#FEATURE: An Introduction to Pisay’s music scene
When SAMAPI released a pubmat for its annual Kwentuhan Sessions with Ang Bandang Shirley, most of the Pisay population was quite surprised. It wasn’t a regular thing back then that bands from the local indie scene get to perform in a public high school.
It was the time where the local indie scene had an image to popular streaming services, where the band’s songs such as “Nakauwi na” and other bands such as Oh! Flamingo and MilesExperience got to top Spotify’s local trending charts. Spotify supported this trend too with the creation of its Filipino indie scene playlist Pinoy Indie Mix, which has about 120,000 subscribers as of now. The modern local scene was finally reaching the attention of the mainstream population.
However, It was during the band’s first break of the set when things became more interesting. The band talked about their experience in Pisay, from Owel’s experience in doing Biology Experiments in SHB 101, or the time when Owel and Ean wrote a song for their graduation. Turns out, both of them were Pisay students, which was quite surprising.
At this point, everybody should know that the Pisay contract requires its students to enter a STEM-based course and job. While it’s safe to say that not all such professions hinder people to properly manage the hobbies like the gig life, searching deeper shows that both Owel and Ean had become music directors. Ean is a regular composer of soundtracks for various TV shows, and Owel composed and soundtracked music for various films, such as Endo and Zombadings 1: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington.
While it does seem like a hard thing to manage, having certain masteries among hobbies, especially in being a musician, does make it eventually accessible and efficient in experience as a secondary way to earn money. There’s also to mention that the job requirement in the contract only lasts two years, which honestly just ends up as something minor in the long run.
However, there’s still one question: how did a science high school student have a life career that is majorly inclined to the humanities? This can be countered, that people can always change their career choices, but it’s without a doubt that one’s youth is very important in building their personality and objectivity in life.
If one can be influenced and manage to pursue humanities under the heavy influence and requirement of STEM, there has to be a major and structured culture or public sphere that has to be in the community they’re in, or at least in the science high school they’re in.
The sphere of influence
This ties in in the existence of a pseudo-music scene in Pisay. Pisay isn’t really acting on making its music culture prominent, but how the music community perpetuates in itself reacts fluidly with Pisay’s liberal and evolving stance on event-organizing, with the transition of the responsibility and creativity from the admin to the student body. This may sound complicated as it is, but as with every idea, it comes from something simple.
People listen to music as necessity as a form of art. It thrives on and outputs emotion, thought, and beauty through and from the human mind. When people hear a trending song Spotify recommended to them a few days ago, they may sing along to it, aligning themselves with it’s rhythm and flow. And in want, people just create the flows and rhythm themselves.
“May thing lang kasi na pag may tumutugtog ng some song, sumasabay yung audience. Halimbawa, pag may nag-release ng song tas sobrang sumikat talaga siya. Pagpinerperform yung kanta na yun sa BlobJam (something to be explained later), may sumasabay rin na kumakanta, at nakakatuwa yun. Kahit di kayo magkakilala at naguusap,” commented Batch 2019 musician Kyle Arca about the matter.
“Feeling ko, it serves, sometimes, as a way to promote camaraderie and unity in the people. Sabi rin ni Hendrix ,at ang dami na rin na nagsabi, na music promotes unity. Tanda ko, tumutugtog lang ako sa dorm mag-isa, tas may lalapit sa ‘kin na dating roommate, tipong “Ano ba yan, mamaya nalang ako gagawa ng reqs. Parang ayoko pa ‘tong pag-isipin. tara jam muna tayo,” he continued.
“Just like in any pocket of society, music has always been a part of the Pisay culture. Music in Pisay has been used as a source of entertainment (BlobJam, fair concert), a vehicle for learning (di-kum, sayaw interpretasyon), an expression of belief (protest songs, religious songs), a bridge for forming relationships (Valentines/promposal, harana), and so many other instances, some of which have overlapping/integrated purposes,” commented Ma’am Pinlac about the matter.
Ma’am Pinlac is SAMAPI’s current adviser and the only one it had since around 2004. She was previously a student in Pisay and is now a Biology teacher for Grade 8. She was also someone who frequently blogged about the Eraserheads when they were most prevalent and the indie scene in general (she has a blog called “The Mighty Dacs” that can be found online).
“The Eraserheads were at the height of their fame when I was a student in Pisay. You would always hear their songs played on the radio, or jammed by students anywhere on campus. They were even used for school projects like plays,” said Ma’am Pinlac.
“We even staged our own version of Manhid the Musical, and Raimund and Buddy (Eraserheads’ drummer and bassist respectively) watched that at the 3/F Audi, during SY 95–96 which was when the band’s song Kailan and their album,” she continued.
Manhid was a musical from UP TROPA that featured heroic figures from traditional Filipino literature. It featured Eraserheads as it’s music composer and backing band. In fact, one of the band’s greatest hits “Kailan” was an original song composed specifically for the play. Another thing to note is that Auraeus Solito, the play’s playwright, is a film director who is a Pisay alumnus.
The presence of Ely’s band was heavy enough that Pisay students had to re-enact a play they participated for, and back then the internet wasn’t so much prevalent to boost it’s presence. Not to mention music before was either played live or mostly sold on vinyl and tape, and not fueled by the manic status quo of modern pop culture and aesthetic or capitalism-fueled streaming services.
There was a sense of perpetuation that the population wanted to act upon with the rise Eraserheads, and there are more local bands who are just as popular as Eraserheads presently with their presence being boosted by the internet and culture in hyperspeed.
This, though, wasn’t the only reason why Pisay had a big influence from local music. It was also because Ma’am Pinlac decided to be one.
When Ma’am Pinlac was put to the position, she started an “Indie Awareness Campaign” (as she stated in her blog), and one way to perpetuate the agenda was the start of Kwentuhan Sessions.
Kwentuhan Sessions was an acoustic gig (although not always) held monthly by Ma’am Pinlac and the club by around 2004. It featured popular indie bands at the time to perform in Pisay. The sessions also held a versatile platform for the students to hear or ask the band about their music and the scene.
“It was really more of the availability of the artists (and our connection to them, mostly personal) and the diligence of SAMAPI members and adviser to organize such events,” said Ma’am Pinlac about her project.
“The Kwentuhan Sessions were mostly my initiative, and I was able to invite bands before because I was more active in the gig scene back then. ‘Di ko na kilala personally yung mga banda ngayon,” she continued.
This proves true in the lack of sessions, although throughout the years, the project was able to garner the attention of Peryodiko, Johnoy Danao, and Shirebound and Busking (a Pisay alumnus). And while Kwentuhan existed only through the connections Ma’am Pinlac had with the scene back then, the club still showed dedication in her efforts to promote the indie scene in Pisay.
“I think that (overall) SAMAPI has somehow contributed to developing Pisay musicians, either during their stay in Pisay or after. At the very least, SAMAPI, through its talented and passionate members and friends, has made Pisay students more aware of the band scene, especially our local artists,”
“Because of that, maybe some students have been inspired by their ates and kuyas to learn an instrument, or at least to listen to our OPM artists or even go to their gigs,” said Ma’am Pinlac.
The rise of the scene
While the original Kwentuhan project, and its constant flow from the indie scene, has unarguably faded in presence throughout the years, its effects didn’t. And while it’s effects lasted, it was still boosted by the rise of social media and content creating.
In Facebook, there exists music blogs such as The Flying Lugaw and Indie Manila, which document nearly all events and gigs happening around the Manila indie scene, and review the music it produces. With the present state of social media, people were able to post and tweet about an event happening in a local gig. There’s also the rise of streaming services and domains such as Spotify and Soundcloud, which allowed for a very accessible medium the audiences can listen and be influenced to.
The Filipino “meme culture” also exists in connection with the indie scene, where bands have put to content creating on Facebook or Twitter to promote their music and easily get in touch with their audiences. Local bands such as BEAST JESUS have appropriated themselves with the culture and have garnered quite the attention in Facebook, where they post attractive content and consecutively promote their music.
The sentiment to the indie scene has also reached the attention of various corporations such as Coca-Cola with their Coke Studio, which inarguably put the final step of acquiring the praise the local music needed. This was the point the local music scene, at least a generation of it, was put to the attention of the mainstream population.
And as the main population was seeing the local music scene everyday, this allowed the accessibility and opportunities of the local scene. This became fluent with Pisay’s liberal event-organizing, and also the cause of a more attractive Kwentuhan Sessions and better events in result. This was the same reason the likes of Oh! Flamingo!, Autotelic, and Ang Bandang Shirley were able to perform in Pisay, with such bands garnering a lot of attention and views online.
“Yung evolving music scene, it’s good, kasi at least may variety, diba? In biology, they always say that that’s why species survive because of the variety. That’s why you get more. That’s why organisms get more features along the way. Variety leads to creativity because you have a lot of options to choose from. You can follow, let’s say, rock but also (implement) jazz. Maganda na may options yung mga tao in the music that they hear in school, hindi lang yung mainstream na, quite honestly, sometimes gets boring,” said Kyle.
For one of the first times, the main population could relate and balance itself to the local music scene and back, and the scene was good for it in the long run.
Preserving the aftereffect
As Pisay’s community had the long-built existence of a music community, this layered with the rise of the local music scene. With more bands gaining attention, the community was more influenced and eager to open the opportunities to the population as with Ma’am Pinlac back with her connections to the scene.
Local Pisay bands were also influenced by the popularity and the unique sound of the scene, performing their songs or even getting opportunities at gigs outside their school. And with different groups with different music preferations from different batches influenced each other tly, the cycle of preservation was at large.
Asw Batch 2019, former SAMAPI President, event organizer Kyle Arca wants to push the scene to the current Pisay population with others, people before him pushed it too.
“Grade 7 ako nung na-realize ko na “OK, jojoin ako ng music org” kasi gusto ko tumugtog with people and myself. So pagpasok ko dito, I found SAMAPI, as in, may mga 2014 pa dun eh pero not as active as 2015: sina Jairus Calpatura at si Luigi del Rosario (Batch 2015 alumni),” commented Kyle.
“Noong Grade 8 (ako) , nagperform yung band ni Luigi at ni Jai ng Eheads, tas isipin mo, yung buong Pisay population (audience) nakikinig sa ‘yo. So yun, gusto ko maging ganun, in terms of (the audience) in Pisay and, medyo counterintuitive pero, gusto ko mag arts, specifically music, kasi ang stressful ng STEM masyado. Maybe I just wanted to be better and not stuck in this level of musicianship or in sa STEM (inclination); to be one of those who can play those really nice songs,” he continued.
As influenced Kyle was by Batch 2015, there was a point where the club had wanted to arrange people for performing at the annual fair’s Battle of the Bands. This lead to his experience of being a live musician and his “gig”, something that he’ll eventually be doing a few years later.
“Siguro yung pinakaunang gig talaga was in Grade 9 during Battle of the Bands, kasi yung band naming doon only formed in a SAMAPI meeting. The officers said that all of those who were in bands to group themselves together. Everybody who was there were in bands, and I was left alone with Lauren, a batchmate of mine, na bandmate ko ngayon,“
“On my way home, I thought “What if I messaged her? So I asked her if she wants to form a band, then in 5 minutes she replied with a “YES” in all caps, so I was like “whoa, that was fast”. So yun, we performed sa Grade 9 Battle of the Bands. ‘Di kami nanalo doon pero it was a good experience kasi sobrang iba ng feeling from being bedroom musicians to the having an actual audience in front of you,“ commented Kyle.
This was one of the ways the music community presented their talent to the people, although this process was streamlined by Batch 2015. As people have been jamming around in Pisay with their instruments, this was officialized with the start of “BlobJam” by the batch. It allowed a stage for musicians to perform every Friday during Universal Break (when it existed).
“BlobJam started noong 2015 pero I think meron na before sila, yung mga jams na kung saan-saan lang, ganun. In BlobJam, you got to know people who are capable — playing or singing — na tipong kahit hatakin mo lang na “uy, mag-perform tayo” tas, ayun, nagpe-perform nalang sila,” commented Kyle.
“It set a formal stage for people to share their talents although ‘di siya as active (due to the removal of Universal Break). Its really hard to maintain kasi you might be able to bring the equipment, the amps and the guitars. So for now from my perspective that formal stage is kindly gone,”
Its importance really was to bring an avenue or a medium for students to perform kasi it’s a free-for-all; anyone can go,” he continued.
Even though not active today, the performance of good and somewhat professional musicians were supported by BlobJam and resulted in an audience to be influenced and be better musicians with them.
“May time na bumisita sina si Luigi at Jai, ‘tas nagperform sila ng “Gitara” ng Parokya ni Edgar. Yung mga lower years, di na sila kilala kasi noong nakarating sila dito, wala na yung 2015, diba. Pero noong nakita nila na ang daming 2019 na nanonood doon, nakinood sila ‘tas parang — “oh, who are they?” — parang ganun,” Kyle stated.
The “gig life” in a science high school:
As the musicians in Pisay were given a platform to show their talent and content through BlobJam, it has also given them a platform for honing their skills. Just recently, a Batch 2019 Jazz band, Chillig, has been performing in gigs recently, although it’s quite unarguable that being a student with increased workload contradict such. Pisay’s relative position with the indie scene solves this though.
“We have a really good location in terms of the music scene because we have UP Diliman just a jeep away as well as Ateneo. Both UP and Ateneo also have had amazing bands over the years, halimbawa: UP. Eheads. She’s Only Sixteen (came) from Ateneo and Ateneo Music Pool. We’re also pretty close with areas where can watch live music,” said Kyle about the topic.
“For example, (there’s) Conspiracy sa may Mindanao Avenue. We have Mow’s. We have Route (196), although that’s a bit farther sa Katipunan-Cubao (area). We have 70’s Bistro sa Anonas, and if you want jazz we have Tago Jazz Café in Cubao. Yung Mow’s and Jess and Pat’s sa Maginhawa siya and a jeep away,”
Pisay is fortunate to have a lot of events that lets the students showcase their talents and usually yung mga venues for that supplement it,” he continued.
While there is indeed a platform for bands in Pisay to elevate their music, Kyle wants to go beyond that in his efforts as an event-organizer and producer to perfect the platform so others can easily access the scene with their music.
“I started organizing things, I can’t seem to stop. It may sound vain, but it’s really fun and fulfilling na (when) people told me after noong Impetu , even though we had problems with that, na — “oh my god, Arca, salamat sa ‘yo at sa SAMAPI for letting us have this, na nandito si Atom at Autotelic. Thank you”. The point I’m trying to make is it’s fun to organize things for other people kasi it’s a way of service. I may not be the smartest to teach people lessons but in a way, I can still help them by providing a way to relieve their stress through music, jumping around and singing,” said Kyle.
“Nakikita ko rin kasi na marami yung students na may mga magandang kanta, na gusto ko iparinig sa mga other students ng ginawa nila. So sa free time ko, nagproproduce ako ng mga sarili kong stuff, kahit yung mga 30 seconds or 1 minute loops lang ng mga bagay-bagay. And if I myself want to be known out there, kailangan ko ng maganda na pagkaka-produce ng sarili kong work — mukha ba akong may pero doon? Wala. Pero may laptop naman ako, kaya aralin ko nalang,”
Kahit ‘di man ako yung maging front-and-center of everything, at least I can help them reach other people,” he continued.
As Kyle strives for the promotion of opportunities in the Pisay music scene, there are others who’ve worked hard to get in the scene. One example of this is Batch 2018 alumnus Luis Montales, who runs by the name Ahju$$i for his main electronic-trap project. He started it last year despite the pressure of the Grade 12 curriculum and has been gigging in gig cafes and bars ever since.
“Honestly, it reached a point where creating became addicting. I’ve always loved making things and music became another avenue for my creativity. I would not say I completely turned away from my academic responsibilities, but I had to find a compromise. I would be lying if I said that I never missed a requirement because of my gigging, but I can confidently say it pushed me to juggle my academic and music work better. It definitely did get tough at some points. But I had a good set of friends that kept me grounded when the pressures of school and music were too much,” said Luis.
Luis has already released an EPs and a plethora of solo tracks at his main project’s soundcloud page. As with what Kyle had already said before of Pisay’s reputation as a relatively conductive community for music, this also proved true for Luis. His popularity has also garnered him a place at BuwanBuwan Collective, one of the more popular electronic music collectives that support independent artists in the local scene.
“My friends and I always said that gigs in Mow’s or Route 196 are isang kembot away. It was very accessible for me also because I always had a way to go home. Watching a lot of gigs is very important if you want to take music a tad bit more seriously,” he states.
“I’ve cried listening to some of my favorite bands perform and it isn’t an exaggeration to say that some have even changed my life. Not only this, but it’s also a great place to meet the right people. Connections are also very important in this industry and going to gigs is one way of getting more of it,” he continued.
Just as Kyle recognizes the Pisay’s cultural center in music, Luis realizes the same too.
“There’s a certain level of artistic consciousness that breeds in Pisay that is very unlike other institutions. Most of the students there are open minded and are ready to take in new things every day,” Luis said.
The students in Pisay are also not afraid to put themselves out there for the sake of artistry. I also think that the rigorous academic life pushes the students to search for an outlet opposite of the sciences.” he continued.
Conclusion
In general, both Luis and Kyle had similar perspectives of Pisay’s “gig scene”, and this proves true with the plethora of bands existing in Pisay’s community that come and go. The perspective also goes far with its indirect connection with the gig life. This is only just the direction though, and Kyle agrees that there is a certain lack of force.
“I think the term we’re looking for is actualization. Diba kasi we have the idea already, but we have to actualize it to bring it the reality talaga. Yung mga gumagawa nito, ‘di lang ako (to). Marami pa sila. Although we have to realize na — even though I, personally, would want them to exert more effort, well ‘di naman as a collective effort (not officially), sa music part, I have to understand din na may sarili silang initindi sa buhay,” said Kyle.
“Want I want to say to others is that marami pang iba diyan na ganun din yung tungos. Siguro lang kasi partly musician, pero kung interasado ka mag-organize or something, talk to other people din para mas marami kayo na na actually nag-eenakto ng effort,” he continued.
While the presentation of the concept of the scene has become a long one, in the end it’s still a community, and one that functions like any other.
“Pisay, or at least this thing, is a community naman talaga eh. Why exclude yourself from it, diba? If yung (environment) natin yung nagproprovide ng opportunity, considering doon sa sasabihin nila satin na –“you’ll have to be prepared for the real world” — edi in this way, kami rin, we prepare the students for the real world, kahit through the aspect of music lang,”
“Music and science are examples of that,”
