I can’t tell when did I exactly start loving Pinoy music. And how!
All I could recall is that since childhood in the late 70s to the 80s, I got smitten with the compositions of Odette Quesada, Cecille Azarcon, Rey Valera, Apo Hiking Society, Jose Mari Chan, VST and Co., Ryan Cayabyab, etc. Said songs were made famous by the composers themselves and the likes of Joey Albert, Ric Segreto, Jam Morales, Sharon Cuneta, Kuh Ledesma, Gary Valenciano, and Martin Nievera. Haaaay… Those were the days.
Now, many OPM revivals have been dominating the airwaves but nothing beats the original sound. Pinoy hits such as “Till I Met You”, “Million Miles Away”, and “Don’t Know What to Do, Don’t Know What to Say” may have been revived over and over again but those who tried paled in comparison. For me, the 70s-80s is the best era of Pinoy pop music and great Pinoy singers.
Over the years, I had some influences to shift my attention to their Western counterparts. I’ve actually tried listening to a lot of foreign renditions of jazz, bossa nova, country, rock, RnB, and pop. For a while, they seemed to have succeeded because I had kept a few favorites sung by the Carpenters, Sonya, Kenny Rogers, Air Supply, America, Melissa Manchester, Angela Bofill, England Dan and John Ford Cooley. However, I always find myself going back to the kind of music I have learned to love first. No matter how baduy or jologs OPM seems to be for some people, I’ve remained a fan and will always be.
Right now, I enjoy listening to the songs and voices of Toni Gonzaga, Nina, MYMP, Parokya ni Edgar and other Pinoy bands — be it ballad, rock, country, RnB, alternative, or jazz. I am even crazy over Kim Chiu’s “Crazy Love” that I literally forced my seven-year old niece to memorize the words and master the tune! When it comes to OPM, for me it’s not really the singer but the song. As long as it is an original pinoy music that suits my kind of melody and lyrics (read: nakakaaliw at nakakarelate ako), go go goooooo!
Basta. Whatever they say, iba pa rin ang Pinoy!
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