Get to know some of the artists who competed in the Cebu Pop Music Festival

Anna Fegi, Yessha dela Calzada, and Jesson Albaran.

Cebu City, Philippines—Sinulog Festival is coming up, and it being one of the biggest and more popular festivals in the country, a lot of interesting events take place during its celebration in the month of January. 

Among them is the Cebu Popular Music Festival, the longest running singing and songwriting contest in the country. It is currently celebrating 40 years of bringing artists together to produce quality Cebuano-made music. 

Over time, the music fest has highlighted the talents of many singers from Cebu and other places and has produced  quality songs that are still being enjoyed at present. 

Read: Search is on for next Cebu Pop Music Festival finalists

CDN Digital caught up with some of the products of the prestigious music festival to check on how they are now, how the competition has helped each of them in their respective careers, and what advice can they give the aspiring artists.

JAY-ARR LIBRANDO

For Cebu Pop connoisseurs, Jay-Arr Librando is a a very familiar face. 

He has been a part of Cebu  Pop Music Festival ever since becoming a finalist in 2006. Since then, he has always made it a part of his annual bucket list to submit an entry to the contest.  

His first win was when he interpreted Eugene Tan’s song “Call Centre Agent,” which bagged second place. 

“As a composer, I never got the opportunity to win, not until the 38th Cebu Pop Music Festival in 2018, where I won as Grand Champion under the Garbo sa Bisdak category with the song “Sugboanon Ko” sung by Sheena Belarmino,” he said.

“It was a milestone for me because the song became so widely known that it was being played and sung in different places, events, and even countries where many Cebuanos are,” he added.

Librando said Cebu Pop “has greatly helped me and contributed to my musical career and I very much am grateful to the organizers of the competition and likewise to all the cebuanos who supported Cebuano music.”

Librando is actually a finalist of the 40th Cebu Pop Music Festival, which will be held on Friday, January 17, 2020, at the IEC Convention Center along Pope John Paul II Avenue in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

He will be singing together with his student in St. Theresa’s College of Cebu, Leela Jae Laburada.

He will be singing the song “Gugma sa Kasulatan,” whose lyrics was based on the scriptures (1 Corinthians 13:1-13), and arranged by Nendel Endrina. The song talks about the way of love according to St. Paul. 

According to him, for as long as he can continue to inspire people with his songs, he will continue joining singing-songwriting competitions. 

“Actually, I am not after the prize, he said.” It is the opportunity of exposing my songs to the community and inspiring the listeners through my songs. These songwriting competitions are an easy way of exposing one’s song without actually spending so much of my personal resources.”

ANNA FEGI

A household name in Cebu and in different parts of the world, Anna Fegi has led a colourful career before and after winning “Best Interpreter” in 1997. 

Fegi has been busy with her music school, the Brown Academy of Music in Cebu. Aside from that, she keeps a tight schedule with her headline shows abroad, where she goes around Asia, New Zealand, Australia, and Vanuatu. 

This year, though, Fegi wouldn’t be around in town for Sinulog. She will be flying to Hawaii to perform on a show onboard a cruise ship that goes around Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Guam.

What’s her advice to the contestants for the 40th Cebu pop Music Festival? 

“Tell your story through the song,” Fegi says. “Don’t be afraid to open your heart while haring your music. Being technically good with right notes, proper pronunciation, etc is good but it takes more than that to be a memorable performer. The best artists that I look up to are great storytellers through their music and can connect to the audience.” 

JESSON ALBARAN 

Ever since winning the Awit sa Gugma Pop/Ballad category in the 39th Cebu Pop Music Festival, Jesson Albaran, an elementary public school teacher, has used his influence to inspire his pupils. 

“Winning Cebu Pop catapulted me to inspire my pupils to express themselves by writing songs based on what they feel inside their hearts, like what I did with my entry,” he said. “If they can’t say it personally, they can express it through a happy, sad, or long song or even a funny one too.”

His song “Kon Pwede Lang”, interpreted by Gerlyn Ville Abaño, won the Awit sa Gugam Pop/Ballad Category.

Aside from teaching, Alabaran is also a choir conductor of the Voice of Cebu Chorale, where they are embarking on an international choir competition by middle of 2020.

Albaran is also the artistic director and choreographer of the Argao Cultural Dance Troupe, which does cultural shows to promote the Filipino culture through dance. 

According to Albaran, he does not have plans  of joining other singing-songwriting contests just yet. But if destiny permits, then he will “join them in God’s perfect plan and time”.

Albaran’s Sinulog plans include staying at home and watching the Sinulog festivities via livestream. 

YESSHA DELA CALZADA

Yessha dela Calzada, the youngest and the only child among the interpreters during last year’s 39th Cebu Pop Music Festival, bagged the “Best Interpreter” Award.

The young Calzada gained recognition when she emerged as the grand winner of the Promil Kid for performing arts in 2015, where she also starred in a TV commercial alongside Ryan Cayabyab. Calzada also became a semi-finalist in The Voice Kids Season 3 in 2016.

Calzada interpreted the song “Kabataan Bag-ong Katilingban,” (Awit sa Pagpakabana) that was composed by Jade Castro.

Calzada is now part of the Rank One Entertainment alongside top calibre artists, and will soon be working with award-winning Grammy producer Rhett Lawrence in the United States. 

When asked if she has future plans on joining more singing-songwriting contests like Cebu Pop, Calzada says that she has no plans on joining yet since she is focusing on her studies and practices.

What are young Yessha’s plans for Sinulog? According to her, she will be joining the solemn procession of Señor Santo Niño with her family, and watching the Sinulog street dances.

On February 1, 2020, Yessha will be performing in a concert with Morissette Amon in Cebu City and in Batangas on February 29, 2020. 

RONIL VINCENT WATIN 

Watin is no longer a stranger to Cebu Pop. In fact, he has already won twice: in 2014 and in 2017. After his stint, he has been invited to judge numerous singing-songwriting contests, and doing interviews on the side. 

Nowadays, he is busy with his band, WHAT BAND, writing original songs, and hopefully record and produce an album. 

“If given the chance and if I have the time, then I would probably be back to joining events like Cebu Pop,” he said. 

His song, Gugma Maka, which won the Huni sa Kasingkasing category in 2017, is a song about what love can do, especially to the millennials nowadays, he said. “The song is very timely and very now.” 

“There should be more events like CebuPop to produce more Cebuano songs and for young generations and aspiring songwriters to pursue their passions and to discover more talents as well,” Watin said. 

His advice to aspiring singer-songwriters is to sing with heart and passion and to keep on writing more songs. 

These are only some of the noted artists who have made a name in the Cebu Pop. Another notable product of the music fest is singer-actress Vina Morales (Sharon Garcia Magdayao), who was a singer in Sant Vincent Ferrer Parish Church in Bogo, Cebu where Fr. Fritz Malinao discovered her talent in singing, and asked her to interpret his song “Paglaum.”

Jude Gitamondoc, a Cebu-based songwriter, record producer, musical director, won the grand prize in 2008 for his song “Pasayloa Ko.”

Gitamondoc composed songs for FIlipino artists including Gary Valenciano, Toni Gonzaga, among other. Gitamondoc also won Philippine Daily Inquirer’s “Best Musical Play” in 2017 for “Gugmang Giatay.”

Emilio Villareal, also known as Maestro Mil, is a notable musical director and composer who won in the inaugural  1980 Cebu Pop Music Festival with the song “Langit ug Yuta.”

Open category

A twist this year is that there will be no themes, genres, and categories in the competition.

According to Gloria Villarojo, the events manager of Cebu Pop Music Festival, they have decided to make the singing and songwriting competition an open category. 

“There will be no themes so that the songwriters can express what they feel,” she said.

During the past Cebu Pop contests, there were three categories — Awit sa Gugma, Awit sa Pagpakabana, and Huni sa Kasing-Kasing. 

“We are going back to the old format of 12 songs, which is an open category,” she explained. “The last five years, we followed different categories like ballad, pop, rock, folk, and songs about Cebu.”

As of January 6, the finalists’ recorded songs have been released on Cebu Pop’s Facebook page and on Youtube. These songs will be performed during the finals night. 

Prizes up for grabs are P100,000  (grand champion), P75,000(second place), and P50,000 (third place) while the non-winners will receive P20,000 each. 

The Cebu Pop Music Festival was established by then congressman Eduardo Gullas in 1980. Gullas also chairs the Cebu Arts Foundation, Inc, the group behind the longest-running singing-songwriting contest in the country.

According to Villarojo, Cebu Pop has produced quality songwriters and interpreters throughout the years and the contest has given them the platform to share their talents. /bmjo