Global Pinoy Music movement to push Filipino talents to world stage
Warner Music Philippines (WMP) has officially launched its Global Pinoy Music (GLOPM) movement, a project that aims to showcase Filipino music on the global stage. The campaign allows Filipino musicians to team up with other artists around the world.
WMP Artists and Repertoire (A&R) manager Kelley Mangahas said GLOPM “aspires to make Filipino artists be felt, seen, and heard on the world stage.”
“WMP will be utilizing its resources as a record label in addition to passing on music production knowledge from overseas to the Philippines,” he added.
Apart from this, “the initiative also intends to be a leading source of original and diverse Filipino music as it offers songs that reflect the culture and shared experiences of every Filipino,” WMP said in a statement.
Hence, the effort makes it “possible for domestic and international musicians to learn from each other, as well as create music that will resonate with Filipinos across the globe.”
In an exclusive interview with The STAR, Kelley detailed how the movement came about, their featured artists and how the music industry copes with the effects of pandemic.
GLOPM was coined by Alex Lim, A&R marketing for Visayas and Mindanao at WMP, who, along with Kelley, has this “ambition of having our local artists shine abroad.”
“That’s the unique vision we had in our team, to get our artists there… We decided to pair up our artists with international producers who have done certain projects globally. We want to make this movement for all these artists pushing Filipino music to the world stage,” shared Kelley.
The initiative started about a year ago with the hope of “artists to gain experience and knowledge from people who have done it abroad.”
Kelley further explained that the first step is for the “artists to tie it up with producers who have done stuff in the international scene. Through this sana we can get this transfer of knowledge from these producers to our artists here in order to really elevate the kind of music that we’re putting out.”
The reason why they also chose international artists and producers who have Filipino heritage was because WMP wanted to have that “shared sense of culture that connects both people.” “If you have the same heritage and same background, there’s a lot more familiarity with working with each other,” said Kelley.
Moreover, Kelley and the team wanted this “movement to continue, a project that moves forward with our music” noting how South Korea did it back in the day with K-pop that started off 20 years ago.
He also cited award-winning actress and singer Lea Salonga for making it to the global stage and some music icons who have Filipino roots, the likes of Oscar and Grammy winner H. E. R. and chart-topping Disney star Olivia Rodrigo.
“There are many Filipinos doing their thing around the world. We’re not the first group to do this but we wanted to have a movement, to start the process and have our artists to really give their best shot.”
Likewise, GLOPM is not genre-specific. “We don’t want it to box in any genre. We wanted to find artists and bring out what they would naturally want to perform. We want to keep it open as possible,” stated Kelley.
In fact, their first set of releases includes indie-pop duo Leanne & Naara with the track Anticipation. The pair collaborated with internationally acclaimed producer August Rigo, who is known for his work with Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Sean Kingston, and BTS, among many others.
They also have Back To The Times by reon and Grammy-nominated record producer Xerxes Bakker who worked with Maroon 5, Snoop Dogg, Imagine Dragons, Cee-Lo Green, Ella Eyre, Tungevaag, and Quintino. Good Old Days by Quest was recorded with award-winning production duo Kuya Productions, who gained massive mainstream popularity with collaborations with Christina Aguilera, Jesse McCartney, Big Time Rush, and Jordin Sparks, to name a few.
They currently have seven to eight artists lined up for the campaign and target to have more releases soon. “We feel positive and hopeful with GLOPM, and the months to come are very exciting. We are looking forward to sharing the work of our amazing artists as well as the producers they collaborated with,” expressed Kelley.
While the music live shows and gigs are on hold due to the pandemic, Kelley urged musicians to make use of this time to be “creative.” “We want our artists to really embrace certain times and really evolve. We use this time wisely. Gigs are gonna come back soon eventually. Let’s do something while we are in the situation.”
“Music is still there. People still stream and look for music. When you’re out and about, you want to put on some headphones and listen to good music. That’s gonna be there and for us, we wanted to use this time as well to help our artists.”
He remains optimistic that the music industry will bounce back after this pandemic. He encouraged everyone to be a “creator” and “not just a musician anymore — from your content to your music to everything you want to put out. That’s how you have to evolve and use all the platforms that are available online to actually enforce this and build your community. That’s what all artists should do.”
His message to musicians who are having hard times during this health crisis is to not lose hope. “Hang in there, don’t lose hope ‘coz we’re gonna bounce back. We’re gonna find a way to evolve. As a community of musicians, we’ll figure this out. Continue to grow to be a creator and evolve.”
Meanwhile, Kelley, who is also the bassist for Kjwan and Dicta License, shared some information about the recently-released album of the latter.
Pagbigkas, the title of the music album launched April this year by Dicta License, tackles contemporary political issues in the Philippines. “That was a pandemic album. What Dicta License always stood for is the right to speak out, the license to speak. The title of our album is Pagbigkas. That’s important for us.
“When you look at that album, What Pochoy (Labog, vocalist) actually wrote was all about speaking your mind and really making a stand with different issues that are presented to us,” declared Kelley.
“Conviction, fresh and passionate,” that’s how he described the album in three words.
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