ORIGINAL Pinoy Music is alive and kicking, at least for thousands of people who flocked to the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds last Friday for the Fusion Concert Tour that featured some of the biggest names on local music scene.
From the bubblegum performance of James Reid and Nadine Lustre to a mature number by Sarah Geronimo and Bamboo, and from the pop ballads of Christian Bautista to the alternative metal sounds dished out by Franco, everyone at the concert had something to enjoy and go crazy about. In fact, at least 40 music acts representing different genres including pop, RnB, hip-hop, electronic dance music and rock were in full force to support the so-called “First Philippine Music Festival.”
Although some pop artists still covered famous songs originally sang by foreign artists, we cannot discount the fact that the eight-hour music marathon has lived up to everyone’s expectation for being an effective platform to showcase the best of OPM. Not only that, the Fusion Concert stage also served as venue for virtually unknown and less popular musicians to introduce their work.
The music fest, which came with a hash tag “Play as One,” (it is also the title of the theme song of the night performed by the guest artists), was rather a long version of a concert and not necessarily a kind of music festival that avid music festival goers are familiar with. Perhaps organizers could learn from CinemaJam, Oktoberfest or from the 7101 Music Fest that ran for two days.
Nonetheless, Fusion Concert Tour showed a lot of potential. It was successful in giving local music fans this rare experience. And its aim to put the country on the world’s music tourism map and become one of Asia’s most sought-after musical events is not far from possible. Sure the organizers can look for a bigger venue and can think of other engaging activities to entertain fans.
A-press-ciation
In welcoming 2015 as the year of ASEAN Integration, the Cultural Center of the Philippines recently organized a special gathering for friends and colleagues in print, broadcast and online media at the Silangan Hall of CCP’s main building.
Billed as “A-Press-Ciation Lunch,” the annual event featured performances of dance artists from neighboring countries. Media guests were regaled by the performances of a dance group from Cambodian embassy that performed a number usually seen in Cambodian traditional activities and special occasions.
A guest performer from Indonesia enthralled the audience with a solo dance called Tari Mayong, which is normally performed by young Indonesian women as a celebration of their youth.
Meanwhile, the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, one of the CCP’s nine resident companies, delighted the media with their production that featured Ifugao and Maranao dances.
The event was attended by ASEAN embassy representatives including the Executive Secretary to the Ambassador of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia, Minister Counsellor for Social and Cultural Affairs from Indonesia and the Counsellor of the Embassy of Malaysia.