Mr. C's search for songwriters

MANILA, Philippines - At a time when OPM seems to be at crossroads, trying to put the focus back on the Filipino songwriter is a difficult task even for someone like Ryan Cayabyab.

Fortunately, Mr. C is not one to back down from the challenge; he whose most iconic hit, Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika, not only swept the country off its feet some four decades back, but remains as his battlecry even now when many seem to be more interested in, well, music from elsewhere.

On July 14 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), the revered maestro will head the presentation of 14 new OPM songs via Philpop, a songwriting tilt that called on Filipino songwriters to contribute new music literature that the organizers hope would resonate with the people and jumpstart the next Golden Age of OPM by first giving the songwriter due importance.

“Songwriters are chroniclers of society, in music form. We sometimes forget that our songs, our music, our culture and art, are so powerful. These are what bind us as a people,” explains Cayabyab who happens to be the festival’s executive director.

Choosing the finalists out of 3,000 entries was no easy task. As the maestro puts it, judges were instructed to look for jewels in the rough — “those with a lot of character, those that had interesting song concepts that are new, or if not altogether new, are inventively presented.”

Unlike other songwriting competitions, Philpop espoused an open-ended theme, with no prescribed style or genre. This way, a good song written in any style will stand out. Cayabyab even noted that if there are few ballads in the Philpop roster, “perhaps it is not their time to shine now.”

Each songwriter finalist was given a stipend to produce their respective songs. If the songwriters felt that they could handle the arrangements themselves they were given the free reign. Cayabyab said that the songwriters were very meticulous during recording and in full knowledge that a lot lie on their shoulders.

Promoting the songs and the songwriting itself do not end on finals night. Radio and TV guestings are on the itinerary and the songwriters will be invited to the songwriting workshops that Cayabyab will give throughout the rest of the year.

But even before anyone starts aiming for the moon, perhaps it is best to have an idea of what a good song is — in the words of Cayabyab, himself.

He says, “Good songs are products of a good marriage of catchy music and lyrics. Each era brings with it certain idioms — usually in rhythm and in the use of melodic patterns and chord progressions. Language and certain expressions and themes put a date on songs. Each era produces its own set of beautiful songs. They become classics when these songs can be treated differently, arranged differently, performed differently — yet retain their intrinsic qualities.”