Long Live Local Music!
Art by warespejo | Words by Luis Katigbak
much has been said about OPM, or Original Pilipino Music, in the past few days. In fact, by now too much has been said. (And yet here we are, and here you are—for which, my thanks, by the way.)
When I read Don Jaucian’s piece—”The Life and Death of OPM“—last Saturday morning, I appreciated it. But I had no idea it would spark such furor online. The points made were on the whole valid, and familiar: musical artists are faced with a struggle; we had acts in the ’90s that were both good and popular; major labels want sure sales, not innovation; but still, there are many things to be hopeful about.
That Jaucian’s piece set off an avalanche of counter-arguments, insults, defenses, impassioned pleas, rants, personal accounts, logical fallacies, and calls to arms can be chalked up to the fact that he declared the death of something that so many of us love, and love deeply.
Naturally, our instinct is to deny this declaration: “No, OPM is alive and well.” “I was just at saGuijo/ Route 196/ ’70s and saw the most amazing performance.” “My band/scene/online radio station rocks,” —and so forth. Many good points were made online, some of them on big media sites and some of them on Facebook (and sometimes IN ALL CAPS). Here are a few examples.
