Pinoy pop rising

by Jules Vivas, Manila Bulletin

Much can be said about the local entertainment industry, in particular, the performing arts.

Young performers today have shown great potential, enthusiasm, and passion. Homegrown singers exemplify vocal prowess and charm on par with Korean idols, a huge hit in the Philippines right now.

Pinoy talents are becoming increasingly popular abroad. There’s SB19, a five-member boy group that made history by being the first Filipino artist to chart and debut at the Billboard Next Big Sound chart. Ben&Ben emerged at the top of the Melon Realtime Search Chart in South Korea and is the most-streamed Filipino artist on Spotify with over billions of streams.

These are only two prime examples, and there are far more Pinoy talents out there who deserve recognition. The thing about the Filipino’s consumption of music is that we tend to support more foreign and international artists over our own. It takes international acclaim for Filipino artists to be truly acknowledged.

A venue for local talents to celebrate the best of Original Pinoy Music (OPM), the first-ever Tugatog Filipino Music Festival is set to take place on June 18, this year. The annual event by Ant Savvy Creatives and Entertainment Inc. elevates Pinoy Pop (P-Pop) to new heights and helps uplift Filipino musicians, both prominent and rising, to the global stage. A play on the words Tugtog (music), Tugtug (heartbeat), and Tugatog (peak), the concert gathers some of the youngest, most promising Pinoy performers on a single platform.

P-Pop is not solely entertainment. It’s now about embracing our roots and heritage at a time national identity needs to be relearned and re-established.

“We’ve worked on many memorable live concerts with Ant Savvy Creatives in these past years and every time we needed to mount a new concert, we had to inevitably raise the bar higher,” says Miggy Tanchanco, festival show director. “Even during the pandemic when we had to build a digital concert together, we knew we were breaking new ground when it came to creating a unique music experience for the Filipino audience.”

To encapsulate the magic of P-Pop, Tugatog promises to combine the best elements of live and recorded performances to create visually stunning experiences. Think digital P-Pop Party. It would be purely online in compliance with the health protocols amid the pandemic.

Tugatog not only celebrates artists but our identity in music as Filipinos. It also gives consumers a chance to support Filipino talents. “This way, we are able to honor the different voices that keep the community alive and contribute to building the culture and craft of Filipino music. Every voice, every sound, and every beat—that is what Tugatog is all about,” explains Anj Heruela, executive strategy and communications officer of Ant Savvy Creatives & Entertainment Inc. She adds that talents serve as inspiration to others, through their music and stories of hard work to reach their status now.

 

Featured in the first edition of the music fest are Alamat, BGYO, Bini, Litz, MNL48, PPop Generation, Press Hit Play, VXON, 1st One, among others.

 

Tugatog Filipino Music Festival will be held virtually in June 2022 via the online streaming website TicketMelon. Live chat will be open for viewers to engage and interact with each other while the show is ongoing. VIP tickets are priced at ₱2,700 while Premier at ₱1,800. Tickets may be purchased at www.ticketmelon.com/antsavvy/tugatog-filipino-music-festival-2022. Those buying tickets until March 31 get a 30 percent discount.

“In the future, we hope to bring the Tugatog experience to fans all over the Philippines. We want to take Tugatog to different regions so we can also feature local artists in the lineup. We want Tugatog to be the platform that not only brings artists to audiences in different regions but also puts a spotlight on talents from all over the country,” says Su Matias, chief executive officer.

P-Pop is not solely entertainment. It’s now about embracing our roots and heritage at a time national identity needs to be relearned and re-established. It serves more meaningful purposes, including connecting us, healing the broken, freeing the soul, and generally opening up whole new doors, shaping perspectives, and reflecting who the Filipinos are today.

@tugatogph | mabuhay@tugatog.ph

PH still at ‘very low risk’ for Covid-19

 

PH are still at ‘very low risk’ for Covid-19 amid rise in infections in other Asian countries — OCTA

The Philippines remained under “very low risk” classification for Covid-19 despite the surge in cases in neighboring countries, the independent research group OCTA said on Sunday, March 20.

Based on the update shared by OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David on Twitter, the Philippines’ overall Covid-19 risk classification remained “very low” with an average daily attack rate (ADAR) of 0.47, as of March 18.

The ADAR or incidence rate refers to the number of new daily cases per 100,000 population.

The Philippines averaged 527 cases daily over the past week, with a growth rate of negative (-) 22 percent.

Moreover, Timor-Leste, Taiwan, Cambodia, and China were also at very low risk for Covid-19, David said.

OCTA uses the internationally-developed Covid Act Now metrics to determine the risk levels of specific areas.

However, David noted the surge in fresh cases in South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Laos.

China registered the highest weekly growth rate at 362 percent, followed by Laos (185 percent), South Korea (42 percent), and Vietnam (38 percent).

(C) Manila Bulletin

Beware of the problem of over-familiarity

 

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

“AMEN, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (Lk 4,24) With these words, Christ is telling us to be wary of our usual tendency to take the very important things related to God, our faith, our spiritual life, for granted. Especially these days when we are bombarded with a lot of distractions, we need to be doubly guarded to avoid falling into this anomaly of over-familiarity.

That’s when we can give an appearance of piety when there is hardly anything in it, because we may just be going through the motions of praying and availing of the sacraments, and still we fail to be in touch with God and to show that fact with our deeds.

Over-familiarity is a common and usual danger to all of us. It is due to the limitations of our human condition that can lead us to take many things, even the important ones, for granted. 

Instead of seeing God in everything and being amazed and excited about it, we only see the externals and go through some routine that usually has the bad trait of deadening our sensibilities, if not our faith, then our hope and charity.

We need to see to it that no matter how we are physically, emotionally or otherwise, we have to be spiritually and morally amazed at God in all situations of our life. This is always possible, though it may require some effort, even heroic, extraordinary effort sometimes.

It would be good if we develop the attitude of simply having to begin and begin again in our spiritual life, not allowing whatever difficulty and challenge we have to tackle to dominate us. Neither falling into anger, bitterness, self-pity and sadness, nor just drifting into familiarity, complacency and routine could properly handle those difficulties and challenges.

What we need to do is to continue, without letting up, having to begin and begin again. This is a practical law of life that we should apply in our daily affairs. Let’s not get too sentimental and wait for some strong inspiration before we move. With a simple act of the will, let’s just do it—that of having to begin and begin again.

We have to be more aware of this danger of over-familiarity and install the necessary defenses against it. More than that, we have to aggressively cultivate the art of always being amazed at God and at all his works. That should be the proper state for us to be in.

We have to understand, though, that this abiding state of amazement that we should try to develop is simply not a matter of sensations. Of course, it would be good if we can always feel amazed and in awe. But given the limitations of our bodily organisms, we cannot expect that to happen all the time.

The ideal abiding state of amazement is more a matter of conviction, of something spiritual, moral and supernatural. It should be the result of grace that is corresponded to generously and heroically by us.

It is a state of amazement that sooner or later, of course, will have some external manifestations like an aura of serenity and confidence even in the midst of great trials and suffering. It will most likely show itself in the lilt in one’s voice, optimism in his reactions to events, a smile, a warm word of praise and encouragement to others, etc.