⤹ mainstream to homegrown: discovering a love for local artistry

Hello hello! Here's another blog after a little bit, I finally had some downtime to write this post and I thought of it while my friend introduced me to a band he was managing. I am a very picky person when it comes to anything and most especially music, so listening to their music was a bit of a new experience for me but one I aptly enjoyed! It sparked a thought in me and why spill all the details here when I’ve got a whole blog to write about it? Enjoy reading~

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I feel like I grew up to be a very westernized kid. I wasn’t exposed much to Filipino media nor did I greet it with much interest. Although it wasn’t explicitly taught to me, I had this small internal feeling inside of me that I sort of followed whenever I was shown Filipino media. Thinking of it as cringe, over the top, kitsch but not in a good way. This voice led to me missing out on what I think was an essential in the childhood of a Filipino kid. Being just as cringe, being able to get in on the same childhood experience of trying to catch up to Encantadia on the TV show or having idols on the Teen version of PBB. The pandemic worsened this feeling.

The pandemic was crazy for me, I don’t think I have processed it as well as others or if I’ve begun to process it at all but the pandemic genuinely made everything worse. I didn’t get to live out the peak highschool years that me and my friends dreamed of and make those highschool memories because I missed the start of it and only got to see the end. I might write a blog about the pandemic in general, but going back to the point, the pandemic made me so much more far off with media from the Philippines. I was on the side of TikTok E-Girls, the Hype House, Charli being the peak of entertainment. Because of its cycling algorithm as well, I struggled finding Filipino media to enjoy and had difficulty just finding Filipino media to begin with. My preconceptions of it worsened and got hardened during this early period of adolescence as the only Filipino media that made its way to me is the stupid drama influencers would have and listening to them bicker in Filipino and F-Netizens not making the situation any better turned me off.

I still remember my first introduction into Filipino media, and its a shame it was only a few years ago that I started embracing the side of me that I didn’t westernize as much; My music taste. Yes, yes, I know, Music?! That’s SoOOoOoOOOooOO Cringe!!!!!!! I do not give a damn lmao. Music is very personal to me, I think like a lot of people, I have an intimate connection with music where I just want to drown myself in the sounds people can make with instruments and their voices making such a heavenly piece that I can just close my eyes and feel my soul get heavy with love for it. 

2019-2020 was the time when people were in their fairycore era, whimsy was all the rage. Mushrooms, witchy things, fairies, being a soft girl, strawberry cow, it was the PINNACLE of subspaces on TikTok during these years. It was during this period I discovered a song through a TikTok: Ride Home. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a Filipino band that had made a stomp and holler song. Songs within the style of The Oh Hellos and Crane Wives. I stayed along for the ride when they started putting out banger music like Kathang Isip and one of the songs that launched them out of the Filipino subspace and seeped into International spaces: Araw-Araw. 

As I discovered Ben&Ben, I discovered Zild and Cup of Joe, and so many more artists that drove my love for the music space in the Philippines deeper. They had their Filipino charm, singing in a language I knew deeply and resonating with lines that I felt hit harder in Filipino. They had the style of the Oh Hellos and other bands I was into at the time but just Filipino. Instead of using one as a replacement to another, it turned into an extension of something I loved that was locally made. Music I could actually find myself reflecting on because these artists were the same as I was. They were Filipino. It was here I was struck with many thoughts about how I’d ignored such a big part of me. I am a Filipino and I used to ignore being that part of me for so long. Music became my gateway to loving Filipino music. But where in this part does the question of mainstream vs. local come up?

Sorry for the clickbait but I don’t think it should be a question of “X versus Y”. Stupid competitions and rivalries like this cause us to view situations and in turn the world as black and white when littered in between are shades of gray that we refuse to sort or acknowledge. 

My childhood was centered around western media, and I don’t think I’ll grow out of my bias yet for it as even today I’m still guilty of the mindset that some western media is inherently better than local media. As I’m surrounding myself more with Filipino made art, I’ve grown to have a better appreciation of it outside of just Filipino Music. The city I live in is a very populated city, close to the capital and is a mixing pot of cultures and from what I’ve seen, has a very brave and daring generation of Filipino Youth dedicated to bringing love and support to people working their asses off to continue doing what they love here in this city.

It’s an inspiration really. 

There’s a gallery in a mall near me, hidden all the way in the very top floor in a corner room, filled with art pieces that depict the full history of the Philippines with large canvases made by people who’ve made it through those periods and telling their stories. Sometimes, there’s small art exhibits for people that want to show off their art too. There’s places dedicated for the amusement of those who enjoy media and those who love making it, people making art based off of their interests like concept shops with no mass produced bullshit making its way through there. Studios open for buskers to show off their talents and abilities.

Living in a city surrounded with so much history and talent that we just pass by, walk through, its hard not to develop a sort of sentimentality or love for it. I grew to be more open minded, more willing to express, more acceptable to those who are able to express such unwavering talent and love for the sake of it. 

Mainstream media is amazing, I can’t deny that. When something goes mainstream, its easy to find your people, your community, people that enjoy what you enjoy and dive deeper into more things. But if we don’t give our own communities a chance at raising up to their level then aren’t we the ones missing out? Instead of choosing one over another, why not expand? Allow ourselves to be open to a world of creativity we may have been looking over this whole time. A local cafe might have bands playing, a gallery might have opened waiting for a set of eyes to open up to. Music was my gateway into discovering a love for local artistry, but everyone else might be different. For some it may be film, for others it may be literature. Sometimes a love for something may grow out of ignorance or hatred of it.

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Hello guys! I hope you enjoyed this semi-long blog post<3 this hasn't gone through any edits so this is just my pure thoughts on the subject and what my journey was into learning to love my culture and the products of it in general. I'm not by any means done with this journey, I still have a lot ahead of me but that doesn't negate what I went through to get to the point I am now in this journey and I hope to improve more. Shoutout to the band I mentioned in the intro for sparking this idea within me! They're a local indie band based in Cavite, Philippines and I would love if some of you guys streamed and gave their accounts a follow <3

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FB: We The Santiago
Spotify: We The Santiago
IG: wethesantiago
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Thank you all so much for reading! P.S. the song playing rn is "Ah, Basta" by We The Santiago!!

With matsalab,

Zabeth