Music of the Nation
Music has become a great part of anyone's life especially to Filipinos. Filipinos are fond of tuning to radio stations and doing karaoke sessions. Irregardless if their voice is off tuned as long as they sing their hearts out they're fine with it.
Philippines is known to produce singers who are fond of songs who have high pitched and that makes them stand out from the rest. However though Filipinos give too much importance to music, with the rise of new artists and the changes to the form of music we have now, it also brought complexity to the music industry of the country.
The new generation or the millennial forgot to go back to their own music but rather turned into songs sang by foreign artists like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande and a lot more.
Generally speaking, Original Pilipino Music or OPM is a mixed of English and Tagalog songs composed and sang by Filipino artists. It is a reiteration of emotions by the the artist and implies meaning based from their current situation. Some of the well-known Opm artist were Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasquez, Gary Valenciano, Zsa Zsa Padilla and a lot more.
These songs serve as soundtrack of different movies and teleseryes in Philippine TV. It even served as "hugot" songs for people experiencing struggles in their lovelife for it implies meaning related to what they feel. Some may term it as the song of their life for it denote a feeling of comfort. The importance of Opm in the Philippine music industry could not be questioned for it has helped a lot in molding the well being of a Filipino.
We could not consider OPM as a dying industry because in fact it is the most preferred genre played in radio stations. Of course we could not deny the fact that new forms of music pave its part in our society but nevertheless Original music is still at its best. Opm artists even try to make collaborations with one another to organize concerts that would showcase Opm songs to somehow be introduced to younger generations.
In fact last July 31 OPM artists organized an event to celebrate the "Linggo ng Musikang Pilipino" at Ayala Garden grounds to express the talents of Opm artists like Yeng Constantino, Aicel Santos, Gary Valenciano, Noel Cabangon, Ogie Alcasid, Christian Bautista, The Company and a lot more.
Thus this goes to show that despite the crisis the music industry is facing right now, OPM artists try to make innovations as well as activities that would somehow increase the importance of OPM songs. And to show to the public especially to the millennial that they must accept the changes by listening to new songs and the same time with the old soundtracks.
In the end, it's alright to accept changes with the usual music we listened to before. However, we must not forget that before this innovations came, we had first experienced a variety of great songs popularized by our great Filipino artists. And in order for this songs to still continue to be heared, we must put so much effort in listening and showing to the public the importance of the OPM songs.
