Chip

February 9, 2009

I have a chip on my shoulder.

 

I was commuting home a while ago when the radio blared a revival of Bon Jovi’s “Always” sang by some mewling Pinay. How do I know its sung by a Filipino? One, it’s sang in a voice that Filipinos love to bits: saccharine, undulating, uniform. Two, it’s a song by Bon Jovi. Three, it’s “Always”. What Caucasian would revive that song in that style? Come on. No, it’s definitely Filipino.

I’ve been listening to the radio more often lately. It’s very uncomfortable but sometimes my battery runs out, I forget my headphones, or I’m not in the mood to drown out the rest of the world. I realize that Energy and Love Radio are favorites of tsupers and I think it’s no accident that they’re in the exact same format—the concept of Love Radio worked, therefore another one exactly like it must be made to feed the masses their usual jologs fare.

It’s the same thing with music. Popular radio stations’ daily playlist contain songs that are at least two decades old. These songs are what people love, therefore it’s logical that they should still love it twenty years later. Sometimes, but only sometimes, people get tired of hearing the same song from the same singer. Filipinos being the genius that we are, pop music “evolved” (and by that I mean devolved) into a pitiful—but extensive—collection of revivals. I know I’m making sweeping generalizations here because, of course, there’s the influx of Pinoy pop-rock and emo-pop bands/singers in the scene. You know what’s funny though? Yeng Constantino revived a song called “Sabihin Mo Na” which was originally sang by Tops Suzara no more than two years ago. It’s a vicious cycle.

There are bands like Up Dharma Down, Urbandub and Hilera (to name a few) who produce original music. But have they really penetrated a mass market? At the end of the day, it’s people like Yeng Constantino, Sarah Geronimo, Sam Milby and Bugoy who get their feet kissed by ten thousand people at Araneta Coliseum.

As they say, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

The same applies to fashion here in the Philippines. Go anywhere and you’ll see a sea of jeans and t-shirts. I know jeans and shirts are pretty standard clothing in other countries as well but their street fashion is not so…uniform. Take Japan, Paris, USA, Italy, London. Anyone can wear what they want to wear and no one would bat an eyelash. Here, wear something other than jeans and a t-shirt and you’ll see men leer and women snicker. Smuggled, ridiculously cheap clothes made in China have made a difference in how Pinoys perceive fashion but so far, all that it has done is to vary The Uniform a little.

Watch a Pinoy TV show and you’d get the same tripe with an insanely illogical plot, lines a Fifth-grader can write during lunch break while eating adobo, and characters that are stereotypical, wooden, and mestiza/chinita. Chances are, its the same show already seen but with different actors with different names and a different context.

Do you know what’s wrong with this country? Too many people are too conservative, conventional, uniform, narrow. Pinoys want change but we resist it at the grassroots. No, resist is not the word. It’s “ignore” and sometimes “resent”. I resent this resentment. I find it irrational.

For me, the point of being alive is constant evolution, constant change. It doesn’t have to begin with our radio stations, TV shows, or the government. It has to begin with one’s self. Reading, watching, and listening extensively will make you smarter and more open-minded. When you’re more open-minded, you’d try new things without being afraid of them. You don’t necessarily become a better person if you do this—indeed, what IS a better person—but you will definitely be a different one with more avenues to explore. The only limitations are the ones you thought of yourself.

So really, start your day, do something you’ve never done before. It might be a new book that’s not really up your alley or a scandalous shade of lipstick. Run around your neighborhood. Dance to David Bowie. Teach your dogs how to talk. Learn useless new things you care about.

Waste your time.