Pinoy Playlist 2019: Over 100 artists in six-night music fest

MANILA, Philippines — Over 100 artists from “across genres and generations” are participating in Pinoy Playlist 2019, a six-night music festival in October that celebrates everything and anything OPM.

Now on its second year, the music festival is co-presented once again by Sun Life Foundation and the Bonifacio Art Foundation, the arts and science nonprofit that runs, among others, the BGC Arts Center, which is the official venue of Pinoy Playlist come Oct. 11 to 13 and 18 to 20. The fest is curated by National Artist for Music Maestro Ryan “Mr. C” Cayabyab, The CompanY’s Moy Ortiz and talent manager/writer Noel Ferrer.

Coming from a tough yet ultimately groundbreaking and successful first year, Pinoy Playlist takes on its sophomore staging with more to offer.

“There are more people, new people coming in. We’re very excited with the line-up this year. It was easier to get people from all persuasions, from all genres, from all ages,” Noel said during the press launch of the music festival last Friday.

The curators with Sun Life Foundation executives led by Sun Life Philippines president Alex Narciso (fourth from left)

Confirmed solo acts and bands include Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano, Itchyworms, Joanna Ampil, Bayang Barrios, Ebe Dancel, The CompanY, Jon Santos, Noel Cabangon, Imago, GMA Music Artists, The Philippine Tenors, etc.

From the onset, Pinoy Playlist has been envisioned and positioned as a music festival that’s “inclusive.” Moy noted that there are other existing festivals in the country, but that they are geared towards the young or focused on certain genres like EDM or rock.

“This is not to discredit other music festivals that have happened even in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and this decade, but I think what makes Pinoy Playlist different is that it’s inclusive. It is not age-centric; it is not genre-centric,” said the leader of the premier vocal group The CompanY.

“Sometimes, personally speaking, there is a music festival and it’s obviously geared towards the youth market and you feel that that’s not your tribe, that you can’t be a part of that. We saw and really aimed to make this inclusive across genres, across generations. So, what we can offer to the country is show them this beautiful mosaic or this banig that we call Filipino music in all its forms, its styles, its purveyors. And, I think, we were able to do that last year,” Moy added.

Martti Franca...

According to the organizers, the blueprint of Pinoy Playlist is the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, one of the largest music festivals in the world that draws more than a thousand artists performing simultaneously in different stages.

Recalling the challenges of the inaugural run of Pinoy Playlist last year, Moy said, “I think, like everything else, the birth pains were real. I saw that there was initially a lot of resistance from a lot of the talents because I don’t think this has happened at such a huge scale.”

For this year, Moy happily reported that they’ve been able to gather the acts and come up with a line-up with much less difficulty and effort. He explained, “There’s less — although not zero — skepticism and suspicion. Because (the artists) understood what this was all about.”

Noel added, “Then, we have more collabs. We will have Side A’s Joey Benin and her daughter Clara, South Border’s Jay Durias and his children, and Martin Nievera and Louie Ocampo. We were encouraging a lot of collaborations.”

One of the most important developments in this year’s Pinoy Playlist is that “Mr. C is a National Artist already this year and a Ramon Magsaysay awardee,” Noel stressed.

...Nar Cabico...

“With all the awards given to him… it’s also his turn to give awards and give his blessing to people who are also doing their share in the promotion of music excellence. That’s one of the new things this year,” he further said. 

On the award-giving component of Pinoy Playlist, Mr. C said, “They decided that everything I represent — music education, songwriting, music excellence, performance — gusto nilang i-highlight. So, we’re giving awards to composers and songwriters, who are respected, still alive, still contributing and still doing the work that they have been doing their entire life. Like there’s Chit Arambulo, who was my teacher in Music Theory, and who was also the teacher of Louie Ocampo, Manoling Francisco, and all these new and young prodigies.”

Mr. C also announced that the main awardee for music excellence is OPM legend Basil Valdez.

Another fresh feature this year is the series of educational talks or masterclasses catering to at least 500 public school students. “This year, we expand our partnership with the addition of the excellent TED Talks-inspired workshops dubbed as Pinoy Playlist Music Festival X, seeing the important need to plant the musical seed in the hearts of the youth,” said Sun Life Financial-Philippines Foundation president Alex Narciso.

...and Jay Durias with his kids Kahlil and Jaydee (collectively known as The Bandurias) will join the line-up of performers in this year’s Pinoy Playlist music festival

Meanwhile, Mr. C lauded Sun Life and BGC Arts Center for being their partners again in mounting Pinoy Playlist. “Very important ang partnership nila kasi meron tayong physical repository ng mga nangyayari and then we need the funds for setting this up because it’s very expensive to set this up,” he said.

While the festival is a private sector-led initiative, Moy believes it will be a great idea to have the festival aligned with the Department of Tourism because it can be seen as a destination, “in the same way I would fly to Jakarta just to watch the Java Jazz Festival. We can do that with this.”

The curators are also open to partnerships with other government agencies like the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Education, or any partner that “helps the festival and Filipino music.”

Moy said, “The arts and the performing arts are truly one of our strengths as people, and it would always be nice to have a showcase or a marketplace that will show the breadth and scope of Original Pilipino Music.”

(Tickets go on sale this month via Ticketworld and at the BGC Arts Center Box Office. Check out BGC Arts Center’s official Facebook page for details.)