About a couple of weeks ago, singer Rhap Salazar has been on the hot seat for his remarks against certain artists, who lip-sync their songs on television, being given the opportunity to release albums instead of those he described as "real singers." Salazar laments on his Twitter account, "I hate seeing artists lip-syncing on TV.”
Several personalities immediately took sides on this issue. One of Salazar’s staunch defenders is Gary Valenciano, who believes Salazar was not pointing to anyone in particular, and that the young singer was probably dismayed that those who can really perform are not given enough exposure. His son, dancer Gab Valenciano, also agrees with Salazar, saying that the Philippines "glorifies a multitude of singers that can't sing, actors that can't act, dancers that can't dance, unfunny comedians, directionless directors, and so many other con artists that take themselves too seriously." He also said that Salazar should not apologize for his statements due to its validity.
Another singer, Guji Lorenzana, also shared Salazar’s sentiment, blaming everyone, including the public and the label companies, for what is happening in the music industry today. Meanwhile, broadway singer Lea Salonga commented that there are instances where the practice of lip-syncing cannot be helped, citing her performance at the 1992 Academy Awards as an example. It should be interesting to know that Salonga herself made comments against Anne Curtis and Daniel Padilla on two separate occasions regarding their singing, yet she apologized to both of them afterwards.
However, there are other people who opposed Salazar’s claim. In an interview on DZMM, comedian Vice Ganda has said that those non-singers (who have admitted that they are also surprised that they have shows and recording deals) deserve every right to perform, and should not be barred from having concerts or releasing albums. He also criticized Salazar's choice of words, and even dared the artists Salazar was pertaining to as "real singers" to continue making more music. Vice explained that giving Filipinos the benefit of choice is the key in making sure that the OPM industry stays alive.
Accordingly, talk show host Boy Abunda also expressed disagreement with Salazar’s remark on his show Aquino and Abunda Tonight, even though he respects the young singer’s opinion. He also gave some advice as a talent manager, saying that Salazar must assess his brand essence and equity by watching those non-singers perform, so that he can determine the things he must do in order to sell his talent.
Finally, Anne Curtis, who is admittedly a non-singer herself, immediately quipped that she does not lip-sync, yet she was unaffected by Salazar's rants, and encourages other non-singers not to be affected with the issue as well.
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| Rhap Salazar |
Is the OPM genre really dying?
While all personalities involved have their own respective points of view, each of them does have good points. However, as an open-minded person who mostly appreciates various genres of music all over the world, this issue had led me to conclude that OPM is slowly dying, the same way most people think Boxing is also dying because of Floyd Mayweather.
Let’s set aside the kundiman and folk songs of old (as very few people do appreciate it), but try to compare at least the music of the 2000s and 2010s to the music of the 80s and 90s. Most people will probably agree with me by saying that 80s-90s OPM, as well as the Manila Sound of the 70s, is far better to listen to than that of today, myself comparing them to aged wines and liquors that when stored for many years, tastes better and richer.
While I find several songs composed for the past 5 years quite meaningful, others seem more like novelty to me.
Pop music might be the culprit
I strongly believe that Filipino pop culture, especially pop music (P-Pop), truly degrades, brainwashes, and controls the minds of the common people, making them to believe it is cool because it’s trending, while I find it otherwise. As a result, these same groups of people usually find themselves in an inconvenient situation, whenever someone introduces them to other genres.
I myself am a living statement, because my playlist in my MP3 player contains loads of J-Pop and Enka songs since the 1960s, as well as various soundtracks from popular Anime, Tokusatsu (superhero dramas), action series, and my favorite, Jidaigeki (period dramas). However, no matter which song I play, my friends and co-workers were uncomfortable listening to them, yet there are few who still appreciate my music.
These instances led myself to believe that 99.9% of Filipinos never appreciates J-pop, simply because they do not understand. But although they also do not understand K-pop, ironically, they still keep on listening to them. Yes Koreans are more trending than the Japanese thanks to the heavy influence of the Korean Wave phenomenon, but do not take that fact as a reason to justify your disdain against the music from other countries. Aside from J-Pop and K-Pop, I also have Chinese, Thai, Indian, Latin, German, Russian, French, Arab, even Israeli songs on my music database. Even if I don’t understand all of them, I would still appreciate the melody. And from these melodies, I am able to write Tagalog lyrics...
...Which reminds me of a scientific study once conducted by a certain Virgil Griffith, a software application writer, wherein he rated a person's intelligence based on the average SAT scores of various college institutions. Upon his research, Griffith concluded that rock music, such as those from Radiohead, was for smart people, while pop music like that of Beyonce was for the dumb. You may refer to the chart below or by clicking an extended version of it here:
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| Study showed that Radiohead was for smart people while Beyonce was for the dumb. |
In addition, Adrian North of Scotland's Heriot-Watt University, published the largest study of musical tastes in 2008, which involves 36,000 people, 60 countries and three years of work. By asking each participant to rank their favorite genres of music, he discovered that the most common characteristic among all genre listeners was creativity. But one group of listeners, pop music lovers, showed a genuine and significant lack of creativity, though it does not necessarily mean that stupid people love pop. The study simply showed that pop trains people to expect less from their artistic and creative lives, which, unfortunately, has negative effects on the brain.
A handful of minstrels
Speaking of writing Tagalog lyrics from foreign songs, I believe that songwriting also plays a big factor in OPM. Have you ever noticed that most of the popular singers today resort to cover popular old songs in their albums, with no original compositions whatsoever? Yes there are still singers who still write and sing songs of their own (Yeng Constantino, for one), but that is only about 40% in my estimate.
Meanwhile, about 5% of the hits were popular English language songs with Tagalog lyrics. I am extremely annoyed whenever I hear these songs, because we already understand English. While I gladly embrace OPM songs that are based from Japanese or Korean, those that come from English songs make me sick to the bone. No wonder why certain one-hit-wonders such as Ara Muna, David Idol and Ms. Ganda fell into utter obscurity… and all of them were not given a single shot at greatness.
Genres I find uncomfortable to listen to
I have previously mentioned above that I mostly appreciate various music genres. I started to become a music geek when I was a kid, when I used to listen to my father’s collection of cassette tapes he acquired while he worked abroad.
However, there are a handful of genres that make me uncomfortable sometimes while listening to them. Number one in my list are cover songs and remakes, as they sometimes tend to alter the lyrics at their convenience. But that depends on certain situations, like geographical or cultural aspects, if it goes to a certain event or situation, transition from a different point of view (i.e. male to female, first-person to third-person), or in most cases, the singer does not actually know the lyrics at all.
Other genres I am usually uncomfortable with are duets (because I am uneasy with the uneven distribution of parts to both singers involved), and songs from popular boy bands (because most of them have a single member not being given a solo singing part, which makes me feel remorse and pity to that person because he/she looked like a loser). However, I hate listening to any song with evil laughter, because they remind me of Satan.
My two cents
To sum it all up, every person has the right to choose what kind of music he / she wants.
However, media networks and label companies must also consider the real singers because they truly have more talent, and that they must push their careers even more, because if they stick in promoting non-singers, what will be the essence of Filipino music, then?
It is interesting to know that Japan also tend to have non-singers recording certain songs, but that only applies to Anime and Tokusatsu soundtracks, and they usually release them as a single or as part of a compilation of soundtracks in a particular series. Nonetheless, the real singers must be the main focus in our industry, because even though non-singers have more charisma, it is still the talent that counts.
Finally, I suggest that they continue to search for more songwriters so we can create more original songs, in order to continue living with the term Original Pilipino Music. It kinda sucks to think that we always rely on arrangers in reviving old tunes with a new beat. Now that Himig Handog is being brought back recently, why not bring back Metropop Song Festival as well? That way, more songwriters have opportunities to be discovered, and more new tunes are being made.
With these suggestions, I think we will still be able to continue keeping the spirit of OPM alive. Besides, it is still up to the people's tastes on which genres they would like to listen to. If the French politician Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are," for me, "Tell me the songs you listen to, and I will know who you are," because your choice of songs truly defines your personality.
I, the Pooch, have spoken.
Finally, I suggest that they continue to search for more songwriters so we can create more original songs, in order to continue living with the term Original Pilipino Music. It kinda sucks to think that we always rely on arrangers in reviving old tunes with a new beat. Now that Himig Handog is being brought back recently, why not bring back Metropop Song Festival as well? That way, more songwriters have opportunities to be discovered, and more new tunes are being made.
With these suggestions, I think we will still be able to continue keeping the spirit of OPM alive. Besides, it is still up to the people's tastes on which genres they would like to listen to. If the French politician Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are," for me, "Tell me the songs you listen to, and I will know who you are," because your choice of songs truly defines your personality.
I, the Pooch, have spoken.
Read more at:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/10/smart-people-listen-to-radiohead-and-dumb-people-listen-to-beyonce-according-to-new-study/
http://mic.com/articles/98310/scientists-prove-that-pop-music-is-literally-ruining-our-brains
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