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“The songs that we hear transform and evolve as the years pass by. The music landscape has changed. The songs that these generations create and listen to are different from the songs of the previous decades. The beat, the melody, the lyrics, the story-telling… almost everything is new. I said ‘different’, not bad, not worse. Being different does not necessarily mean worse. A new song treated contrarily from the songs that people have gotten used to can’t be automatically dismissed as inferior.”

These were the words the maestro, Mr. Ryan Cayabyab, shared last Thursday at the PhilPop 2018 media launch. He was only one of the many talented songwriters and artists at the launch. His speech tackled the bias the older generation has over the music being played today. Being a self-confessed music junkie, I related. I have to admit that his words were reflective of the bias I have over older songs. I thought that most songs today lacked the creativity of the stories artists used tell. However, his speech made me realize that this was not entirely true. There are many artists and songwriters that create great songs yet most lack the means of making it viral, which we all know is vital in pop culture today.

This is why foundations like The Philippine Popular Musicfest exist. They hone and create an avenue for new and young songwriters to pursue their craft. This year, they launched it in Davao City as a sort of challenge amongst the Mindanaoan youth to exhibit their songwriting prowess.

The PhilPop Music Festival has been advocating the awareness and pride for original Filipino music since 2012. The 2018 PhilPop Music Festival, however, is predicted as its best yet. The festival shall now be a year-long celebration with the theme, ‘Music. Powered by Pinoys’. Aside from the annual songwriting competition, the contest will now be supported by a series of events throughout the year. The events are as follows: mall tours, songwriting boot camps, and music pods. These events aim to create awareness and an appreciation for the role of songwriters in the music industry.

The 2018 PhilPop Music Festival promises a lot of innovations. What used to only be a six-month contest is now a year-long festival. What used to be the Top 12 entries are now the Top 30 finalists. Aside from that, in that Top 30 will be 5 slots for Mindanao and 5 slots for Visayas, as to create diversity in the competition. The Top 30 finalists will be announced in July, and the grand winner will be announced in November at the outdoor music festival. The grand winner will receive a whopping 1 million pesos.

PhilPop has welcomed a new sponsor in the Mid Altantic Foundation for Asian Artists, Inc. (MAFFAA). Based in Maryland, United States, MAFFAA is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote and present the diverse cultural artistic works associated with the Philippines and Asia. MAFFAA donated Php 1 Million for PhilPop 2018.

For more details, you can visit their website.