Most of all, though, OPM is associated with a breezy, sentimental ballad form that inspires everyone to join in. “Ballads are big over here because love to sing,” says Diego Mapa, a member of the Filipino rock bands Pedicab, Tarsius, and Monsterbot, whom we spoke with in early February. In the Philippines’ many karaoke bars, selections may include OPM classics along with torch songs by popular American and British artists. “When you’re drunk, broke, and heartbroken, I think singing a ballad from Scorpions or Air Supply will always mend your worries, even just for a few minutes.”Įven though OPM ballads are often performed with Western instruments, they have roots in Filipino folk traditions, like Kundiman-a style of traditional love songs known for mellow rhythms and dramatic swells-and the time-honored practice of harana, in which young men in rural areas woo their beloveds by serenading them outside their bedroom windows. Our OPM playlist, Tatak Pinoy, includes some of the biggest showstoppers of the moment-including Moira Dela Torre and Jason Marvin ’s “ Ikaw At Ako ” (“You and I” in Tagalog), a wonderfully tender ode to togetherness released in time for their marriage in January. Once a colony of the United States, the Philippines has long been influenced by American and British music. But OPM emerged during a time when Filipinos were making their own pop sound. Patricio Abinales, a professor in Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says the music first took root around 1972, at the beginning of Ferdinand Marcos’ presidency. To shore up and celebrate national identity, the government embarked on an effort to sponsor and promote Filipino music. Artists were encouraged to write songs in Tagalog, and every year they would compete in an annual songwriting competition. The disco bands popular in the ’70s were called the Manila Sound, but soon enough the term Original Pilipino Music came to describe this nationwide movement. One of the early successes was a cover of Barbra Streisand ’s “ The Way We Were ,” by the singer Rico J. Singing in a mix of English and Tagalog, Puno embraced Streisand’s swooning sentimentality but also added his own lines.
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January 2023
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