, at present, is thriving industry. Movies in the Philippines are mostly produced by one of the major film studios. The most popular genre among movies is the drama. However, there is also a big niche for comedy, romance, horror, and historical films. Philippine cinema has also been used to promote or foster certain political or historical insights. 

Film stars are among the most popular celebrities in Philippine entertainment. The country also has its share of renowned film makers and films which have gained recognition in several international film festivals. 

Currently, independent films are gaining a stronger footing in the industry, with the establishment of groups like Cinemalaya.

Advertising

Philippine advertising ranges from print to television commercials to billboards or special media. These ads are commissioned through varied advertising agencies around the country. Often Philippine entertainment celebrities are paid to endorse products. 

New Media

New media refers mainly to digital media forms such as computers and the Internet. The Philippines is relatively new to this media, officially entering the world of global Internet only in 1994. However, in a span of less than 10 years, the country has made up for it by being avid users of the Internet and digital communications in general. 

Modern Filipino Music:

OPM (Original Pilipino Music)

Original Pilipino Music, now more commonly termed Original Pinoy Music or Original Philippine Music or OPM for short, originally referred only to Philippine pop songs, particularly ballads, such as those popular after the collapse of its predecessor, the Manila Sound, in the late 1970s, up until the present. In the 70's Nora Aunor, Pilita Corrales, Eddie Peregrina, Victor Wood, ASIN and many more. In the 1970s the major commercial Philippine pop music artists were, Joey Albert, Claire dela Fuente, Didith Reyes, Rico Puno, Ryan Cayabyab, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Hajji Alejandro, Rey Valera, and Freddie Aguilar, Imelda Papin, Eva Eugenio, Nonoy Zuniga and many others.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, OPM was led by artists such as Regine Velasquez, Sharon Cuneta, APO Hiking Society, José Mari Chan, Dingdong Avanzado, Rodel Naval, Janno Gibbs, Ogie Alcasid, Joey Albert, Lilet , Martin Nievera, Manilyn Reynes, Pops Fernandez, Lea Salonga, Vina Morales, Raymond Lauchengco, Francis Magalona, and Gary Valenciano among many others.

In the 1990s, the famous artists/bands included Eraserheads, Smokey mountain, Donna Cruz, Jessa Zaragoza, Ariel Rivera, Southborder, Afterimage, Andrew E., Jaya, Rivermaya, Ella May Saison among many others.

From its inception, OPM has been centered in Manila, where Tagalog, and English are the dominant languages. Other ethnolinguistic groups such as the Visayan, Bikol, and Kapampangan, despite making music in their native languages have not been recognized as OPM, except in unusual cases like the Bisrock (Visayan Rock music) song "Charing" by Davao band 1017.

Multiculturalism advocates, and federalists often associate this discrepancy to the Tagalog-centric cultural hegemony of the capital city of Manila.

Having successfully created a subgenre of Philippine Rock they called Bisrock, the Visayans by far have the biggest collection of modern music in their native language, with great contributions from Visayan bands Phylum, and Missing Filemon. However, a band called Groupies' Panciteria that hails from Tacloban, a Winaray-speaking city, launched a free downloadable mp3 album on Soundclick.com in 2009 containing 13 Tagalog songs and only one very short one in the Cebuano language.

Following suit are the Kapampangans. The debut music video of "Oras" (Time) by Tarlac City-based Kapampangan band Mernuts has penetrated MTV Pilipinas, making it the first ever Kapampangan music video to join the ranks of other mainstream Filipino music videos. "RocKapampangan: The Birth of Philippine Kapampangan Rock," an album of modern remakes of folk Kapampangan extemporaneous songs by various Kapampangan bands was also launched last February 2008, which are now regularly played via Kapampangan cable channel Infomax-8 and via one of Central Luzon's biggest FM radio stations, GVFM 99.1. Inspired by what the locals call "Kapampangan cultural renaissance," Angeles City-born balladeer Ronnie Liang rendered Kapampangan translations of some of his popular songs such as "Ayli" (Kapampangan version of "Ngiti"), and "Ika" (Kapampangan version of "Ikaw") for his repackaged album.

Despite the growing clamor for non-Tagalog, and non-English music, and greater representation of other Philippine languages, the local Philippine music industry, which is centered in Manila, is unforthcoming in venturing investments to other locations. Some of their major reasons include the language barrier, small market size, and socio-cultural emphasis away from regionalism in the Philippines.

Pop music

Pop OPM (also called P-Pop in some territories) has been regularly showcased in the live band scene. Groups such as the Neocolours, Side A, Introvoys, The Teeth, Yano, True Faith, Passage, and Freestyle popularized songs that clearly reflect the sentimental character of OPM pop.

Choral Music

Most outstanding choirs in the Philippines:

• Philippine Normal University Chorale
• Philippine Madrigal Singers
• PUP Bagong Himig Serenata
• University of Santo Tomas Singers
• University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors
• University of the Philippines Concert Chorus
• Ateneo College Glee Club
• Saint Louis University Glee Club
• University of the East Chorale
• University of the Visayas Chorale
• Imusicapella

Rock and Blues

The United States occupied the Islands in 1898 until 1946, and introduced American blues, folk music, R&B, and rock and roll which became popular. In the late 1950s, native performers adapted Tagalog lyrics for North American rock & roll music, resulting in the seminal origins of Philippine rock. The most notable achievement in Philippine rock of the 1960s was the hit song "Killer Joe", which propelled the group Rocky Fellers, reaching number 16 on the American radio charts.

Up until the 1970s, popular rock musicians began writing and producing in English. In the early 1970s, rock music began to be written using local languages, with bands like the Juan Dela Cruz Band being among the first popular bands to do so. Mixing Tagalog and English lyrics were also popularly used within the same song, in songs like "Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko" (The Miss Universe of My Life), by the band Hotdog which helped innovate the Manila Sound. The mixing of the two languages (known as "Taglish"), while common in casual speech in the Philippines, was seen as a bold move, but the success of Taglish in popular songs, including Sharon Cuneta's first hit, "Mr. DJ", broke the barrier forevermore.

Philippine rock musicians added folk music and other influences, helping to lead to the 1978 breakthrough success of Freddie Aguilar. Aguilar's "Anak" (Child), his debut recording, is the most commercially successful Filipino recording, and was popular throughout Asia and Europe, and has been translated into numerous language by singers worldwide. Asin also broke into the music scene in the same period, and were popular.

Folk rock became the Philippine protest music of the 1980s, and Aguilar's "Bayan Ko" (My Country) became popular as an anthem during the 1986 EDSA Revolution. At the same time, a counterculture rejected the rise of politically focused lyrics. In Manila, a punk rock scene developed, led by bands like Betrayed, The Jerks, Urban Bandits, and Contras. The influence of New Wave was also felt during these years, spearheaded by The Dawn.

The 1990s saw the emergence of Eraserheads, considered by many Philippine nationals as the number one group in the Philippine recording scene. In the wake of their success was the emergence of a string of influential Filipino rock bands such as Yano, Siakol, Parokya ni Edgar, and Rivermaya, each of which mixes the influence of a variety of rock subgenres into their style.

Filipino rock has also developed to include some hard rock, heavy metal, and alternative rock such as Razorback, Wolfgang, Greyhoundz, Slapshock,Bloodshedd, and the progressive bands Paradigm, Fuseboxx and Eternal Now.

Rock festivals have emerged through the recent years and it has been an annual event for some of the rock/metal enthusiasts. One big event is the Pulp Summer Slam wherein local rock/metal bands and international bands such as Lamb of God, Anthrax, Death Angel, and Arch Enermy have performed.^[2]

The Neo-Traditional genre in Filipino music is also gaining popularity, with artists such as Joey Ayala, Grace Nono, Bayang Barrios, Cocojam, and Pinikpikan reaping relative commercial success while utilizing the traditional musical sounds of many indigenous tribes in the Philippines. 

Hip-hop

Filipino hip-hop is hip hop music performed by musicians of Filipino descent, both in the Philippines, and overseas, especially by Filipino-Americans. This article focuses first on Filipino hip-hop in the Philippines, and secondly on that in the USA. The Philippines is known to have had the first hip-hop music scene in Asia[1] since the early 1980s, largely due to the country's historical connections with the United States where hip-hop was originated. Rap music released in the Philippines has appeared in different languages such as Tagalog, Chavacano, Cebuano, Ilocano and English. In the Philippines, Francis M and Andrew E. are cited as the most influential rappers in the country, being the first to release mainstream rap albums.

Program Music

Unlike pure music which has no reference in the real world and no story component, program music is instrumental music that may tell a story with explicit episodes, reveal facets of a character, place, or occasion, or imitate the sounds of the world. Sometimes this may take the form of a verbal explanation of the “story” or “program” of the piece. The term was invented bycomposer Franz Liszt, who understood program music to involve a program external to the music that set the parameters and the form in which the musical piece unfolds.

Other genres

A number of other genres are growing in popularity in the Philippine music scene, including a number of alternative groups, and tribal bands promoting cultural awareness of the Philippine Islands.

Likewise, jazz has experienced a resurgence in popularity. Initial impetus was provided by W.D.O.U.J.I.(Witch Doctors of Underground Jazz Improvisation)with their award winning independent release "Ground Zero" distributed by the now defunct N/A Records in 2002 and the Tots Tolentino-led Buhay jazz quartet on the year before that. This opened up the way for later attempts most notable of which is the Filipino jazz supergroup Johnny Alegre Affinity releasing its eponymous debut album in 2005 under London-based Candid Records. Mon David has also made the rounds of the Las Vegas music circuit. Among the female performers, Mishka Adams has been the most prominent. A recent development is the fusion of spoken-word and jazz, and rock, chiefly attributed to Radioactive Sago Project. Other notable names of late are Bob Aves with his ethno-infused jazz, The Jazz Volunteers and Akasha which have anchored the now legendary underground jazz jams at Freedom Bar for almost half of the 11 years of its existence.

Bossa nova and Latino music has been popular since the 1970s. Performers like Annie Brazil were active in the 1970s, while more recently, Sitti has been earning rave reviews for her bossa nova covers of popular songs.

While there has long been a flourishing underground reggae and ska scene, particularly in Baguio City, it is only recently that the genres have been accepted in the mainstream. Acts like Brownman Revival, Put3Ska, Roots Revival of Cebu and The Brown Outfit Bureau of Tarlac City, Philippines have been instrumental in popularizing what is called "Island Riddims". There is also a burgeoning mod revival, spearheaded by Juan Pablo Dream and a large indiepop scene.

Electronic music began in the early 2000s in the Manila underground. It became more significant due to the Korean wave which its musical popularity started in the country recently. Starting 2010, local artists starting to create electropop songs of themselves. As of now, most electronic songs are used in commercials. The only radio station so far that plays purely electronic music is 107.9 U Radio.