Indie Manila

Bought some VCDs kanina and Im planning to buy more...what kind? Indie Filipino Movies and maybe some classic.

Let me get this out first, for those who say baduy sa pinas, for those who say na ang cheap dito sa atin ng entertainment here in manila.. Utot nyo. Ok so I admit we have luls in our art scenes pero not now. Thanks to technology we can make movies cheaper, and thanks to the reemergence of pinoy rock the variety of our music is as diverse as it gets.

For movies, admittedly their was a dark era a few years back,only when people stopped watching old school /old formula movies did we pushed hard to make better one's. But I think the indication that movies are really getting better is because of the emergence of indie movies. Movies now have slowly geared away from the radio drama formula and into more diverse stories or socio realistic issues. Just bought "Bilog", "Babae sa Breakwater", "Co Ed Scandal" and "Boso". The formats are the same, different stories intertwined ala Pulp Fiction , but I guess the movies are quite ok, with some movies needing to improve on editing and pacing. But the point is , these are different and it shows the maturity of our arts to comeup with these kind of movies, these movies who are edgy, shocking, heartwarming, dark, socially relevant and inline with current events, dati.. basta aapihin at maghihiganti ok na. Plus we are also in line with the rest of the world which is the coolest part. Ive watched quite a few indie movies from around the world thanks to pirated dvds plus cinemanila. Mas cool naman mga movies natin na indie compared to singapore and taiwan, medyo baduy sa kanila eh.

Indie Music ? Well.. we leave a lot of countries behind, and not just the indie music but the whole-roundedness of our music communities is really something to be proud off. Not sure if Im inventing words here, What I mean is... kunwari sa basketball team, indi panay shooter..complete ang team, me center, guard, defense specialist etc. Not all countries have the same diversity we have, Our diversity can be compared to big countries. Why do I say this? Few weeks ago I went with some French Friends to Malate, to Penguin Bar... The music? It was a mix ofAcid Jazz and World Music... maryosep how cultured! Eh sa mga airlines ko lang naririnig ang ganitong music and yet we have a bar and a host of musicians here who plays their regularly. Last week naman I went to Saguijo to watch the sleepyheads, a rock band featuring a standup drummer and singer, parang sa Europe lang ata meron nito. Then the band before them was a 50s style rock band. Not the ballroom dancing type 50's music band pero a 50s band talaga. 3 Guys a drummer, a solo guitar and singer sporting a Classic Electric Guitar, and a Bass..not an electric bass but a Cielo like Bass. Another band was a funk rock band. We have enough musical talent in Manila to fill almost all colors in the musical spectrum. Pop, Jazz, Rock,RnB, Hip Hop, ...to the specialized music which you see at the back of record stores Acid Jazz, World Music, New Age Music(like Grace nono), Funk Rock, Death Metal, Rap Rock , Jive Rock, you want it we got it. Now aren't we cool or what.