Elevating Filipino music to world-class status

Filipino talent continues to be recognized on the other side of the world.

This year alone, we’ve heard and read about our local musical and theater artists doing the country proud by being cited, watched, admired and acclaimed for their ingenuity, originality and extra-ordinary vocal talents.

There is still a big chunk of Filipino musical theater artists in Cameron Macintosh’s Miss Saigion, now being performed in key cities of Europe and the Scandinavia. Lea Salonga and company continue to charm their way into the hearts of the Broadway crowd via The Flower Drum Song. Our opera singer are still highly-touted in Germany, Austria, and Spain.The short list is out with ten hopefuls awaiting word on their chance to be included in the Sydney and Amsterdam productions of Disney’s The Lion King.

Just recently, an addition was made to the list of Filipino achievers, this time in the field of music and song composition. Out of the thousands of entries from the all over the world, the organizers recently released the top ten for each fo the 15 categories of the competition, namely, Gospel, Country, Pop, Rock, Folk, Hip-Hop and Rap, Rhythm and Blues, Comedy, Dance, Children, Latin, World, Lyrics, Instrumental and Jazz.

The collaboration of Markel Luna and Reuben Laurente entitled Ito na! (This is It!) made it as finalist under the "World Music" category of the 2002 USA Songwriting Competition. Luna gets the credit for writing the lyrics which were set into music by Laurente. The song, interpreted by Laurente, also gets significant musical accompaniment by guitarist Jed Roque and flutist Jay Gomez.

Ito Na!, according to Luna is a celebration of love as the penultimate of all human emotions. "It’s about being able to tell when you’ve finally found that someone to love forever," he explains. The song, written in the native language, has an interesting romantic flavor that makes it uniquely Filipino. What makes it doubly interesting is the fact that the composers included seven other local dialects in the chorus part which all translate into Ito Na."

It reminds us of the strategy of the Leah Navarro songs, Isang Mundo Isang Awit in the Metropop Festival wherein the words Mahal Kita were translated into many languages. For this one, the duo chose, Cebuano, Ilonggo, Pangasinense, Kapampangan, Ifugao, Ilokano, and Bikolano which aims to make the song as encompassing as possible to the listening populace.

Laurente adds, "We believe that, as Filipino composers, we should be able to retain our cultural identity in order for the others to truly listen to us. There is no point in trying to always copy foreign artists (how they sing, how they sound), which unfortunately, some of our local talents are getting very good at."

The tandem of Luna and Laurente started collaborating only last year, but has produced a number of compositions for our renowned local artists to interpret. To name a few, What You Are To Me (Regine Velasquez), Higher and Brighter (Ayen Munji Laurel) and Keep the Love Alive (Dingdong Avanzado). The two also made it to the finals of the Unang Pinoy Musika Awards with their entry Ikaw Pa Rin.

Luna, who owns an art gallery and Luarente, a member of the award-winning vocal group. The Company have been friends for many years now and share a passion for music and composition.

The finals results will be announced on Dec. 4. Twenty songs will be declared Honorable Mention winners with one top winner for each of the 15 categories and two songs will be awarded the over-all runner-up plums and one will be adjudged Grand Prize winner.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope only for the best.