ASAP launches 1st Platinum Circle Awards

ASAP ’05, the Sunday noontime show of your Kapamilya Network, ABS-CBN, launched its First Platinum Circle Awards last Dec. 3 featuring the country’s hottest bands and OPM talents in glittering ceremonies inside the network’s Studio 10. The musical shindig, which was telecast live nationwide, was meant to pay tribute to the elite group of Filipino talents who made invaluable contributions to the local music industry.

"We are honoring these talents, who, despite the rampant piracy permeating the industry today, have managed to sell their albums well and reached the platinum mark," Joyce Liquicia, ASAP ’05 program manager, explains. "The award is our way of thanking the recording companies and their talents for the support they have given ASAP throughout these years and in making it the premier weekend musical program nationwide."

The show kicked off with a show-stopping performance by the ASAP’s main hosts, Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano and Zsa Zsa Padilla, doing a Pinoy rock medley that set the tone for the entire three-hour extravaganza. Optical Media Board’s chairman and CEO, Edu Manzano, who was the guest of honor, opened the show with an appeal to the studio audiences and the millions of the show’s viewers to "help the music industry and support the campaign against piracy because it is only when we buy original CDs do we give the industry its much needed boost to ensure sustainability and success in the years to come." He ended his spiel with "Iba pa rin ang orig," a rallying cry not only against record piracy but a fitting symbol to the quality and excellence that characterized original musical products from the slipshod fake tapes and discs.

For this year, ASAP Platinum Circle Awards ’05 honored more than 20 of the biggest selling acts whose albums have reached at least the single platinum status, meaning 30,000 album units sold. The awardees were popular bands Bamboo, Orange and Lemons, Hale, Parokya ni Edgar; solo artists like Martin Nievera, Nina, Jamie Rivera, Sarah Geronimo, Rachelle Ann Go, Christian Bautista, Janno Gibbs, Kyla, Kitchie Nadal, Jay-R, Erik Santos, Gary Valenciano and MYMP. A special award was given to Jose Mari Chan for his exceptional achievements in recording and whose album, Christmas in Our Hearts, has reached platinum sales for a record setting 23 times.

Orange and Lemons lead vocalist, McCoy Fundales, acknowledges that the repackaged edition of their album, Strike Whilst the Iron is Hot, which included the theme song of the phenomenal hit TV-reality program, Pinoy Big Brother, "is a big factor why the album is hot." Despite some controversy which the group got embroiled into, McCoy feels that "it accelerated the album’s sales because people talked about it."

Orange and Lemons, according to one of its lead vocals, is grateful to ASAP ’05 for giving bands like them recognition. "We’re working on our third album and we plan to release this by April of next year," McCoy adds. Hopefully, this yet to be titled album also makes it to next year’s ASAP Platinum Circle Awards. In the meantime, they are also busy preparing for their first overseas gig in Guam.

One highlight of the musical extravaganza that got the audience on their feet was when the evicted housemates of Pinoy Big Brother came up the stage to dance to the tune of Pinoy Ako, while the jam-packed studio crowd couldn’t help but dance with them. Another treat for PBB buffs was when Sam Milby and Say Alonzo sang Magmahal Muli, the song they collaborated on while inside the Big Brother house.

Pinoy Big Brother official soundtrack from Star Cinema has also been included in the Platinum Circle Award, having reached the double platinum mark, no small feat for a song that has only been launched in August. Overall, the atmosphere inside the studio was so electrifying that the failure of some artists to receive their awards did not dampen the enthusiasm of the people behind the program and the studio audience.

Newest heartthrob Champ Luipio of Hale thanked ASAP ’05 for "recognizing bands like us to come up with better materials." He added that they are determined to make their second album, which comes out middle of next year, to be better than their first and once again be included in the ASAP Platinum Circle Awards 2006. Their current self-titled album, Hale, has already reached double platinum in six months.

Capping the ceremony was the performance of MYMP who did a production number of their hit singles with ASAP hosts Christian Bautista and Sarah Geronimo. The acoustic duo’s Versions and Beyond album garnered seven-time Platinum in 2005 alone. For both the audiences watching at the studio and those glued to their TV sets, the three- hour music fest offered a cornucopia of fresh and enduring Filipino talents that proved once more that Pinoy music is something that we can all be proud of as being among the best in the world.

According to Deo Endrinal, VP for Talk, Variety and Reality, "the ASAP Platinum Circle Awards ’05 sets a bar of excellence that young and upcoming talents can look up to as role models in how the genius and creativity of Pinoy musical artists can truly excel and captivate audiences wherever they may be in the world. Truly, the Filipino musical talent is global and ABS-CBN is honored to be a part of its enduring and outstanding legacy by showcasing such talents in its shows not only in the Philippines but to the rest of the world."