BAGUIO CITY—In the intimate venue of University of Baguio’s multipurpose hall early this month, I joined the youthful crowd in watching Cup of Joe, a local act and homegrown favorite. A technical delay tested our patience but when the five members of the band—Gian Bernardino, Rapha Ridao, CJ Fernandez, Gabriel Fernandez, and Xen Gareza—finally appeared,...
Tag: P-pop
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‘Matutunaw Din Lahat ng Nyebe’: SB19 and the Filipino Dream
BANGKOK—I am inside a performance hall here in Central World, one of Bangkok’s biggest malls, together with mostly-Filipino fans who are waiting for SB19 to begin their concert. Most of the fans, who call themselves “A’TIN” (pronounced “eighteen”), seem to feel at home in the venue, singing along to every song even without the lyrics...
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Bini’s charm and the road to P-pop stardom
True enough, the eight-member girl group was named after either from the first or from the last alliteration of “binibini” (Filipino word for a single woman, a young lady mostly described and alluded to a maiden), a reference to the modern Filipino woman as an independent, informed, sweet yet fierce individual. Without minding, though, the...
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SB19 is on the ‘P-Pop’ road to stardom
The sudden rise of the male pop group SB19 in the music charts, dance showdowns, bigger and wider media outlets like free TV, FM stations, concerts, and social media, has proven one significant thing: Star-making is not the monopoly of private talent management agencies, giant movie outfits, individual discoverers, talent scouts and managers, or big...