Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Let the Music Take Control
It's really a good thing now that radio stations (locally) are not mandated to play Filipino music anymore. I remember a few years back (maybe a decade ago), radio stations must play atleast one OPM (Original Pilipino Music) an hour. During that time, I was about 14 or 15 years old, still in high school then, and boy, I was a huge radio fan. I know all the current hits word by word and note by note, kinda like the I-can-name-that-tune-in-one-note thing. I would list all the songs included in the top 30 of Magic every sunday, top 7 of Rx every thursdays, and listen to the daily top 20 of LS - yes, even in school; thanks to my walkman who was my best friend that time. My radio was always on even when I am sleeping at night and it's my only company when I am dressing up for school.
That time OPMs weren't much appreciated. I can't even remember a single Filipino artist who made a big impact on the radios' playlists. Who was the "it" of Filipino music then (aside from the Eraser heads), does anyone remember? Introvoys and Yano made some "ripples" but not for a long time, talk about One hit wonders. Ripples don't usually make it big in the charts, "waves" does.
What we have now is so much better, I mean, there are local songs that I even mistake for international sound. I was once listening to the top 7 countdown of RX and the foreign songs they have there are so few that the OPMs dominated the list, well, I know it's just seven songs, but this is so much different from the past. I think we really rose from the grave. It's so enjoyable to sing along and have an OPM as your LSS, and you don't get annoyed. Nina, I think is doing a very good job, while Hale is now my favorite band aside from MYMP which, I think is so damn good. I feel so proud of the quality of music our artists produce now. I hope they continue to give us cool music to listen to and never give up on our country. Eventhough our economy and polical situtaion are moving backwards, we still have music to feed our souls, and the good part is, it's really made for us, OPM is for Pinoys.
