Philippines and Asian Pop Music

Koda Kumi, Kwon Boa, Rain, Utada Hikaru, Fahrenheit, Jaclyn Victor, Alice Nine & Arashi.

Do they sound familiar to you?

Well if not try to take a look at these photos. You probably have encountered some of these on the web while searching for the lyrics of your favorite anime…

Recognize these people now?

Normally if your Asian (or not), and a teenager (by age or by heart) you’ll definitely say yes.

Who wouldn’t recognize them? Why, their faces are all over fashion magazines, huge billboards, movies and commercials on TV. They set the trend to what’s new in the world of Asian fashion, from the latest hairstyle, make- up, accessories, clothes, shoes and everything. And mind you, they are not just a bunch of pretty faces with sexy bodies; these god-sent beings are also blessed with talents too.They sing, dance, or play an instrument of their choice (guitar, piano, drums, etc). With such great attributes, this is no wonder why many Asian teenagers idolize them so much.

However, the Filipino youth does not seem to respond to Asian pop music nor to Asian icons as well as to other Asian youth. This is kinda strange because geographically speaking the Philippines is located in the Southeastern region of Asia and yet only a little sign of Asian music has infiltrated throughout the years. The only Asian icons that had invaded the Philippines music charts was the boy band called F4, all because of the hit Meteor Garden drama.

There are some reasons as to why the Filipino’s fail to recognize Asian pop music. One of it is communication barriers. Filipino’s do not understand Chinese, Japanese nor Korean language. And Filipino’s are suckers for touching lyrics.

Another reason is that, a long time ago the Philippines was under the captivity of several foreign countries, such as;  Spain, Japan and America. Spain ruled the Philippine islands for the longest time. This explains the Filipino’s enthusiasm for love songs accompanied by guitar plucking. On the other hand, America was the last country to colonize the Philippines and it was the country which influenced the Filipino’s  the most in terms of fashion, culture and music.

To sum it up, we can not deny a person the freedom to freely choose what type of music he or she wants to listen. However, I hope that one day the Filipino’s will also learn to appreciate the music of it’s neighboring countries as much as they appreciate western music.