MQuest Ventures and PARI Unite for AWIT AWARDS

Took the trip to hip Poblacion district in Makati for a one of a kind Vibe PH night where folks from production giant MQuest Ventures and the Philippine Association of the Record Industry signed a partnership to host the 38th edition of the prestigious Awit Awards. 

The event was hosted by several vibe jocks (Maxie Andreison, Joao Constancia, Anna Ramsey, Elijah Canlas, Kych Minemoto, Queenay, a mix of their young gen) and a lot of the artists under different recording companies were in attendance to support the pact. MQuest Holdings President and CEO Ms. Jane Basas and PARI President and Chairman Atty. Marivic Benedicto formalized this signing with executives from various labels serving witness too. I think I've seen Universal's Ethel Cachapero, OC Records James Banaag, and Alpha Music's Alvin De Vera (some personally said hi) at the event. 

For those who don't know, VIBE has been doing countdown shows in multiple channels and has been quite aggressively promoting OPM these past few months and we've seen several established, up and coming, indie and more performing on the show. They're a very good bunch interviewing artists, giving them the platform they need to promote music, and love for it. Actually, much of the event had artists perform in between Vibe portions where they interview them. 

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CUESHE performs their classic hits!

As for the 38th Awit Awards, it will happen this coming November 16th at the huge Meralco Theater in Ortigas. It will be at the helm of Johnny Manahan to direct the show. Artists like Ben & Ben, Over October, Lola Amour and popular Dionela were also announced to perform in the awards night, . We were also treated with lovely songs by CUESHE (and other bands). I like how some of them did it in a different way. You can watch it on my YT account's Shorts @kumagcow.

Again, the awards night will be shown on Vibe at TV5 and the associated channels of Vibe PH, TV5, MQuest, PARI and Awit Awards.  

It just sounds so exciting! 

Luis Villanueva Unleashes new Single “Pécho”

Chill, breezy, relaxing and fun, that's what I'd gladly describe Luis Villanueva's newest single Pecho.

For those who haven't seen it yet, he's a very talented producer, musician, film maker based in the US. He's done Selfish and Cloud 9, his first two singles and it has amassed 1.3 million streams on Spotify which is a feat in itself.

This new single is his handy work influenced by disco, and combined it with techno-electronic music, things you could experience in New York, Paris or the whole Europe. Pecho's music video has already won in film festivals across the globe. They also have casted Asian, LGBTQIA+, Black, Femme and the disabled to work on this video, including Kakie Pangilinan to represent Filipinos in the international scene. Luis also is a founding member of 908A together with Jeune Pascal, a filmmaking and production corpo based in New York. They also promote AAPI in music production and this is their first project. They also released NFT made by artist Dario Rizzuto.908A also hosts events in Columbia University, Parsons and NYU, promoting Filipino art, culture in the state and district.

Here's what I enjoyed today, pretty sick:

Congratulations Luis! You're definitely going places!

YLONA GARCIA Does “Don’t Go Changing” Under 88rising

I've seen her in the country and all I thought of while hearing her sing is that, she's severely underrated. She deserves an international audience and she's about to get it. Sydney based Ylona Garcia just released her single "Don't Go Changing" under American music company 88rising. This song was produced by Jonas Jeberg (who also did songs for Panic! At the Disco, Demi Lovato, The Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez) and Marcus Lomax (who did songs for Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus0. Listening to it this evening had me put myself in a trance with a late night chill song. The lyrics though tell a story on how to grieve and showcase the different stages of letting go, something that hopeless romantics, people who fall in love intensely could easily relate with.

This is part of 88rising's efforts to bring artists from the East to West and it will be part of Head In The Clouds III which will be their third installment. Ylona says "This song simply embraces the truth in life's many mysteries. It talks about tough love." HITC3 by the way will be out on digital stores come first quarter of 2022. The video is directed by Louis Browne who also did work for artists like Jack Newsome, Ellie Goulding (whom I love in ehterial dance tracks!) and Rich Brian. The video (which is on YouTube already) shows a more mature, sultry side of her. Done quite nice, I could see how she's going places with this attempt.

I guess Ylona is going to be destined for an international career, and by the looks of it... she's doing quite good! Congratulations girl, you're going to be BIG!