Problematizing the popular: the dynamics between Pinoy pop(ular) music and popular protest music

Teresita Gimenez MACEDA

Abstract:

In 1973, the pop music industry in the Philippines, long dominated by the American Top 40, was jolted by the emergence of a new kind of sound that delivered soulful Filipino lyrics in the medium of Western rock.   At about the same time the protest movement found in the popular forms of Western rock and folk, powerful vehicles for cultural resistance. This experimentation within and outside the industry generated great interest across social classes and opened many possibilities for new kinds of popular music later to be called Pinoy (slang for Filipino) rock or Pinoy pop music.

This article looks into the dynamics of Pinoy pop/rock and protest music during the period of authoritarian rule and after, marking their points of intersection and divergence and analyzing the factors thataccount for the rich popular music production in the 1970s and the 1980s.

Author’s biography

Teresita Gimenez Maceda is a Professor of Philippine Literature and Philippine Studies in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, College of Arts and Letters,  University of the Philippines.  She is the author of Mga Tinig mula sa Ibaba, Kasaysayan ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas at Partido Sosialista ng Pilipinas sa Awit, 1930-1955 (Voices from Below, a History of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the Socialist Party of the Philippines in Song, 1930-1955) which was published in 1996 by the University of the Philippines Press.   She has published scholarly articles on the culture industry in the Philippines, protest songs, the national language issue and Cebuano literature.  She has also produced public affairs programs and video documentaries for television and a radio drama-forum, Pitlag (Jolt) which won the 2003 New York Festivals bronze WorldMedal for best radio information program in history.

　

Contact address: Philippine Literature and Philippine Studies in the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.