Missing From YouTube

There is a certain sadness I feel whenever I go through YouTube's music video files. Regular readers of this blog will notice that quite often, I feature and write about a certain band or solo artist whose music I am a fan of or whose song was of some personal significance at a certain point in my life. But a review of all my posts classified under the Music category will show that the music artists I have so far written about have either been American or British artists.

This does not mean that I am not a fan of any Filipino band, singer, or songwriter. Far from being so. In fact, Original Pilipino Music, or OPM, blossomed during the 1970s, the decade of my childhood. This was the time when the phrase "We believe in the Filipino Talent" was heard often from the mouths of DJs whenever they introduced or played a song by a Filipino artist on the air.

As a result, I became a big fan of bands like Hotdog led by the brothers Rene and Dennis Garcia, VST & Co. whose best songs were written by Vic Sotto and Joey De Leon, and the folk songs of Heber Bartolome and Banyuhay and ASIN that opened my eyes to social and environmental issues. I was also a fan of rock musicians Mike Hanopol and Maria Cafra. I enjoyed listening to Sampaguita whenever she belted out her signature rock song "Bonggahan".

On the pop and ballad side, I was a fan of Rico J. Puno and Hajji Alejandro. Although I was not a big fan of Rey Valera, I respected him due to the fact that like a number of his peers at the time such as Tito and Vic Sotto, he penned a number of his songs and also wrote hit songs for fellow artists such as Sharon Cuneta ("Mr. DJ") and Rico Puno ("Sorry Na, Puwede Ba?"). To those of us who were present back in late 1978, we all know that it was the song "Mr. DJ" that catapulted Ms. Cuneta to nationwide fame.

But going back to the subject of this blog entry, I find it lamentable that unlike their American, British and other foreign counterparts, I have not been able to find classic television performances of any of the above named Filipino artists on YouTube. What I've seen so far are video clips of some of the artists' performances on recently-held reunion concerts. Aside from such clips, the only other YouTube entries available are Karaoke-type videos that only show their songs' lyrics but not the artists themselves.

Video clips of the artists' recent performances are fine except that they fail to show, especially to younger generations, the artists in their prime. It sure is nice to see Mike Hanopol belt "Jeprox" out in those reunion concerts but for a young Filipino, all he/she may see is a middle-aged guy performing a rock tune that his/her parents loved during their time. At best, although the youngster may appreciate the musicianship, he/she could only imagine how the artist performed back in the day when his popularity was at its height.

Growing up in the 70s, the artists I mentioned were regularly featured on shows like Discorama, which was shown on GMA-7 on Saturday evenings, or on daily noontime shows such as Student Canteen (GMA-7) and Eat Bulaga, which was then shown on RPN-9.

Discorama, hosted by the late Bobby Ledesma, was one of the rather cool shows to watch for this hour-long show was dedicated to the latest dances and songs. The show was fun to watch for they regularly featured and/or introduced Filipino artists along with their latest hits or releases. It was on this show where I first saw Pinoy rock artists Sampaguita ("Bonggahan"), Maria Cafra ("Kumusta Mga Kaibigan"), and Mike Hanopol ("Jeprox") perform the songs that would later become part of Filipino rock music history.

It was on Student Canteen where I first saw the likes of folk musicians such as Heber Bartolome ("Tayo'y Mga Pinoy")and ASIN ("Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran"); pop groups such as Hotdog ("Manila", "Panaginip"), Cinderella ("TL Ako sa Iyo") and VST & Company ("Awitin Mo, Isasayaw Ko", "Ipagpatawad Mo"); and balladeers such as Rey Valera ("Ako si Superman"), Hajji Alejandro ("Nakapagtataka"), and Anthony Castelo ("Balatkayo") who was also a cousin to Tito and Vic Sotto.

It was also on these shows where the country first saw a then twelve-year old Sharon Cuneta perform her first hit song "Mr. DJ".

It would be a great learning experience to everyone, especially the youth, if past television performances of these artists and those of their peers whose names I failed to mention were made available and shown to younger generations of Filipinos either through a documentary or a retrospective on Philippine music history. The performances will show clear and moving evidence on how these artists performed during their heyday and what made them great and/or popular to Filipino audiences at the time. Who knows? A budding musician from today's youth may even learn a thing or two from watching these artists.

But their absence from YouTube and from television documentaries is a reflection of of our society's obsession with trends. We tend to be obsessed with the latest and greatest ("uso") in areas like fashion and music. We tend to cast a huge spotlight on an artist while he/she is popular and then simply let him/her fade away from our collective memory once a newer artist comes along. We love to use the phrase "Laos na iyan!" ("That's old!" or "That's outdated!") to contemptuously label anything or even worse, anyone, we no longer consider as representative of the latest trends. We discard the old in favor of the new. We fail to realize that by doing so, we all lose.

Other countries, such as the US, Britain, and Japan, continue to honor the contributions of past artists in various forms such as tv documentaries, film preservation, and by simply showing video clips of artists' past performances on tv. In doing so, not only do they make sure that such artists' contributions are not forgotten but they also make sure that these artists are introduced to younger generations.

I hope that the tapes that contain the television performances of the artists I mentioned on this piece still survive within the video vaults or video tape archives of both GMA-7 and RPN-9. And if the tapes are still around, I certainly hope that both stations are doing a damn good of job of maintaining the tapes in very good and viewable condition so that someday, they can be viewed again by an appreciative audience. It would be an extreme disservice to our people if we find out later that both television stations had failed to preserve an important part of our cultural heritage.