Westernization of OPM Rock - intro

the westernization issue that i presented is definitely a prevailing topic that concerned local artists are trying to pinpoint and make a stand on.

a staunch critic is jim paredes, whose interview for am-tv that i was able to watch where he gives a detailed outlook on the status of opm today. i am echoing a lot of views that he presented that i can still recall (this serves as an acknowledgement for his ideas that came out in my previous entry). i wish i will be able to interview him and get his views regarding opm westernization as a whole. i believe he was talking more about the song revivals of foreign music by our local singers/performers (not artists, mind you!). i believe he didn't name drop, so i'm doing it here. when was the last time you heard martin nievera or gary valenciano or regine velasquez released an all-original opm album?

that perspective can be likened to OPM rock. but this is a tricky inquiry because the whole idea of Original Pilipino Music Rock must be put into definition, and i admit i do not have that kind of present study yet.

the whole definition can be tackled this way, can we say that there is a definition for a real OPM rock? or is it that rock music is a universal theme and all the local rock bands which release rock songs are derivatives from that universal rock theme? or is it that the derivatives we make from that universal rock theme can be called our own?

with regards to that comes the question, are the juan dela cruz band, asin, plus other rock bands from the 70's the truest OPM rock?

this type of inquiry came out when the question of "what are your musical influences?" is asked. our local bands will definitely say FOREIGN acts as influences.

listening to the emerging acts from the local band scene, parallels on popular international/foreign bands can immediately be identified. can this be already classified as westernization?

is it that this inquiry is due to globalization? or are we american-brainwashed so long ago that it reflects in our music?

PS

i will tackle the english or tagalog songs' OPM-ness in a different entry.

parallel to filmmaking, a friend asked me why filipino movies always have slums on their context. can we not make films that shows the beauty of the islands? the thing is, i believe that our international acclaimed movie director that goes by the name of lino brocka showed this context of filipino movies and this has been the identity of our movies ever since, so deriving from this is a changing of directions for filipino films. the parallel is (if it exists), what is the identity of our opm rock? as shown by the identity of filipino films that attributes itself to the slums.

i just realized: i blog so that i can talk to myself.

Cheer Up, Tofu Kid!

You know it's getting ridiculous when a music snob in this pinoy message board posts this kind of topic.

When I first heard them, I knew I would hate this band.

Why?

Becuase it's the type of music I would have come up with!

Yeah yeah call me sourgraping. And tell me EMO is a bandwagon.

Sheesh I don't even really dress that way; the nerdy glasses are natural anyways.

Yes, that band, even though playing like posing for brownie points, english lyrics that pinoy fans usually don't dig, seemed out of tune and don't know how to play when they performed in myx live, is on top of the pinoy rock biz today (the reason for the nudging going on in that thread).

and the female fans just go ga-ga over the vocalist schtick, playing and sounding like the dashboard confessional dude, and did i mention the pa-"pogi" style of playing?

i knew that the peak of so-called emo in the US music scene came when vindicated by dashboard confessional was part of the spider-man 2 soundtrack. it was just a matter of time before it dawns upon our westernized-OPM songs.

it was an idea waiting to happen. but was too busy/lazy to nurture that idea.

anyways, it isn't so new that the so-called OPM artists will adapt what's new in the international scene to make it fresh in the local scene (the westernization of local music is another topic altogether).

the thing is, i know i would like this band i'm just too envious to admit it.

P.S.

OPM = Original Pilipino Music

the topic of westernization of local music is being put to the spotlight and yes, most music styles of opm songs are derivatives from western genres; ever wonder why musicians are asked what their influences are? (will allot a topic for that. it's an ongoing non-credit thesis i'm working on.)

the reason also why i'm beginning to appreciate the most original opm music i snubbed in the past.

a question that also arises is does a song done in tagalog automatically merits it to be a very original opm song? (i'm just being tricky here since all songs done by Filipino composers are classified as OPM).

yes, the tofu kid username is a play of words from the "cheer up, emo kid!" insults the kids who listen to these post-emo bands of today receive.

jimmy eat world is my favorite post-emo indie rock band.

i heard from my friend that the underground emo scene here in rp is alive and kicking, maybe i just need to get exposed to myspace music to realize that they were living the "idea" years ahead of me.

care for any tagalog emo songs? :')

CINEMALAYA screenings in UP Film Institute

July 18 Monday
5:00 PM ICU Bed # 7 (by Rica Arevalo)
7:30 PM Baryoke (by Ron Bryant)

July 19 Tuesday
5:00 PM Big Time (by Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez)
7:30 PM Pepot Artista (by Clodualdo del Mundo Jr.)

July 20 Wednesday
5:00 PM Room Boy (by Aloysius Adlawan)
7:30 PM Isnats (by Miguel Pancho)

July 21 Thursday
5:00 PM Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (by Michiko Yamamoto, Raymond Lee, and Auraeus Solito)
7:30 PM Sarong Banggi (by Emmanuel Dela Cruz)

July 22 Friday
7:30 PM Lasponggols (by Sigfried Sanchez)

July 23 Saturday
5:00 PM The Six Cinemalaya Shorts
7:30 PM The Cinemalaya Best Picture Winner

CINEMALAYA 2005

1st PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
JULY 12- 17, 2005
CULTURAL CENTER OF THE PHILIPPINES

COMPETITION FILMS / FULL-LENGTH:

1. ANG PAGDADALAGA NI MAXIMO OLIVEROS by Michiko Yamamoto / Raymond Lee
2. BARYOKE by Ron Bryant
3. BIG TIME by Mario Cornejo
4. ICU BED #7 by Rica Arevalo
5. iSNATS by Miguel Pancho / Jun Aves
6. LASPONGGOLS by Sigfried Barros Sanchez
7. PEPOT ARTISTA by Clodualdo del Mundo Jr.
8. ROOM BOY by Alfred Aloysius Adlawan
9. SARUNG BANGGI by Emman dela Cruz

COMPETITION FILMS / SHORTS:

1. ALIMUOM by Rommel Tolentino
2. BABAE by Sigrid Andrea Bernardo
3. BLOOD BANK by Pam Miras
4. KULTADO by Lawrence Fajardo
5. PANAGINIPAN by Anna Isabelle Matutina
6. MANSYON by Joel Ruiz

SCHEDULES:
July 12
7pm - OPENING CEREMONIES

July 13-17 - REGULAR SCREENINGS
10am
130pm
4pm
630pm
9pm

JULY 13, 14 , 17
130pm to 4pm - SINE TAKTAKAN with CINEMALAYA DIRECTORS

JULY 15 & 16
830am to 4pm - CINEMALAYA CONFERENCE

JULY 17
7pm - AWARDS NIGHT

*with SCREENINGS in UP Film Institute from JULY 18-23

Neil Gaiman in Manila July 9-11

Neil Gaiman, the award-winning author of Sandman, American Gods, Neverwhere, and Coraline, will be in Manila from July 9 to 11, 2005!

Join us at The Gathering at the Rockwell Tent on July 9, Fully Booked at The Promenade in Greenhills on July 10, and at Gateway Mall in Cubao on July 11. There will be readings, book signing, an art competition, and a raffle where you can have the chance to have dinner with Neil Gaiman himself! All signing sessions are open to EVERYONE.

i told myself i won't be caught up by this fire. sheesh. i can't say i'm truest in the sense as a gaiman fan since i don't have the sandman collection. didn't have moolah to get 1602. but gaiman books are the only fiction that i read besides harry potter. i have stardust, american gods, neverwhere and my favorite is coraline. it was a real witch hunt just to get my hands on a gaiman book (always gets out of stock). waaah! i want to go to fully booked but i might be too busy to get a glimpse of neil gaiman. this is my chance to get a copy of Smoke and Mirrors also and the Wolves in the Wall children book!

More on Kamulatan

Sa Aking Pagkagising sa Kamulatan was described as shock cinema according to reviews. It also has controversial scenes right from the first sequence.

Other sources from word of mouth described it as having excessive bastos (foul) street language from the kanto boys. The women/girls in this movie are described as very strong and independent, most especially the depiction regarding sexuality. It is somewhat anti-homosexual based on the scenes portraying gay characters.

Additional comments would have to be the great camera angles which were consistent. It had angles pointed looking down and looking up. The lighting, most especially in the night scenes. The use of cigarette smoke effusing in the screen depicts hellish Manila.

Links of Reviews
Phil Star Review
Inq Review
Abet Umil Review

The Digital Revolution for Pinoy Films

First hand info from a film professor regarding the first few digital pinoy films that were made.

I’m making a disclaimer first stating that there may be digital films that could have been made earlier than these films that i will mention. I’m not sure due to lack of information and being new to this scene. But I guess these were the ones that made a lot of noise back then.

These are only descriptions and not synopsis since I really haven’t seen all of them. Feel free to correct info that may be wrong.

Still Lives by Jon Red. Circa 1999. Footages of a security camera. There are 20 actors/actresses that appeared in this film. The predecessors of Astig and Utang ni Tatang.

The Twelve by Khavn Dela Cruz. Circa 2000(?) Visual images of the movie shown while a live band plays. 12 songs played by the band.

Motel Trilogy. Circa 2000. consists of 3 short films revolving the topic of motels. Includes Desperado starring Tado before he was Tado. The short film the made Tado rise in the indie scene. Same production that did Strangebrew. Desperado tells the story of a guy who wants to get laid. Very funny stuff here yet criticizes the typical Pinoy male. It actually gives a feminist POV.

F & F origin

forgive me i don't follow that much Euro movies. i'm super dead last in this category. i've only begun to watch french films, for instance. got too engrossed in Japanese Horror genre.

the Euro movie, in this case German, that paved way to the popularity of flashback and flashforward technique, which i'm pretty sure is a cult favorite, is Run Lola Run.

i haven't seen it. i feel like a knuckle head for not having seen this. i actually saw my brother making a duplicate dvd copy of this movie, but i wasn't interested yet. i've heard the title but didn't bother to catch it before. i think a friend even wrote about this movie in her blog.

anyways, i will just try to catch this one. remember, i was wong kar-wai ignorant like some 6 months ago. it's really frustating to talk about something you haven't realized its importance.

okay. shut it. and feast your eyes.