Filipino indie band makes it to top 10 of Southeast Asia band search
By Janice M. Cave
BALI, Indonesia, June 24 (PNA) -- A Filipino indie band has
made it to the top 10 finalists of the first-ever search for the best
band in Southeast Asia.
The group called Pancake80 has been included in the roster of
indie bands that will battle it out with nine others from different
countries in the region.
Rafizah Amran, head of the Ancillary Income Group of AirAsia,
said this project aims to connect musicians from all over Southeast Asia
and eventually, penetrate the international music market.
”It’s one of our efforts to break into international audience
and our interest is to bring up musicians from the ASEAN... we use music
as a tool to cut across barriers,” she said in an interview.
AirAsia is a Malaysian budget airline and one of the sponsors
of the event together with MTV Asia.
The winner will be determined through the biggest number of
text votes received.
From the opening date last May 23 until the closing last June
13, Amran said they received a total of 2,575 music videos from indie
bands from all 10 nations in Southeast Asia.
Groups from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia submitted
the most number of entries.
Indonesia got three slots in the top 10 (Golden Dragon, SanDra,
Muztava), Malaysia (Stone Bay, Bizharo) and Vietnam with two (Black
Infinity, Winfield), Thailand (Sixty-nine), the Philippines (Pancake80),
and Brunei (Karacoma) with one each.
Amran said the winning group will come up with its own album
while all finalists are already assured of being included in a separate
record label that will be produced sometime this year.
“This is a sustainable effort. Even when the competition is
over, we’ll continue to assist the bands,” she said.
Pancake80 is composed of six members. According to the group’s
profile, they play a combination of alternative, rock and roll, and new
wave music from the '80s. Their musical influences include The Beatles,
Led Zeppelin and New Wave artists.
They have already won several award-giving music competitions,
including the Grand Prix Champion Yamaha Asian Beat Philippines.
The winner will be flown to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this July
for a concert. (PNA)
LAP/JMC
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