walang hangang pagtatanong: OPM

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Permalink Reply by j.wings on March 4, 2009 at 2:07am

hmmm good question.

For me the first definition of OPM is based on the actual meaning of the words: Original Pilipino Music. That is "Music composed and written by Filipinos" and I'd add that its in a modern genre (Pop, Rock, R&B, etc), as opposed to classical or traditional music.

Probably a more correct definition would be the historical definition based on the first groups of singers that were given that label. Wikipedia gives a pretty good baseline on this, but certainly not complete.

It would be nice If OPM referred only to songs that were actually indicative of the creative power of Filipino songwriters, but it's not really that simple is it? Even the historical definition starts with some of the cheesiest derivative balladeers imaginable (of course I betray my own taste here). Still, the best OPM, though not always the best known, is creative. It extends the global repertoire and gives our ears never-before-heard delights.

I have to admit, that when I'm tagging videos that I add to this site, I give the OPM label pretty freely, but there are times when i just can't allow myself. If a song is a cover of foreign song, I don't give it the OPM tag. Also, if i feel like a song is so derivative of a foreign song or genre as to be a sort of weak imitation, I sometimes "forget" to add the tag, although I usually hold my nose and type it with one finger in a half-hearted ritual of journalistic impartiality.

A funny aside, I do put a lot of foreign cover songs in our WeeklyOPM widget. I guess it's cheating, but I at least try to identify them as covers.

J. Wings

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Permalink Reply by partsysm on March 5, 2009 at 1:37am

hi j. wings mmm very insightful. Revivals flood the airwaves now (do we even listen to radios hehe, but there are many in the music scene). But I like Bamboo's cover of "I don't want to wait in vain". Jazzy pinoy take on reggae- how could i resist? Curious case you got there about creativity. What could be an example of songs with fresh sounds which are not always popular?

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Permalink Reply by j.wings on March 5, 2009 at 3:25am

partsysm said:

What could be an example of songs with fresh sounds which are not always popular?

Well ok, not to knock Sarah Geronimo or Toni Gonzaga, because I actually like them, but let me tell you what I can see by the statistics here. Their videos, if featured on the front page, are consistently in the top 5 pages viewed on this site (this includes the front page and the streaming center). So lets compare them to Up Dhama Down, one of my own favorite groups. They get about 1/10th as many views.

Now creativity is a subjective thing I suppose, but trust me on this one: if you played a few songs by Sarah, Toni, and UDD to a group of music enthusiasts from around the world and ask them to identify which artist is more "original" or "creative", Toni and Sarah would almost never be mentioned. They are amazingly talented performers (in Sarah's case) or charismatic personalities (sorry but Toni isn't really even a great singer), but no one serious about music would say they are pushing the boundaries.

Sarah is a popular singer because her performances are thrilling, and she is a workhorse in the industry. You get the impression that she could sing 20 new songs a night and just nail them! Whew. Because of that talent, she is heavily promoted by her network as a reliable entertainment product. How can you not like her, especially when most of the ongs she sings are reliable standards? But like I said, I still enjoy and respect Sarah G!

Toni is a popular crossover artist. She exudes charisma. She became a household name not so much for her singing as her hosting/acting etc. There is a lot of pressure at the upper echelons of Pinoy celebrity to be a "triple threat" actor / singer / dancer, so she got sucked into singing because there was a buck (or peso) to be made. Yes, she is passable, but if you look with the cold eye of a critic, she's not outstanding as a singer. She's usually given the most sugary love songs to sing, presumably because that appeals to the largest audience. No one cares if Toni's songs are original or creative. They are a commercial product, not an art.

This doesn't really answer your request for a list of creative non-popular songs, but it explains my view that POPULARITY and CREATIVITY really aren't that closely connected.

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Permalink Reply by partsysm on March 5, 2009 at 4:20am

What about eraserheads? They are creative, aren't they? Creative in a way in that they absorb the stories of everyday Pinoy life in their songs with their oh so simple lyrics impregnated with 'meaning' ; somehow this so-called meaning eludes listeners' grasp but followers of eheads would say they have goosebumps when they listen to some of their songs.

I'm doing some digging on popular culture lately. Some critical theorists assert that 'commercial songs' are "sedative" to the workers by providing them with brief respite from the "systema". However, some recent cultural analysts would say that there is such a thing as "creative consumption", in that listeners of these popular songs are doing an active process of making sense of the song and the contradictions of life. But honestly I find it hard to consider those OPM (sorry). I actually have an operational definition of OPM as something like syncretic and in some respect ehem political (I base it from Lockard and Baes).

So yes, Toni and Sarah are performers and Eraserheads beyond popular. And that is my own version of creativity and even opm and pinoyness in general.

P.S.
Could I ask advice from you? How could I write a blog about a sort-of survey on OPM and share it to others?

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Permalink Reply by j.wings on March 13, 2009 at 3:58am

theres something called polldaddy that lets you make a survey and then post the codes for it somewhere. look it up in google

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Permalink Reply by boots bautista on April 25, 2009 at 10:50pm

ang hirap ng tanong mo..siret na pls....ok?

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Permalink Reply by Renel on May 11, 2009 at 5:51am

what makes a song pinoy? sometimes they just rivive the song

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Permalink Reply by j.wings on May 11, 2009 at 10:08am

Renel said:

what makes a song pinoy? sometimes they just rivive the song

Yes I agree. Its hard to consider a cover of an American song "original" and "Pilipino".

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