PHILIPPINE POPULAR CULTURE

 Is the accumulation of cultural products such as music, art, literature, fashion, dance, film, cyberculture television and radio
that are consumed by the majority of society’s population.

 Popular culture has mass accessibility and appeal the term popular culture was coined in the 19 th century or earlier.

CULTURE - “Is a system of symbolic and expressive structures that a particular group of people developed and utilized to
enhance solidarity, understanding, and transmission of knowledge (Danesi, 2019).”
POPULAR - Like, admired, or enjoyed by many people or by a particular person or group. Regarded with favor, approval or
affection by people in general.
POPULAR CULTURE - The set of habits, beliefs, and objects that express a social system’s most commonly held meaning is
known as popular culture. It encompasses, among other things, media items, amusement and leisure, fashion and trends, and
linguistic conventions, (Kidd, 2021).
MOST COMMON POPULAR CULTURE CATEGORIES

ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS POLITICS

 Movies  Popular Sports Political Agenda- It refers to the list of
 Television  Indigenous Sports issues to which government and the
 Music  Sea Games people watches out for.
 Video Games Example: red-tagging

Role of the Media Watchdogs of the Society

FASHION LANGUAGE
 “Ukay-ukay”  Oral and Written Communication
 World-class Filipino designers  Regional Defect vs. Regional Accent
 Traditional attires- modernized  Jejemon, Gay Lingo,use of emojis

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE

 Historically, popular culture has been closely associated with mass media that introduce and encourage the adoption of
certain trends. We can see these media as “tastemakers”—people or institutions that shape the way others think, eat, listen,
drink, dress and more.
CULTURE is dynamic
CULTURE is encompassing
CULTURE is symbolic
CULTURE is country’s Identity
FILM - film is a motion picture and is an older term for it. Aside from its technical definition, a motion picture is a medium
used to express stories, ideas and even feelings. As a medium for expression, it has evolved its own form of art called
cinematography. Film is also the various, plastic materials, such as celluloid film, that serve as media where these motion
pictures are imprinted, as opposed to the more modern digital media.
“HISTORY”
The first to present projected moving pictures to a paying audience were the lumiere brothers in December 1895 in Paris and
France. They used a device of their own making, the Cinematographe which was a camera, or a projector and a film printer
all in one.
Famous Film in The Philippine
1919-1929 “Dalagang Bukid (Farm Girl)”, is a silent film directed and produced by José Nepomuceno, the Father of
Philippine Cinema. It was based on a zarzuela written by Hermogenes Ilagan, about a young flower vendor named Angelita
forced by her parents to marry a wealthy old man, Don Silvestre, despite her love for Cipriano, a law student. The film was
officially released on September 12, 1919, with English, Spanish, and Tagalog subtitles.
1929-1939 “Punyal na Guinto” - Another classic masterpiece from Nepomuceno was Punyal na Guinto (Golden Dagger),
which is considered as the first "talkie" in the country. It premiered on March 9, 1933, at the Lyric Theatre. However,
Nepomuceno was midway to finishing the film when American duo Harris and Tait offered their machines to add sound into
the film. This made the character of the Golden Dagger to speak (in Tagalog) halfway through the film.
1949-1959 “Prinsipe AmanteIn 1951, the first Filipino-produced full-colour film was Prinsipe Amante, directed by National
Artist for Theatre and Film Lamberto V. Avellana. This marked also the prevalent adaptation of Filipino comics into films,
which implied more outlandish costumes and set designs. With such high artistic values, the '50s was dubbed as the First
Golden Age of Philippine Cinema, where epic films like Conde's Genghis Khan (1950) competed at the Venice International
Film Festival.
 1979-1989 “Himala” The Second Golden Age continued through the '80s, featuring the plight of migrant workers, the
proletariat, as well as the affluent kolehiyalas (college girls). Notable filmmakers of the previous decade, together with Peque
Gallaga, Kidlat Tahimik (the Father of Independent Philippine Cinema), Nick Deocampo, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, and
Raymond Red contributed in this period. Amid the dichotomy, Ishmael Bernal's Himala (1982) starring the "Superstar"
Nora Aunor, gained local and international acclaim (even up to this day) as a script and technical achievement and also as a
masterful exhibition of impressive ensemble acting.
1999-2009 “Magnifico” The reign of independent cinema in the 2000s can be credited to the success of Maryo J. De los Reyes'
dramatic independent film Magnifico (2003), which received local and international acclaim most especially in the 2004 Berlin
International Film Festival where it won the Crystal Bear. Prior to this, Raymond Red's Anino (2000) won the Palme d'Or at
the Cannes Film Festival 2000. With this, the decade saw the proliferation of digital films by independent filmmakers that were
submitted to compete in international film festivals.
2009-2019 “BuyBustBox” - office films became the trend in the local cinema since 2009's You Changed My Life, which
starred Sarah Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz. However, the success of commercial films from major film productions was not
a hindrance for the independent films to flourish. On the contrary, many mainstream actors and directors continuously
crossover to independent cinema, and vice versa. The works of Lav Diaz, Brillante Mendoza, and Kidlat Tahimik gained
recognition and success among local and international audiences. Meanwhile, a new breed of filmmakers like Antoinette
Jadaone, Jason Paul Laxamana, Dan Villegas, Cathy Garcia-Molina, Jerrold Tarog, Mikhail Red, Pepe Diokno, and Sigrid
Andrea Bernardo, to name a few also caught the industry's attention.
RADIO
 Radio is a sound communication by radio waves usually through the transmission of music, news and other types of
programs from single broadcast stations to multitudes if the individual listeners equipped with radio recievers.
 Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are
generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to an antenna which radiates the waves, and received by
another antenna connected to a radio reciever.
 Radio is widely used in modern technology, radio communication, radar, radio navigation, remote control, remote sensing
and other applications.
“HISTORY OF RADIO”
 In 1895, a young Italian named Gugliemo Marconi invented what he called “the wireless telegraph” while
experimenting in his parents’ attic. He used radio waves to transmit Morse code and the instrument he used became
known as the radio.
 In 1906, Marconi shared the Nobel Prize for physics with Ferdinand Braun, a German, in recognition of their
contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy. Radio works by changing sounds or signals into radio waves,
which travel through air, space, and solid objects, and the radio receiver changes them back into the sounds, words, and
music we hear.
 A radio broadcast is a one-way transmission originating from a radio station.

RADIO IN THE PHILIPPINES

Radio in the Philippines started in 1924 with the establishment of KZKZ (AM) in Manila, Philippines by Henry Herman
Sr., owner of the Electrical Supply Company in Manila
The first radio station in the Philippines was established on July 15, 1939, DZRH is the oldest private radio station in the
Philippines, after government-owned DZRB, located at Pasay City.
-It’s sister stations are 90.7 Love Radio, 96.3 Easy Rock, 101.1 Yes! The Best
POPULAR MUSIC

Old Music
 Pangako ni: Ogie Alcasid
 Maala-ala Mo Kaya ni: Carol Banawa
 Magpakailanman ni: Wency Cornejo
 Harana Parokya ni Edgar
 Bakit Ngayo Ka Lang ni: Ogie Alcasid
 Ang Pag-Ibig Kong Ito ni: Leah
Navarro
 Isang Lahi ni: Regine Velasquez
 Panahon :Juan Dela Cruz Band
 Sayang na Sayang ni: Manilyn Reyes
 Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin ni: Ariel
Rivera
 Nandito Ako ni:Ogie Alcasid
 On the Wings of Love ni: Regine
Velasquez
Latest Filipino Music
 Habang Buhay ni: Zack Tabudlo
 Pano ni: Zack Tabudlo
 Binibini ni: Zack Tabudlo
 Diwata ni: Sam Conception
 Mahika ni: Adie& Janine Berdin
 Muli ni: Ace Banzuelo
 Kumpas ni: Moira Dela Torre
 Paraluman ni: Adie
 Ikaw Lang ni: Nobita
 Pagsamo ni: Arthur Neri
 Tahanan ni: Adie
Other Countries Music that Are
Popular to Radio’s
Some Old Music:
 Come What May by: Air Supply
 Heaven by: Bryan Adams
 Please Forgive Me by: Bryan
Adams
 Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now
by: Starship
 Love Will Keep Us Alive by:
Eagles
Latest Music:
 Angel Baby by: Troye Sivan
 Sun And Moon by: Anees
 All to Well by: Taylor Swift
 Stay by: Justin Beiber
 Mood by: 24kGoldn Featuring
 iann dior

Mass Media-Generated Culture in the Philippine: The Electronic Media

Electronic media - are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in
contrast to static media, which today are most often created digitally, but do not require electronics to be accessed by the end
user in the printed form.
RADIO SOAP OPERA
Soap opera (often called “telenovela” or “telenobela” by locals) is a serial drama on television or radio which features stories
focused on very emotional relationships or problems to inudge much drama.
Henry Herman was an American and a former soldier who came to the Philippines to fight in the Philippine–American War.
In 1949, the first radio soap was aired by the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC) entitled “Gulong ng Palad.” Research
says that during the early development of radio in the Philippines, the device only catered to music and American propaganda,
until “soaps” came into the picture. Originally termed “soap” as it was sponsored by soap manufacturers, it was later on
called as “soap opera.”
Notable soaps, aside from
 Gulong ng Palad: Kuwentong Kapitbahay, considered the very first radio soap opera
 Kuwentong Kutsero, a socio-political satire co-produced by Horacio de la Costa and written by Epifanio Matute
 The domestic drama Ilaw ng Tahanan by Liwayway Arceo.
 ABS-CBN aired the first drama on the tube in 1963, “Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato.” From then on, dozens of drama have
ruled the said medium and have branched out into other kinds which the giant network has also coined: ‘teleserye,’
‘fantaserye,’ ‘action-serye,’ ‘sineserye’ and ‘Asianovela’.

MEDIA
 Is a tool of communication.
 One of the causes that brings people together.
 Is the gold of communication, information and socialization.
 Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain.
TELEVISION
 Means “seeing from afar”.
 Most sophisticated means of mass communication media.
 Facilitates one-way communication between the sender and the receiver.
FAMOUS INVENTORS OF TELEVISION
 PHILO FARNSWORTH
 JOHN LOGIE BAIRD
 KENJIRO TAKAYANAGI
ROLE OF TELEVISION FUNCTIONS OF TELEVISION
 Source of information  A system for transmitting visual images and
sounds that are reproduced on screens.
 A bridge between the governing bodies and
general public.  Chiefly used to broadcast programs for
entertainment, information, and education.

HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE TELEVISON

1946 – JAMES LINDENBERG (The Father of Philippine Television), founded Bolinao Electronic Company (BEC).
1950's - During the 1950s, the University of Santo Tomas and Feati University were experimenting with television. UST
demonstrated its home-made receiver, while Feati opened an experimental television station two years later.
1953 - DZAQ-TV Channel 3 of Alto Broadcasting System in Manila. The station was owned by Antonio Quirino. The
station operated on a four hour-a-day schedule (6 - 10 p.m.) and telecast only over a 50-mile radius.
1953 - DZAQ-TV Channel 3 began telecasting on October 23 of the same year but before that, television sets had to be
imported and people had to be trained.
With the help of the Radio Corporation of America, four men underwent technical training in the United States:

 Arcadio “Cady” Carandang, who was in-charge of setting up a TV service company;

 Romualdo “Romy” Carballo, who oversaw the transmission aspect;
 Harry “Slim” Chaney, who acted as a spark plug for the whole operation, and
 Jose “Joe” Navarro, who learned filming techniques in television.
  Radiowealth, Inc. began manufacturing and distributing television sets on the market.

 ABS was later sold to the Lopez family, who later transformed it into ABS-CBN

1957 - By 1957, the Chronicle Broadcasting Network (CBN), owned by the Lopez family, operated two TV stations--
DZAQ Channel 3 and DZXL-TV Channel 9.

1960 - By 1960, a third station was in operation, DZBB-TV Channel 7, or, the Republic Broadcasting System. It was owned
by Robert “Bob” Stewart.

RBS started with only 25 employees, a surplus transmitter, and two old cameras. During this time, the most popular horror
series on Philippine television was Gabi ng Lagim.

The META team was headed by Leo Larkin, S.J., with Josefina Patron, Florangel Rosario, Lupita Concio and Maria Paz
Diaz as members. The project lasted from 1964 to 1974.

 1961, the National Science Development Board was established.

 1962, television was the most in-demand appliance in urban areas.
 1966 - the number of privately owned TV channels was 18; ABS-CBN was the biggest network by the time Martial Law
was declared.
 1968 - the daily television content consisted mostly of canned programs; only 10% of programs was locally produced.
 1970s - During Martial Law, Ferdinand Marcos ordered the closure of all but three television stations: channels 9 and 13
were eventually controlled by then Ambassador Roberto Benedicto.
 ABS-CBN was seized from the Lopez family, and Eugenio Lopez Jr., then president of the network, was imprisoned.
 1973 - Channel 7 was heavily in debt and was forced to sell 70% of the business to a group of investors, who changed the
name from RBS to Global Media Arts (GMA) Radio Television Arts.
 1973, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) was organized to provide a mechanism for self-regulation in the
broadcast industry.
 1974 - KBS Channel 9 and BBC Channel 2—mainly aired government propaganda.
 1980 - Channels 2, 9, and 13 moved to the newly-built Broadcast City in Diliman, Quezon City.
 1984 - Imee Marcos attempted to take over GMA Channel 7.
 Gregorio Cendaña was named Minister of Information. GTV Channel 4 became known as the Maharlika Broadcasting
System.
 1986 - February 24, 1986, MBS Channel 4 went off the air during a live news conference in Malacañang.
 September 14, 1986, ABS-CBN Channel 2 made a comeback and resumed broadcasting after 14 years.
 1988 - November 8, 1988, GMA inaugurated the “Tower of Power”
 1988 - PTV Channel 4, then MBS, was launched as “The People’s Station"
 1990s - ABS-CBN launched the Sarimanok Home Page, the station’s Web presence, making it the first Philippine network
on the Internet.
 February 21, 1992, ABC Channel 5 reopened with a new multi-million-peso studio complex in Novaliches.
 1996 - 89% of Filipinos and 57% of Philippine households watched television 6-7 days a week.
 1997 - the Children’s Television Act (RA8370), providing for the creation of a National Council for Children’s Media
Education, was passed.
 1997 - 57% of Filipino households had at least one television. 100% of those in class AB had televisions, as opposed to
only 4% in class E.
 1997 - the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation successfully launched Agila II, the country’s first satellite.
 1998 - there were 137 television stations nationwide.
 April 19, 1998 - ZOE TV 11 of ZOE Broadcasting Network, Inc., owned by born-again evangelist Eddie Villanueva, was
officially launched.
 2020’s - Television in the Philippines had indeed gone a long way. More than fifty years ago, television was just one of the
appliances in a Filipino home, today, it is considered as the most pervasive and influential instrument of mass
communication in the Philippines.
PRESS
Press (Media) means news industry of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public through print media
(newspapers, newsmagazines), broadcast news (radio and television) and the Internet (online newspapers).
• Press" generally refers to print media (i.e. off the printing press) like newspapers and magazines. "Media" is a broader
term that includes TV, radio, Internet etc.
News media - means the photographing, filming or videotaping for the purpose of spontaneous, unplanned television news
broadcast or reporting for print media by reporters, photographers or camerapersons.

ROLES OF PRESS
 The backbone of any democracy is an independent, professional and responsible media.
 Their role is to inform, criticise and stimulate debateThe ability to comprehend and scrutinize the connection between press
and democracy is important because media has the power to tell a society's stories and thereby influence thinking, beliefs
and behaviour.
 It essentially played a “watchdog” function and has often taken an adversarial stance against government. The freedom
enjoyed by Philippine press (media).
 HISTORY Of PHILIPPINE PRESS
 The first Philippine newspaper was established in 1811. Del Superior Govierno was published with the Spanish Governor
General himself as editor. Its intended readers were the local Spaniards and therefore the content was primarily news from
Spain. The first daily newspaper, La Esperanza (1846), also catered to the Spanish elite.

 The American regime saw the introduction of new newspapers published mostly by American journalists: The Manila
Times (1898), The Bounding Billow and Official Gazette (1898), Manila Daily Bulletin (1900), and the Philippine
Free Press (1908). Some of these publications are still with us today. In 1920, The Philippine Herald, a pro-Filipino
newspaper, came out.

 The Marcos Years: Controlled and Alternative Press - When martial law was declared on September 21, 1972, the first
order issued by the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos was the “take over and control of all privately owned newspapers,
magazines, radio and television facilities and all other media communications.” Editors and journalists were among the first
to be arrested and incarcerated in military prison camps.

”PHILIPPINE PRESS MEDIA COMPANY”

 ABS CBN BROADCASTING CORPORATION ( Channel 2)

 NATIONAL BROADCASTING NETWORK ( Channel 4 )
 ASSOCIATED BROADCASTING COMPANY ( Channel
 GMA NETWORK Inc ( Channel 7 )
 RADIO PHILIPPINE NETWORK ( Channel 9 )
 QTV ( Channel 11 )
 INTERCONTINENTAL BROADCASTING CORPORATION ( (Channel 13 )
 STUDIO 23 ( Channel 23 )

Journalists, as well as Media should be committed and self dependable. They should express social responsibilities that would
invariably sustain the growth of micro ethno system in the nation, aid the political terrain, and eliminate friction in human
relationships and other sectors of the country. As the watch dog of society, they are responsible to the people and can also help in
the elimination of social vices confronting humanity and National Integrity.

MAGAZINES
Magazine, also called periodical, a printed or digitally published collection of texts (essays, articles, stories, poems), often
illustrated, that is produced at regular intervals (excluding newspapers).

Popular Magazines.
The first magazine of general circulation in the Philippines was probably The Philippine Magazine, published in 1905. It
cannot quite be called "popular," however, since it was in English, and therefore, not available to the majority, especially at that
time, when the teaching of English had begun only four years earlier. It was printed on cheap newsprint and eventually, by the time
it stopped publication in 1972, was indeed read by the majority of the English-speaking Philippine public.

1923 - A real popular magazine would have to be in the vernacular, and although there have been many short-lived publications in
this century, liwayway was the most popular magazine.

1941- The magazine had a circulation of 89,000.16 With its sister publications Bisaya, in Cebuano Visayan; Hiligaynon, in Ilongo
Visayan; Bannawag, in Ilocano, and Bicolnon in Bicol, Liwayway became the cornerstone of popular publishing in the Philippines.

The elite magazines, on better paper and with fine printing, were publishing English material, and so this colonial after effect
made the Tagalog writer both serious and popular at the same time, since he had a z concrete audience to reach, and editors who had
definite ideas about what that audience wanted.

Liwayway ("dawn") is a leading Tagalog weekly magazine published in the Philippines since 1922. It contains Tagalog serialized
novels, short stories, poetry, serialized comics, essays, news features, entertainment news and articles, and many others. In fact, it is
the oldest Tagalog magazine in the Philippines. Its sister publications are Bannawag, Bisaya Magasin, and Hiligaynon.

The magazine had its beginning back 1922 when Don Ramon Roces, the eldest son of Ramon Roces, introduced it after the ill-
fated Photo News had declined in the market. Don Ramon Roces, a prominent man in the publishing business, first
conceived Photo News. It was a magazine with its own style, carrying three languages (Spanish, Tagalog and English). The idea to
have three languages in one magazine was to allow it to cater to all types of readers (Spanish and Spanish-speaking readers,
English, American, and English-speaking readers, and Tagalog language and Filipino readers.

Some Contributions of the Philippine Magazine to the Development of the Philippine Culture
The recent cultural history of the Philippines reflects the influence of the Philippine Magazine, a monthly published for the
Philippines intellectual. During the height of it success in the 1930’s , the monthly featured some of the best writing by Filipinos in
English. Within its pages interest that are milestone in cultural history. Short stories and poetry in the magazine were written by
promising young Filipinos who today are still producing some of the best literary works in English. A provocative editorial
discussed contemporary political, economic, and social issues with candor. The essays, short stories, poetry, and editorials,
combined with several regular columns and special sections, resulted in the most popular and successful magazine of its kind at that
time.
 MUSIC
Music of the Philippines include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos composed in various genres and styles.
The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian, Spanish, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.
The Philippines music are a mix of European, American and native sounds. Influenced by the music of the Philippines 377 year-
long heritage of colonial Spain, Western rock and roll, hip-hop and popular music from the United States, the folk music of
population Austronesian and Indo-Malayan music Gamelan.

Primal Music
A series of recordings made on music played on the spot is primal music. It does not have to be repeated and has to be performed
only once.

Indigenous Music
Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous “Sa Ugoy ng
Duyan” that recalls about the loving touch of mother to her child. Another great composer who’s known as patriotic composer,
Antonio Buenaventura.

Gong Music
Philippine gong music can be divided into two types: the flat gong commonly known as gangsà and played by the groups in the
Cordillera region of the bossed gongs played among the Islam and animist groups in the southern Philippines.

Kulintang refers to a racked gong chime instrument played in the southern islands of the Philippines, along with its varied
accompanying ensembles. Different groups have different ways of playing the kulintang. Two major groups seem to stand-out in
kulintang music. These are the Maguindanaon and the Maranaw. The kulintang instrument itself could be traced to either the
introduction of gongs to Southeast Asia from India before the 10th century CE, or more likely, to the introduction of bossed gong
chimes from Java via India in the 15th century. Nevertheless, the kulintang ensemble is the most advanced form of music from
before the late 16th century and the legacy of the Europeans in the Philippine archipelago

Kulintang refers to a racked gong chime instrument played in the southern islands of the Philippines, along with its varied
accompanying ensembles. Different groups have different ways of playing the kulintang. Two major groups seem to stand-out in
kulintang music. These are the Maguindanaon and the Maranaw. The kulintang instrument itself could be traced to either the
introduction of gongs to Southeast Asia from India before the 10th century CE, or more likely, to the introduction of bossed gong
chimes from Java via India in the 15th century. Nevertheless, the kulintang ensemble is the most advanced form of music from
before the late 16th century and the legacy of the Europeans in the Philippine archipelago

Hispanic-influenced Music
Spain ruled the Philippines for 333 years, and Hispanic influence in Filipino culture is ubiquitous. This influence can be easily seen
in folk and traditional music, especially in the Tagalog and Visayan regions, where Spanish influence was greatest.

Rondalla Music
The Rondalla is a traditional string orchestra comprising two-string, mandolin-type instruments such as the banduria and laud; a
guitar; a double bass; and often a drum for percussion. The rondalla has its origins in the Iberian rondalla tradition, and is used to
accompany several Hispanic-influenced song forms and dances.

Harana and Kundiman

The Harana and Kundiman are popular lyrical songs dating back to the Spanish period, and are customarily used in courtship rituals.
The Harana is rooted in the Mexican-Spanish tradition and based on the rhythmic patterns of the habanera. The Kundiman,
meanwhile, has pre-colonial origins from the Tagalophone parts of the country, uses a triple meter rhythm, and is characterised by
beginning in a minor key and shifting to a major one in the second half.

In the 1920s Harana and Kundiman became more mainstream after performers such as Atang de la Rama, Jovita Fuentes, Conching
Rosal, Sylvia La Torre and Ruben Tagalog introduced them to a wider audience.

Original Pilipino Music

Original Pilipino music, now more commonly termed original Pinoy music, original Philippine music or OPM, originally referred
only to Philippine pop songs, particularly ballads, such as those popular after the collapse of its predecessor, the Manila Sound of
the late 1970s.

From its origin, OPM has been centered in Manila, where Tagalog and English are the dominant languages. Other ethnolinguistic
groups such as Visayan, Bikol and Kapampangan, despite making music in their native languages, have rarely been recognized as
OPM. Unusual cases include the Bisrock (Visayan rock music) song “Charing” by Davao band, 1017. Multiculturalism advocates
and federalists often associate the discrepancy to the Tagalog-centric cultural hegemony of Manila.Having successfully created a
subgenre of Philippine rock that they call “Bisrock”, the Visayans, by far, have the biggest collection of modern music in their
native language, with great contributions from Visayan bands Phylum and Missing Filemon.

From its origin, OPM has been centered in Manila, where Tagalog and English are the dominant languages. Other ethnolinguistic
groups such as Visayan, Bikol and Kapampangan, despite making music in their native languages, have rarely been recognized as
OPM. Unusual cases include the Bisrock (Visayan rock music) song “Charing” by Davao band, 1017. Multiculturalism advocates
and federalists often associate the discrepancy to the Tagalog-centric cultural hegemony of Manila.Having successfully created a
subgenre of Philippine rock that they call “Bisrock”, the Visayans, by far, have the biggest collection of modern music in their
native language, with great contributions from Visayan bands Phylum and Missing Filemon.
The country’s first songwriting competition, Metro Manila Popular Music Festival, was first established in 1977 and launched by
the Popular Music Foundation of the Philippines. The event featured many prominent singers and songwriters during its time. It was
held annually for seven years until its discontinuation in 1985. It was later revived in 1996 as the “Metropop Song Festival”,
running for another seven years before being discontinued in 2003 due to the decline of its popularity. Another variation of the
festival had been established called the Himig Handog contest which began in 2000, operated by ABS-CBN Corporation and its
subsidiary music label Star Records. Five competitions have been held so far starting in 2000 to 2003 and was eventually revived in
2013.

Unlike its predecessors, the contest has different themes which reflect the type of song entries chosen as finalists each year. In 2012,
the Philippine Popular Music Festival was launched and is said to be inspired by the first songwriting competition.

Pop Music
OPM pop has been regularly showcased in the live band scene. Groups such as Neocolours, Side A, Introvoys, The Teeth, Yano,
True Faith, Passage and Freestyle popularized songs that clearly reflect the sentimental character of OPM pop.
In the new millennium up to the 2010s, famous Filipino pop music artists included Sarah Geronimo, Erik Santos, Yeng Constantino,
Mark Bautista, KZ Tandingan and Christian Bautista, among many others.

Choir Music
Choral music has become an important part of Philippine music culture. It dates back to the choirs of churches that sing during mass
in the old days. In the middle of the 20th century, performing choral groups started to emerge and increasingly become popular as
time goes by. Aside from churches, universities, schools and local communities have established choirs.
Philippine choral arrangers like Robert Delgado, Fidel Calalang, Lucio San Pedro, Eudenice Palaruan among others have included
in the vast repertoires of choirs beautiful arrangements of OPM, folk songs, patriotic songs, novelty songs, love songs, and even
foreign songs.

The Philippine Madrigal Singers (originally the University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers) is one of the most famous choral
groups not only in the Philippines, but also worldwide. Winning international competitions, the group became one of the most
formidable choral groups in the country. Other award-winning choral groups are the University of Santo Tomas Singers, the
Philippine Meistersingers (Former Adventist University of the Philippines Ambassadors), the U.P. Singing Ambassadors and U.P.
Concert Chorus, among others.

The Philippines is known to have had the first hip-hop music scene in Asia since the early 1980s, largely due to the country's
historical connections with the United States where hip-hop originated.

THE LITERATURE OF POPULAR CULTURE

Literature broadly is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be
an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature,
much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment,
and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.

Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, diaries, memoir, letters, and
the essay. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other printed information on a particular
subject.

Popular culture, or pop culture, (literally: "the culture of the people") consists of the cultural elements that prevail (at least
numerically) in any given society, mainly using the more popular media, in that society's vernacular language and/or an
established lingua franca. It results from the daily interactions, needs and desires and cultural 'moments' that make up the everyday
lives of the mainstream. It can include any number of practices, including those pertaining to cooking, clothing, mass media and the
many facets of entertainment such as sports and literature. Popular culture often contrasts with a more exclusive, even elitist " high
culture".

• If one regards culture as a way of defining oneself (an extremely individualist approach), a culture needs to attract the
interest of people (potential members) and to persuade them to invest a part of themselves in it. People like to feel a part of
a group and to understand their cultural identity within that group, which tends to happen naturally in a small, somewhat
isolated community. Mass culture, however, lets people define themselves in relation to everybody else in mass society at
the level of a city, a country, an international community (such as a wide-spread language, a former colonial empire, a
religion...) or even of a whole planet.
• Pop culture finds its expression in the mass circulation of items from areas such as fashion, music, sport and film. The
world of pop culture had a particular influence on art from the early 1960s, through Pop Art.
• Literature of popular culture revolves entirely of beliefs, attitudes, ideas, images, film, and other aspect within the culture of
the society.
• In journalism, they use journalistic norms like newsworthiness, currency, human interest. The mass communication scholars
tabulate even when using content analysis, which is useful in locating trends, values, attitude, philosophies and many more.
Studies in Mass Communication enumerates, when quantification should be used towards explaining the meaning of its
significance. Literary scholars use literary norms on critical stances taken after themes are established, characters analyzed
implication and values read. Most of them use the methods based on customary to his discipline.
• Popular culture reveals the characteristics of modern society. Filipino pop culture is superficial in most cases, casting only
the people’s inclinations that spring from their fun-loving nature. Anyone can see most (if not all) of these elements on
 social media. This comes as no surprise as Filipino are the world’s top social media users, according to creative agencies
We Are Social and Hootsuite.

Hugot is Life

Hugot is basically the deep lingering emotions brought about by a person’s circumstance and experiences, usually from heartbreaks
and adulting. The term evolved into the practice of coming up with the saddest lines out of the mundane that evokes a particular
experience.
Memes, or humorous online content like images and videos, spurred the trend with which added context and illustration to
achieve the intended effect. Tagalog (major language in the capital) is often used but also comes with a mix of English or other
dialects.
Examples:
• COMMITMENT ang costume ko sa Halloween. Dun ka takot, di ba?
• Translation: I’ll dress up as COMMITMENT on Halloween. Everyone’s afraid of that, right?
• Pagsisid: Minsan parang pag-ibig. Kung kailan lumalalim, saka lumalamig.
• Translation: Diving is like love. The deeper you get, the colder it gets.

Popular culture comes and goes along with the shifting beliefs and activities. They’re technically inessential but they give color to
the ordinary and add flavor to the humdrum bustle of life. 

CULTURE
DIRECTIONS
The above cursory survey of areas of Philippine popular culture and the research done in them makes clear the fact that
although there seems to be a volume of available literature touching on popular culture and related topics, much of it is diffuse, and
not always focused on either the significance of the popularity of the cultural form, or the meaning of the cultural form that has
achieved such popularity. The tasks facing research in Philippine popular culture, therefore, include:
 
 Definition - A stable definition of "popular culture" in the Philippine context has to be reached. More than the choice of
topics that can be included under popular culture study, this also involves defining boundaries or overlaps with respect, to
other relatively established fields of inquiry (for example, mass communications, drama, literature) in terms of theory,
methods, and concerns.

 Review of Literature - There is a need for critical review and integration of all the related literature, to define the problems
of and possibilities for future research.

 Identification of Issues. Since popular culture in the Philippines was brought about mainly by the entry from the United
States of mass media into a culture already heavily American in orientation because of the colonial experience, discussion of
popular culture should consider the following and related issues:

 Commodified culture and consumerism, exemplified in the generation of false needs through
advertisements and the exposure to an alien lifestyle through forms of popular culture.

 The consumerism in the cultures it focuses on the aspect of production of everyday life as a source of
cultural meaning and expression as well as the constant alteration of the symbolic universe through these
practices of signification.

 Westernized taste and consciousness, or cultural imperialism and cultural socialization, through imported
films, television shows, publications, and popular song

 The mystification of Philippine social realities and the pacification of any feelings against current reality by
means of the legitimization of economic and political structures not only through the content of TV, radio,
film, and comics stories, but also through slogans, government advertising, programming, and the like.

 Identification of the "public. “The audience, the Populus, that makes culture popular rather than elite should be identified
in the concrete Philippine context.
 Definition of the popular writer - Considering the size of his audience, the popular writer is definitely a significant
intellectual.
 Identification of purpose - "Popular culture is power," and since it is not created by the people who "consume" it, who
does, and to identify its purpose, development and
 Deepening of inquiry into fields already explored - The preceding survey has shown that much of the work done to date
on popular culture has been survey work: the history of the field, its current state, its significance in Philippine life, perhaps
an evaluation. In these fields - film, radio, television, comics, magazines, - it is now necessary to start narrow field, in-depth
studies.
 Identification of other fields of inquiry - A few other fields not mentioned here have already been explored by one or two
individuals: popular arts, namely the ceramic and crocheted objects that the low-budget housewife buys with which to
decorate her home; popular languages, like sward speak, Taglish, the young slang; popular religiosity, e.g. the Sto. Niilo, the
icons hanging in jeepneys, the rites and rituals in Quiapo; food habits; disco culture.
 Popular Culture as a form of discourse serves as a potent force for persuasion and value-building and for the perception of
consciousness. In the Philippines today, as we have seen, it is largely available to the urban population in Metro Manila, the
primate city, and in he urban centers of education, planning and work. In the rural areas, ethnic culture dominates among the
tribal groups; folk culture among the rest. The latter, however, because of rural electrification and the transister radio, are
starting to be touched as well by popular culture. In the small, Third world, developing nation that is the Philippines, in
 which the majority are poor, the mass, the populus, popular culture is indeed power, and therefore demands systematic and
purposely attention.

The political economy of media

Political economy (PE) is an approach to studying media whose focus is attenuated towards the ways in which media is produced,
distributed and consumed, rather than on analysing the interpretations of the signs and symbols found within texts.
The combination of the terms ‘political’ and ‘economy’ which make up PE is an explicit reference to the fact that media texts are
produced within specific and historically contingent systems which are not merely an ideologically neutral form of exchange, but
are conditioned by a range of complex interactions between nation states, international organisations, legal institutions and
frameworks, cultural traditions and heritages, other organisations (such as media corporations), technologies, and economic
pressures.
In other words, PE focuses upon the ways in which politics and economics are not separate entities, as we often encounter them
within educational contexts, but that economics and politics are fields which are best understood as being entangled – meaning that
they are functionally inseparable – and that understanding elements of this entanglement is pivotal to understanding the way that
any society and culture works.
Social praxis is the unity of though and action. What you believe is what you do, Political economist sees research and action
inseparable. Theorist must intervene in light of social anomalies. Political Economic Theory is characterized by three social
processes. This process is a starting point in understanding how power and wealth constrains the production, distribution and
consumption of media.

Political economy of media is categorize into 3 social processes

• Commodification- This is the process of turning goods and services into a marketable product. Media has often been
commodified.
• Spatialization- These refers to the process of overcoming the constraints of space and time. In business it involves out
sourcing labor. This is most evident on how large corporations build factories in other countries to take advantage of cheap
labor. Spatialization also refers to the extension of corporate power through acquisition and strategic alliances. It extends a
company’s reach to a wider audience and gives them an advantage in distributing their media. Because who owns the
company says a lot of what they produce. Political economy theory considers this when interpreting messages.
• Structuration- This is based on the view that people make history but not on their own terms. They are forced to function a
category that social functions within a category that social institutions have placed.

Analysis On How Media Spreads Pop Culture and How it Affects The
Aspects Of Filipino Life
•Political-Economic Aspect
•Sociopolitical
How Does Media Spread Pop Culture?
 Media largely influences how we engage with pop culture because it is pop culture. Memes, trending topics, and
fandom communities are all examples of how pop culture has expanded into online spaces.
How Does Pop Culture Affect Filipino Lives in Political-Economic Aspect?
• Political - cutlure that is made popular by media can be very persuasive, and often works to change or influence
opinions when it comes to political views because of the abundance of ideas, thoughts, and opinions circulating
through the social media platform.
• Economic - They create the urge for a particular thing among the people and then procreate the thing. As popular
culture is fluid, it constantly entices the consumers with new goods as per the necessities of the consumer and it
keeps the market vibrant in most of the situations.
How Does It Affect The Sociopolitical Aspect of The Filipino Lives?

• In democracies, the media is fundamental to political life. It provides facts to allow us to be better informed about
the issues that matter to us. It provides criticism and debate to ensure that that information is tested and examined
from all points of view.
• The media greatly influences society. They inform people about what is happening. It permeates people's lives by
creating their own criteria and opinions. In this way the media moves the masses, creating different social
movements.

The Theory of the Netizen and Democratization of Media

The word netizen, though it has been used popularly in current times, is actually a word from the theory of Michael Hauben
(1996) is a corrupted term from the phrase "Net Citizen".

According to Hauben, as netizens, geographical separation in the actual reality is replaced by existence in the same virtual space
called the internet.

More so, along with the power of using the internet is the power of the reporter given to the netizen for a netizen could actually
be a source of primary information regarding certain topics or issues. Hauben profoundly cautions that the internet can,
nevertheless, be a "source of opinion" though he said that a netizen can train him/her self to discern real from fabricated
information.

This prophecy will soon be reflected in Graeme Turner's book called the Demotic Turn (2010) but in a certain extreme way for
even news reports are often bent to suit the "infotainment" genre favored by the general audience.

What is infotainment?

Infotainment is a type of media that tries to combine educational or useful information and entertaining content. Infotainment is
designed to help promote the acquisition of specific information, skills or trades in a format that appeals to users. Infotainment
usually refers to televised news content and is considered a disparaging term because it implies a contrast in quality and
respectability between this type of content and true news.

According to Turner, there is a rise of opinionated news as reporters tend to bend the news to the stories they often favor. A
concrete example of this is tabloidization, or sensationalizing small news items and making a big deal out of such.

What is Tabloidization?

Tabloidization is the change in the format of newspaper into the tabloid form and enhanced focus on entertainment and
celebrities deviating from the serious issues. The term tabloid originated from the tablet of medicine which figurative meant a
small dosage of any matter or issues and hence.

Agenda theory

The Agenda-Setting theory of McCombs and Shaw can simplified by saying that he media influences people to focus its
attention on something under a certain agenda. It can make people think that something is actually happening when
something is not, or give special attention or focus on certain subjects or topics and hype it to make an impression that
something big is going on.
In the 1970s and 80s, when, the newspapers and television outlets had a lot of control over what was considered the
important topics of the day. Getting news onto TV or the newspapers was a way of giving authenticity and importance to an
issue.
First proposed in 1972 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, professors at the University of North Carolina, the
agenda-setting theory has 2 core assumptions:
1. Media Controls Reality: The mainstream media does not report the “reality”, it only acts as a filter allowing some aspects
of the “reality” to reach their audience while blocking others.
2. Media Gives Topics Importance: The more the media reports on a certain issue, the more likely is the public to perceive
that particular issue as being of greater importance than others. 
McCombs and Shaw (1972) in their formulation defined two levels of agenda setting by the mass media:
• First-Level Agenda Setting – This is the process through which the media filters events as being worthy of being reported.
It is characterized by object salience. An object in agenda setting theory is the thing towards which our attention is directed.
Salience refers to its impotence relative to other objects. Thus, the more the media reports on a particular issue, the greater
its “object salience”.
• Second-Level Agenda Setting – This is the process through which the media attempts to influence how people think about
certain issues, having already articulated what to think about in the first level.