Meet The Newest PPOP Girl Group in Town: VVINK

After covering one of the biggest PPOP collabs just a few days ago, here we go drowning ourselves in PPOP content with the arrival of a new female group called VVINK through their debut showcase held today at the HYPE club in Quezon City.

While they've already released songs in the past, that was their pre-debut which mostly showcased their individual talents. This time, they will be taking a huge leap with their new single TULALA under their label FlipMusic.

They took the risk to do this so their listeners would be able to get to know them at their best. The group is composed of their leader Angelika, main vocalist Jean, main rapper Ayaka, main dancer Odri and the all rounder Mariel. This new song has a very dreamy vibe, quite upbeat, while trying to express the feeling of one's first love. This is just the first of a plethora of songs they plan to release in the next few months which will be included in the album expected to be done til the 2nd quarter of 2026.

These ladies come from different places, but were all hand picked by their COO Jumbo Belen and CEO Jeli Mateo to become a part of this group. Unconventional as it may have seem to be launched like this, they were able to showcase their individual voices and genre. They also feel that with the training they went through, that it was all worth it. Here's the press conference in full on video:

Later in the day, they gave us a glimpse of their upcoming singles (to be launched this year til the 2nd quarter) and by the looks of it, they absolutely killed it on stage. The titles include "Tatlong Hiling", "Baduy", "Kailan Aamin", "Ikaw Lang Ang Kulang", and "Tulog Pa Si Ganda". Aside from being singers, some of them are talented songwriters and are pro choreographers. They contribute what they can for VVINK.

I think I loved what I saw today, and if you're raring to support these girls, make sure to follow their social channels by looking of VVINK PH on FB, IG and others, become VVINKies as they start their journey to conquer the world!

TAIWAN EXCELLENCE "Your Song of Excellence: Duo Legacy" Bares Winners

Taiwan certainly has a lot of things that Filipinos could connect to. One of it is the love for music. TAITRA aka Taiwan External Trade Development Council recently held the Taiwan Excellence "Your Song of Excellence: Duo Legacy" at the Market!Market! mall in Taguig City. 

Out of thousands who sent their entries, they got the judges choose 3 finalists to battle it out on this one day at the mall's activity center. This isn't a walk in the park as we talked to the judges Kean Cipriano, Ice Seguerra, Yeng Constantino and Paulo Zarate. They also had to choose a winner based off a themed composition about Taiwan Excellence and an original song. Taiwan is known for their various quality products and seeing the Taiwan Excellence seal on them just assures you of their high standards. Aside from the economic standpoint, it's the connections we share in culture that makes it a worthwhile event.

We also got to talk to the executives of TAITRA and asked about what they were looking for as far as winners go. It's a combination of talent, x factor and the ability to showcase the Filipino talent. Because just like Taiwan, we find excellence in these things. Makes sense?

 Various Taiwanese brands also joined the event in support of the Taiwan Excellence program and this songwriting and singing competition:

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In the end, they announced The Unexpected Duo's Vench Larenas and Renz Salazar as Second Runner Up, Haranajeeb Duo's Khen Aldovino and Nephtali Fajardo as the First Runner Up. The grand winner is Mandarhyme Duo's Rusty and Janine Loayon, they won Php 300,000 for it. The event was witnessed by TAITRA's Brian Lee, Alex Lai, and people from Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office. Also in the event was Ambassador Wallace Chow and Ms. Josephine Shun of TECO Philippines.

10CM Set to Perform "CLOSER TO YOU" Concert in Manila This August

This afternoon, we've had the chance to interview one of the hottest idol singers from South Korea. They're called 10CM, and he's set to perform in Manila this coming August 31st at the New Frontier Theater in Araneta City, Cubao QC. The event is produced by Cornerstone Concerts (a subsidiary of Cornerstone Entertainment) and South Korea based Magic Strawberry Sound.

For those who don't know, 10cm is an indie pop project that is being led by Kwon Jung-yeol. They were initially debuted as a duo (with Yoon Cheol-jong), but split in 2017. His songs are now part of various KDrama shows like Queen of Tears, Crash Landing On You, Start Up, Hotel de Luna, Lovely Runner and a whole lot more. He still carries the same name 10cm which they got from the difference in their height. His idea of fun is still staying in the studio and creating music, so if he's tasked to make one for a drama, he just needs to know the plot and put it all in the lyrics (pretty good process). This makes it custom fit the feel and actual story, which makes it easier to connect with... and his fans.

Here's our exclusive interview with him yesterday 

He wants to be able to connect with you especially with his music, so the content of his upcoming concert will be more of your favorites. He teased some of it during TJ Monterde's sold out concert a few days ago where he performed a medley of his KDrama hits, much of which will be done in full versions in August 31st.

While TJ Monterde loves 10cm's music, Yoon also fancies his too. It was mutual admiration and seeing them perform in TJ's concert was like a dream for all.

10CM has also won various awards from Melon Music, for Best Collab and Best Folk and Blues in different years. This tour is also going to be done in SEA countries such as SG, Malaysia and Thailand. In East Asia, there will be Taiwan, hopefully more countries soon.

Tickets are being sold in Ticketnet, so make sure you get them while it's still available. This would be perfect for those who love his music, the KDramas it's in, so you could get all the feels all over again!

Artist PLUME and SALA Band Join GMA's AltG Records

Just got off the press conference with new artists Plume and SALA (the band) over zoom this afternoon. They're a pretty fun bunch to talk to and yes, you kinda feel like you're in the presence of very talented people.

Plume says "I usually write music when its nighttime because it's way quiet. I start with chord progression, then lyrics, if it fits I'll make the chorus and complete it. I listen to other artists, I find good things in it and put my own style. I try to make it comforting and relaxing as possible. Since my work is dedicated to music now, I focus on myself and my hobbies while studying. It's still music in the background so there's still input. I love music like that. It's unusual to do jazzy songs available to everyone, I usually follow that genre, it's what I do to stand out. I also utilize social media to make my work known. I think I'll be doing singles from AltG records. I want people to feel relaxed, hear pop, but learn the words and vibes are different. I feel Baguio's busking music scene is still starting. Manila has a lot of bar tours, I think it's more organized here but I hope Baguio will follow suit soon."

Plume adds "I often seen albums released then sometimes they lose track of it the whole year. I think releasing content in different times would fit me. I listen to a lot of genres, but I prefer metal, the beauty of it is when you removed the angst, the noisy lines, you'll see the nice lyrics on it. I also love classical music, they do inspire me!"

Beautiful is my Plume's first single, and still testing what people would go to after they listened to it. His inspiration is from a personal experience. Right now, he's still trying to feel what happened after signing with AltG Records. He didn't believe it til they started recording.

Sala's frontman says "We do it differently, I could write songs wherever I am, but I finish my songs in my Sala hence our name. I throw it to my peers and do the other parts of the songs afterwards. That's how we do it. Our songs are borrowed experiences and I think it stems from the things that are not often talked about."

"If we have new ideas, we put it in a group chat and contribute there. Since we have different work, different jams and gigs, we try to stay healthy by eating, exercising, if we wanted to do this for a long time we try to do that as much as possible. It is art, and we love it! For us, we're glad to have YT, Spotify, platforms that we can listen to. As a band, arrangements are still a group effort. If it evolves, I don't have to follow that because we have our own message, it's not a problem to do that but we already have 4 pov's in the band and I think that's enough. Things are changing, I think people are releasing songs when there's something consistent to give. People want new things, albums kind of put it in one basket but people have different tastes. This would give artists freedom to test what's good. We want to return to not just making love stories, it should be different topics, even taboo ones, songwriting for the sense of telling them not just invoke feeling, something that people could relate to."

SALA felt that signing with AltG was surreal. The opportunity came at a very shocking moment, and feels they can't think about collaborating with other artists yet as they're not established rock stars. Though they want to do that in the near future. Their single will be out mid March. Plume on the other hand already has his single out, plus a lyric video on YouTube. He also has plans to have a music video out soon, and he's so ready!

Good luck and I hope you all continue to record more! We would certainly love to listen to it with great gusto!

Get Ready for CHRISTI

We met a very bubbly and confident Christi Fider a few days ago in Music Box Timog Avenue, Quezon City. She's not new in the industry, having released several singles like Teka, Teka, Teka!, Heto Na Naman in 2021, plus a Most Promising Singer Award at the PMPC Star Awards for Music in the same year.

She is currently under Manic Media, and has released a few tracks signifying her raring urge to go back to the grind. And currently, her EP album called "Sorry Not Sorry, I took my Time" became her call and the songs include "Breakthrough", "3rd Street", "Fake" and "Reyna" (which she also has a music video of). Honestly, her vibe reminds me of Lizzo, who carries herself confident and unapologetic-ally is just being her.

She also sang a few songs and kept us entertained about what she's been doing in the past few months. Including staying away from fake friends, loving herself more and wanting to embrace her curves. She also told us about her bout with PCOS and its effects on her weight loss, and glad she found inspiration from it and create music that she loves. It was where her music was based on.

Aside from that, she's been blessed with several acting projects, including one that will involve Superstar Nora Aunor. She was so nervous about it, but this was an opportunity that she couldn't just allow to pass. Manila Vice Mayor Yul Servo will also be part of it, which in hindsight adds even more pressure. For those who are fond of Netflix, she's also doing a series under Chris Pablo (who's done several romance, queer films). Stay tuned for that!

Meanwhile, here's a bit of our interview with Christi

She's just starting, and as she starts doing what she loves as an artist and singer, to become that powerful independent woman, she's going to love herself... and hope you get in the groove of her music and artistry. You can stream her EP album on Spotify and other streaming platforms today. Get ready for Christi!

Garrett Bolden Releases New Album Called "CHAPTERS" Under GMA Music

 

 Fresh from his stint in Guam doing the Miss Saigon show on the island, Garett Bolden is not stopping his music journey. Right now, he's written and completed his new album called "CHAPTERS" which is under GMA Music. It's a compilation of several covers and a few original songs which he wrote specifically to personify his journey.

Garett says "Ikaw Pala is actually a Kris Lawrence song which was a hit in the early 2000's. Yes I want to have the opportunity to do TV, more theater productions. I want to explore more genres, because music preference of people change too. I want to do dance even if I have two left feet. My album title is Chapters. I would say if I were in one of those chapters, my newest single talks more about my life now. Seeing the purpose of what I'm looking for, my passion, what I love to do and share, it's what I want to pursue and want to realize, to not hold back and have a much clearer vision of what I want to do in music."

He adds "My Clash journey has been my best performance, plus the out of the country work I did for Miss Saigon. When I first heard a song by Kris Lawrence, I was a bit afraid because he has his own signature style into it. I had to put my spin and decided to perform this. Right now, I'm really happy GMA gave me the chance to write more songs and perform it, especially for the Kapuso audience."

Talking about his peers he says "Jeremiah is like a brother to me, he's going to have a concert soon. I too would want to have that experience, like a tour in different cities. That's what I want to do, to go to people and share my music. It is one of my goals this year. After Ms. Saigon, I am auditioning to several productions. I want to pursue other theater work."

For those aspiring to be great singers, Garett advises "I surround myself with great people. I don't put myself in hard situations. It helps a lot to keep the right people around you, to remind you that you can move forward."

Since The Clash Season 1, Garett is thankful that he is given the opportunities by GMA. He wants to do acting work soon and he's really ready for it. Make sure you get his album CHAPTERS available on streaming platforms worldwide. This will be released this January 27, he's also on All Out Sundays and his single is part of Bad Romeo so make sure you listen to that too.

An Artist with Big Dreams: TERA

Saw TERA a couple months ago during the debut concert (and charity event for frontliners) of successful PPOP Girl Group CALISTA. She sang a few cover songs and original ones which piqued the interest of the press and onlookers during that time. And now, her time has come to be officially launched as a solo artist under the Merlion Music label.

Her passion was and always has been music, and she feels so happy that her whole family has been very supportive of her craft. Other people might call her privileged but she attributes her success not because her family is well off, but of the sheer hard work and dedication she has put in when she sings and write music. Yes, she is also a songwriter which is why during her grand launch, she sang a couple of songs including an original one called "Higher Dose". Her manager Tyronne Escalante has always seen a huge potential with the budding solo artist, and she has shown that during the event.

Tera says "I thank the Lord God for letting this day happen. I've made my music in tears. Finally I was able to present my songs "Fascade", "High Dosage" and "Sagip". Please do wait for these singles to be released on Spotify soon. I always believe that if I could dream it, I could achieve it. My Dad inspired me this work ethic, he really did work hard for his dreams. I knew though last year, it just wasn't the right time. I prepared for this, studied dancing with Douglas Nieras, voice and music. They are always by my side."

She adds "For now I'd like to do more gigs, mall shows, performances so that I'd be able to make a lot of people listen to my music. I want to take it to as many places as possible, I don't want to box myself in doing just an international career, but here first in the Philippines. I understand when people hear about who I am, they have a notion about me being privileged. I have worked hard to be where I am today and I wish they listen to my music first."

She says "I am super glad that JM De Guzman is also here. I am quite familiar about him and his music, and his support through his performance in this grand launch means a lot to me. I don't think I have a crush in showbiz, my parents are not strict but they just tell me if I wear too much skin. The plan is to have a full album, I've been writing songs since I was a teen, and I still have 200 songs in my phone and perhaps I'm choosing the best ones and come out with them soon."

TERA is just starting to discover who she is as an artist, and who knows, in the near future, she's going to have more opportunities as a singer and song writer that could take her where she wants to be. Indeed, she's got a long journey ahead of her and as long as she works hard for it, and still dream big like what she's already doing, she will get there.

If you want to know more about TERA and her music, follow facebook.com/TeamTyronnePH to get updates about it.

 

PSALMS DAVID Releases New Single "KAULAYAW"

Psalms David is like a breath of fresh air. He's like a good guy, someone who doesn't have to be a baddie to get liked and I've noticed that since I've interviewed him a couple years back during the pandemic. He's launching a new single called "Kaulayaw" which he made at that time. 

Psalms say "This was done a couple years ago, I slaved on it every night. I think I still have a lot of things to work on with my voice, I believe practice is best. I also need to improve with my tone, I'll do my best to keep getting better. I have been my own best bud during times that I had mental health issues. Music was something that helped me a lot and when I produce music, it makes me feel a lot better. I also have worked with some of the best people in the industry, Kaulayaw wasn't like this at the start. I had help with GMA Music in order to make it what it is today. They helped me do the music, the instrumental part, they're really great at that. I didn't really go through love and relationships to come out with the lyrics, it can be anything really, like your parents, your friends, even yourself. It was tough for me at times because I was the breadwinner, my career just started and the pandemic restrictions was not letting us perform on stage which was a huge bummer. Of course I love acting too, it's been three years since I've done workshops, hopefully it would be great to show everyone what I've done in that department. I'm excited to show that to everyone!"

 

 

The new song comes out on June 30, make sure you download it off Spotify and other streaming platforms. He hopes to help people get over their issues with it, so give it a stream okay? This is under GMA Music.

Singer-Songwriter Kenji Exaltacion Releases 5 Track EP Album "Liham"

Looks like Cornerstone has a diamond in the rough - and he sits comfortably in their hands. A guy with a really good singing voice, answers smartly with each question thrown at him, pleasing to the eyes, full blooded Cebuano and songwriting chops that could rival the greats in the industry. He's Kenji Exaltacion, who previously was in a band... he's now a solo artist and admits he's starting all over again. 

Kenji says "As time went by, my experiences have changed and I too have grown older. My experiences have become deep, I used to just imagine stuff but now I experience it for real. you can say it's truthful, the emotions become it. One of the songs I have here is "Done", my ex knows it, she heard it and it was towards our break up. She knows it was for her. Her reaction was a little quiet, it was a long distance relationship and I barely could feel how she feels because it was through Skype. I saw how she was a little teary eyed. I am thankful that Sir Jonathan really pointed the way for me to go to Cornerstone. They trusted me a lot. I want to work with Moira dela Torre and perhaps the artists from Visayas like TJ, KZ, I think we could work a lot because we could write in Bisaya."

In the 5 track EP entitled LIHAM he says "The process of choosing songs for this was a little hard as I had to present 12, these were the top 5 for it. I'm happy about their choice, and I did consider them as the top ones too, we were very in sync with what we liked. I want people to experience what I felt during that time, be in my world, my story, to see the world in my perspective and how I see everything."

He adds "I wanted to do songwriting classes before but I started early when I as in the 6th grade. I listened to Ed Sheeran and Coldplay and they changed how poetic I approached songwriting. They are my influences, I had to convert it into lyrics. I write manually, I couldn't write it on the phone because I feel it would be a little difficult to put in feelings on it. I auditioned in the past for an OST but suddenly got to be in the show, I'm sticking to what I do best, do songwriting and singing. I started playing the guitar when I was in the second grade, it was in school. After that, I played for a friend, I started singing when I was in the 5th grade. In high school, I sang in a competition for our section, and that started it all. Ever since, I felt I loved performing. As time went by, I just winged it, listened to songs and picked up styles... I adapted it to how I sing now. I did workshops in Star Magic years back, it was good but I had to prepare more for singing in the recital."

He also shared how his past relationships have made his songwriting process a breeze especially his recent ones that is the subject of one of his songs. The lyrics he put so much effort in is because his understanding and experience about love is deeper, and as a single guy he views this as good motivation for each piece he does. Under Cornerstone, he's very excited that he'll be performing on stage not with his previous band, but as a solo artist. He holds a lot of promise from what I've heard during the press conference, I'm sure you'll love Kenji, go stream his 5 track EP album on digital apps like Spotify. My personal favorite is the song called "Paraiso Ko". If you want to know more about him, follow Cornerstone's social channels as he's going to be featured there when events happen soon. This is under JUST MUSIC which is a sub label of the CS Music label.

Singing From The Heart: Jhoerge Normandia

A lovely, heart-wrenching, heavy ballad just came out, sang by the very talented Jhoerge Normandia. The song "Pinili Niyang Mahalin Ka" (She Chose to Love You) under music publishing company KDR Music House. This is produced, mixed and mastered by Adonis Tabanda who's a Musical Director, Songwriter, Arranger, Producer that's done several songs for powerful OPM artists in the country.

Jhoerge just put her heart on her sleeve as this was made from her experience. She also made sure the emotions come out of the song as she internalizes it first before actually recording. "It's dramatic, this is my pain, I'm channeling my feelings through this song. When I was younger, I remember my Mom do standards and jazz tracks back in the 80's. I used to mimic her and began singing around 14. I used to do backup singing and started doing show bands after a year. I also began doing performances on live-streams using different platforms, but I feel this is my purpose. My single "Pinili Niyang Mahalin Ka" is about someone who's going through a rough patch, separation, that messes her up hence the song."

She adds "This is also about anger, pain, giving up, a painful instance and how we'd recover from it. I use these emotions to write songs. It's also about love in general."

If you're interested about her music, go stream today on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and other platforms. She's all there!

Take a Look at Annie Lux

Been a while, but I’m sure you’ve missed Annie Lux. She’s the singer and songwriter from Calgary Canada. Back in 2015, she released her first solo extended play album called “Lux” through Viva Records. In that album, the single “Yesterday” racked 40,000 views and got good comments and reviews depicting that it was like an international artist, check out this video below.

This November, she is releasing another one called “PLAY” which will be available in Spotify, iTunes and digital stores. She also has her other songs available in the platform. Currently she is in Boston to pursue her passion for music. She’s planning to graduate from Berklee School of Music in a couple of years and couldn’t be more excited how she’d turn out after that.

Annie also gets invited to Filipino community events one of which is the Fiesta Filipino Festival in Calgary, Alberta in Canada. She performed here together with artists Bela Padilla, Yassi Presman and Xian Lim. They also had comedian Chad Kinis in the event which brought them all laughing out loud.

Annie also did the Radio Disney Berklee edition at the Berklee Performance Center. Here she also performer and became one of the seven producers in the show. On October 29th, she had her first solo concert called “Bañaga” at the fabulous Berklee Dining Hall where she performed some covers and her recent original songs, some of which are also part of her new EP album. If you wanna know more, you can follow her @AnnieLuxMusic on IG, Facebook and Twitter too. When she finishes school in May, she plans to pursue doing her own brand of music in the Philippines and the global stage. She’s very talented and worthy, she’s taking her time, and I hope she does the country proud when she gets back from the uni.

KUMAGCOW 

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PhiliPOP 2018 30 Semi-Finalists Announced

After a long ardious process of auditions, mall tours and activations in cities across the country, PHILPOP 2018 is finally headway. Recently, they also announced the 30 Finalists who will pit against each other to vie for the best song this year.

Maestro Ryan Cayabyab says “We welcome you all, thank you to our sponsors, the MVP Group, Maynilad, Meralco. This season, this is the most exciting 30 finalists, they will be cut down to 10 and you will see that journey unfold over the next few weeks. We have some finalists who came all the way from Visayas and Mindanao. They only have passed with the merits of their compositions, we blindly listen to them because this is also voted by the public, students, composers and music aficionados. I am very optimistic but we have no prediction what song will be a hit. Now the system is democratized, every one has a fair chance but doing this will push for new ideas of young songwriters. Most of these guys are newbies and the people need to hear them all. We are finalizing the process how to choose the top 10 but it will all fall on the streaming of the songs, we will know on November who will be part of that. This is exciting!”

Famed composer Junjee Marcelo took the stage then also announced the winners

AEIOU by Kenneth John Porres

Ako Ako Jericho Buenafe

Away Way Buwagay Bumbero by Michael Llave

Dikoman by Ferdinand Aragon

Ikaw ang aking pagibig by Mark Felipe

Isang Gabing Pagibig by Karlo Angelo David

Kariton by Philip Jarilla Sarah Bolahan

Kiliti by Carlo Zapala

Korde Kodigo by Jeremy Sarmiento

Laon Ako by Ermar John Bolano

LDR by Nars Cabico

Laging Ganito Ba Tayo by Kyle Pulido

Lilipad by Melvin and Agatha Morallos

This was chosen among a thousand entries, so just being included in this list is a great feat.

Yumi Laxamana (former winner) announced the second batch of winners.

Loco De Amor by Edgardo Miraflor

Mahirap Magselos by Paul Hildawa

Makisabay by Karlo Angelo David

Malilimutan Din Kita by Marvin Blue Corpuz

MMRA by Oliver Narag

Nanay Tatay by Teodoro Festejo III

Oca by Michael Angelo Aplacador

Perfectly Imperfect Human by Barry Villacarillo

Pilipit by John Rey Reodique and Sean Cedro

Promisory Note by Michael Angelo Aplacador

Pwede by Agatha and Melvin Morallos

Tama Na by Michael Rodriguez

Unang Adlaw Nga Wala Ka by Therese Villarante

Utang by Ignacio Roxas

Yun Tayo by Donnalyn Onilongo

Noel Cabangon says “We present to you the 30 finalists of PhilPOP, thirty songs, coming together to sing and entertain the Philippines. They will continue to encourage more Filipino music and every generation they have a story to tell. Thank you for supporting them. This coincides with the week of Filipino music and the thing we did in the OPM summit 2013. Now every last week of July will be celebrated with that. Filipino music is alive and this is a testament of that. There were a lot of good entries and choosing them was a rigorous process. ”

30 Semi Finalists for PhilPOP 2018

Architect Renee Bacani of Ortigas and Co. says “We want to discover more of you, we want to support the arts and meet all of you. We will have listening booths in our malls, here in Estancia and our other ones (Tiendesitas and Greenhills) in Metro Manila, thousands of people will listen to you and get to know you. I hope you continue to do what you love and share it with us.”

Soon they will also announce the top 10 finalists, but just the same these guys will already get needed exposure in Ortigas malls, airplay on some radio stations and streaming sites. Stay tuned because hopefully, we will also get to cover that come last quarter of this year.

For being just part of the 30, congratulations! I’ve heard snippets of some of the songs and I think they are all good contenders. Surely, POP is alive in the Philippines!

KUMAGCOW

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Pioneer Declares #MoveOnLang Songwriting Winners

I like what Pioneer is doing particularly the #MoveOnLang songwriting competition who just held their finals night at Hard Rock Cafe in Makati City. Together with the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (FILSCAP), One Music PH and Pioneer Professional Sales Agency, they sought to find the best song among 150 submissions from different schools, colleges and universities as they vie for the grand prize of Php 100,000. They will also have the chance to win Php 50,000 and Php 30,000 if they land 1st and 2nd runner up in this competition. Judges include Joy Mesina of OneMusicPH, Noel Cabangon and Rico Blanco of FILSCAP, Pioneer Retail Organizational Head Lorenzo Chan Jr. and prolific songwriter Nonoy Tan.

They have already declared winners for the Online Favorite and it was Julia Dichoso who composed "Hand in Hand" who got 44.96% of the votes. Drei Chua of San Beda College Alabang on the other hand got a special citation for the excellent work he did on the song he composed called "Bangon". They won't get empty handed though because all finalists will get Php10,000 cash plus Php100,000 insurance coverage from the good people from Pioneer. 

Songs included were Martsa Ni Martha, Chronosphere, Make It Through, Time, Hand in Hand, Invincible, From Now On, Aking Mundo, The Biggest Lead, Alive and Bangon.

In the end Kenneth won 2nd runner up who did ALIVE, First Runner up is Benjamin Quijano who Did Akin ang Mundo, and the Champion is the one I liked too... Invincible by Yosef Escoto. Congratulations!

KUMAGCOW

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Pioneer Insurance Announces Songwriting Competition Finalists

We've witnessed how Pioneer Insurance has been able to bring forth playwrights and art competitions a few years back and this time they're turning to music. With their partnership with FILSCAP (Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) to bring you Pioneer Insurance's #MoveOnLang Songwriting Competition. They've held various campus caravans and done the legwork to get songwriters to submit their work. They just recently announced the finalists.

The jury composed of FILSCAP's honchos like artists Rico Blanco, Yael Yuzon, Gloc9 plus Pioneer Insurance executives Marketing FVP Len Pozon, Retail Organization Head Lorenzo Chan Jr. and others chose the best of the best of these entries and now they've got a mix of different genres that you'll surely love! You may head on to www.moveonlang.ph from January 4 to 23 so you could vote. 

1. “Aking Mundo” by Benjamin Quijano of University of the Philippines Los Baños 2. “Alive” by Kenneth Roquid of University of the Philippines Diliman 3. “Chronosphere” by CK Sabillo of University of Santo Tomas 4. “From Now On” by Julien Cloma of STI College Novaliches 5. “Hand in Hand” by Julia Dichoso of Sorsogon State College 6. “Invincible” by Yosef Escoto of San Beda College Alabang 7. “Make It Through” by Luigi Balazo of University of San Carlos 8. “Martsa ni Martha” by Marie Maureen Salvaleon of Southwestern University PHINMA 9. “The Biggest Leap” by Marie Bernadette Tayag of De La Salle University Manila 10. “Time” by Patricia Monsod of University of the Philippines Diliman

The finalists will win Php 100,000 for the first place, Php 50,000 for the second place and Php 30,000 if they place third. The others will also receive Php 10,000 and insurance packages from Pioneer Insurance worth Php 100,000. If you want to know more about the competition, go to www.moveonlang.ph and their page Facebook.com/PioneerIsYourInsurance.

KUMAGCOW

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FILSCAP and Pioneer Launches College Songwriting Competition

It looks like a brighter outlook for Philippine music as the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Incorporated together with Pioneer one of the top insurance firms in the country launched the FILSCAP Campus Caravan which is a songwriting workshop-talk that aims to guide budding songwriters and musicians in the aspects of songwriting. The tour will include a visit to schools like De Lasalle University in Manila, San Beda College in Alabang, University of Makati and Ateneo de Davao. The workshop will be facilitated by artists and noted veterans from the FILSCAP organization and will also introduce the #MoveOnLang Songwriting Competition. This isn't entirely about the songwriter's lovelife but about the Filipino's esteemed trait of resiliency, like bouncing back from challenges in life. Those who would want to submit their entries can just visit www.moveonlang.ph so they can register and submit their work. 

Winners won't be empty handed as they are set to win up to Php 260,000 worth of prizes of which Php 100,000 is the grand prize. All winners will get Pioneer Insurance coverage and one will be judges as the online favorite. Pioneer has been doing this for a long time now as they have been a staunch supporter of the arts. In the past, they have been doing it for the stage plays and literature but now it's going to be the turn of music. Pioneer has also sponsored international concerts and this move to work with local musicians, artists and songwriters definitely came at a better time.

To qualify, you must be 15-24 year old college students, with a maximum of 5 entries for each participant. The length of the songs must be 3 1/2 minutes or less. All entries must be submitted by October 21, 2016 via www.moveonlang.ph.

KUMAGCOW

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