Visayan pop
In the 2010s, with the launch of the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign, a new crop of Vispop talents renewed the industry's hope in the genre.
A November 2022 study by Mesiona et al. credits the balak, a traditional Cebuano art form, for the poetic qualities of the genre.
Although it has largely fallen out of use among younger generations of Cebuanos, who deem the art form "cheesy", its legacy can be felt in the eloquence and sweetness of Vispop.
[1][2] Lorenzo "Insoy" Niñal, a member of the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign committee, said in 2019, "We have different languages in the Visayas.
[4][5][2][6] In an interview with Kara Angan of Billboard Philippines, Boholano singer-songwriter Joseph Gara identified a "distinct Bisaya melody" common to Vispop songs.
[10] On the other hand, singer-songwriter Shoti, who is known for mixing Cebuano and English in his discography, said that he simply wants his songs to stand out from music that is wholly in either language.
[12][13] Mesiona et al. identify contemporary Vispop lyrics' poetic qualities as the legacy of balak (spoken love poetry) culture in Cebu.
[14] Although she has not written any songs in Cebuano, the popular singer-songwriter Mrld credits the Vispop genre for molding her emotionally resonant lyricism and folksy artistry.
Its production began to flourish in the early 1900s, owing to the rise of zarzuelas (Spanish-style musical plays) written in Cebuano.
[18][19] In the 1970s, Levi Celerio translated "Rosas" into Tagalog, removing the non-lexical vocables "ayay", "ayayay", "tigadong", and "tikadong" from Cabajar's original Cebuano lyrics.
[18] In an opinion piece, journalist Ruben Almendras remarked that the song lost its "oomph" and cadence as a result.
[17] Missing Filemon, a band described by Nile Villa of Rappler as "one of the pillars of the Bisrock community", released their debut album in 2003.
[1] In 2009, the prolific composer Jude Gitamondoc pitched the idea of the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign, a contest for original compositions written in Cebuano, to Ian Zafra, Lorenzo "Insoy" Niñal, and Cattski Espina of Artists and Musicians Marketing Cooperative (Artist Ko), a creative collective based in Cebu.
[25] In 2017, the Filipino-American artist Karencitta released the single "Cebuana", a dance pop song with lyrics written in a mix of Cebuano and English.
[26] The 2020s saw a significant increase of Vispop hits in mainstream Philippine music, most of which are written in a mix of Cebuano and other languages, primarily English and Tagalog.
In September 2021, Maris Racal released a pop-rock single about heartbreak titled "Asa Naman" (lit.
In an August 2024 interview with Juno Reyes of Rappler, Shoti shared that he was shocked to hear the audience singing along to the Cebuano lyrics as well when he performed the song in Manila, assuming that they were only familiar with the English chorus that went viral.
"[11] In October 2022, Gitamondoc alluded to "Manila organizers[...] gearing up their machinery to stage multiple music festivals during Sinulog Week", and urged Cebuanos to stand by the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign despite their lack of "clout" and funding.
"[30] James Reid, co-founder of Careless, issued an apology to Cebuano music acts The Wonggoys, Three Legged Men, The Sundown, and Sepia Times on Instagram.
Eventscape Manila, one of the festival's producers, issued another statement blaming the removal of Cebuano acts from the lineup on inclement weather and logistical difficulties.
Angan suggested that the incident illustrates how the cultural, economic, and social divide between Manila and the Visayas and Mindanao regions manifests in all aspects, even music.
[28] In June 2023, the multilingual P-Pop boy group Alamat released "Day and Night", with lyrics in Cebuano, English, and Tagalog.
In an interview, Echarri said, "We wanted to show how Bisaya people are with our language with how we express our emotions[...]," adding that the two hoped to normalize using Cebuano in songs.
