Manila Sound - History

History

Manila Sound is typified and was popularized by the pop rock band Hotdog with its many hit singles, "Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko" ("You Are the Miss Universe Of My Life"), "Panaginip" ("Dream"), "Langit Na Naman" ("Heaven Once Again"), "O Lumapit Ka" ("Oh, Come Closer") and "Bitin Sa Iyo" ("Left Hanging Over You"), among others. The name "Manila Sound" may have been derived from Hotdog's hit single "'Manila'", which has come to epitomize this genre. Manila Sound is characterized by catchy melodic phrases. In its later period, Manila Sound was dominated by the disco mania that swept the Philippines, led by groups such as VST & Co., The Boyfriends and Hagibis, among others. Alternately described as "the marshmallow sound", Manila Sound generated a string of calculated radio hits by groups such as Cinderella, VST & Co., Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society, Florante, Rico J. Puno, Sharon Cuneta, and many others. Manila Sound's unprecedented and meteoric appeal provided viability to a Philippine recording industry that until then had relied on cover versions and imitation of foreign hits to entice consumer acceptance. Unfortunately in its later years, formula-addled lyrical bias toward camp humor and parody eventually caused the Manila Sound to devolve into an explicitly theatrical, if not juvenile, sub-genre as exemplified by Hagibis (a parody of the Village People) and The Boyfriends, until it diminished in the late 1970s under a wave of disco and dance-oriented hits from American films such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Footloose. But perhaps more importantly, by the early 1980s, disco had waned in popularity, mirroring disco's serious backlash and decline that occurred earlier in the United States. Moreover, musical tastes had changed, moving away from soft rock into newer musical forms, particularly adult contemporary, and to a lesser extent, punk rock and New Wave, and radio airplay reflected these changes.

Manila Sound's laid-back and unpretentious musical style gave way to the intricate, multi-layered, and sometimes symphonic arrangements of OPM (Original Pilipino Music) that dominated popular, radio-friendly Philippine music starting in the late 1970s up until the 1990s. OPM, spawned initially and heavily influenced by the annual Metro Manila Popular Music Festival, emerged as radio favorites. Two of OPM's early and highly successful releases were the songs "Anak" by folk rock singer-songwriter Freddie Aguilar, and "Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika" by pianist/composer/conductor Ryan Cayabyab, both of whom produced a new generation of Original Pilipino Music, represented by artists such as Kuh Ledesma, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Basil Valdez, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera and later, Regine Velasquez.

A resurgence in interest in the Manila Sound in recent years has yielded several compilation albums. In 2006, the Apo Hiking Society relaunched their retro hits in a double-CD package, coupled with reinterpretations of each by Manila's young alternative bands. Riding on the appeal of this revival, The Best of Manila Sound: Hopia Mani Popcorn was released the same year, featuring interpretations of a number of classic Manila Sound hits. The Best of Manila Sound: Hopia Mani Popcorn 2 followed in 2008.