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PCIJ -special music report
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Date Posted: 05:28:04 08/17/05 Wed
In reply to:
PCIJ report on music singing contests
's message, "PPS/SFAS : T H E -N E W- C I N D E R E L L A S p1" on 05:24:22 08/17/05 Wed
Subject : P U B L I C E Y E —
" T H E N E W C I N D E R E L L A S "
================ part two =================
A music scene/singing contest article from the ..
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)
SHOULD WE then dismiss these endless talent searches as having nothing good to contribute? Obviously, although they shamelessly follow the template established by "American Idol," these searches are part of an even larger trend called Reality Television where real people are made to perform extraordinary tasks to prove their worth and win the grand prize. Still, is there hope that these talent searches could yield the best results in terms of discovering noteworthy acting and musical geniuses over and beyond the superficiality of mass popularity?
In a way, more doors are open to achieve success — regardless of how the word has been redefined. It is so much easier to reach stardom nowadays since the traditional concept of fate and destiny has been replaced by media's more comprehensible and predictable machinery. Showbiz, too, is the great equalizer; it does not matter if you are from UP, La Salle, Ateneo, or some school that the Department of Education has not even heard of. After all, most of the biggest stars are dropouts, so who needs formal education? All the teachers in the country could well migrate to Texas and these kids (and their parents) would probably not even notice, busy as they are making a grab for endorsements that will pave the way to their envisioned life of ease.
Make no mistake, their lives can and will change once they become stars. From taking a padyak in Tondo or Laguna, they will be going to their rackets in SUVs, and living in photogenic homes that will be featured in Yes! Magazine. They will probably acquire the usual trappings of the profitable media career: Technomarine, then Cartier or Rolex watches, a collection of sneakers worth five digits a pair, clothes by designers like Inno Sotto. For many, it is this way of living that is the goal, and not the profession itself.
Some of these youngsters do possess charisma and the drive to be exceptional. But the careers they are being offered have got nothing to do with improving their craft; neither is career longevity factored in their newfound options in life. Everything centers on making the most out of an opportunity and milking as much money as they can out of each moment the spotlight is on them. But to dream, believe, and survive require more than good old guts or a stage mother reviving her thwarted ambitions through her child. The quest for stardom goes far deeper than wanting to find the pot of gold at the end of any neon rainbow.
Today's teen idols are only as good and as saleable as long as they remain young and new. In a globalized media culture, the buzzword has always been newness. Excitement is always equated with the latest-not necessarily better or best, but simply the newest. In a fast-paced world where the speed of technological developments outpaces that of rational thought, trends are no longer spontaneous reactions brought about by social and economic factors. Trends are created in order to keep the wheels of business turning. The frenzy that accompanies a sensation is the product of media manipulation-the entertainment industry has learned the trick of creating buzz and birthing trends.
This is very obvious the creation of instant stars. Never before have media personalities been diminished to the status of commodities integral to the selling and ratings game in the television and music industries. Talent searches are no longer sincere efforts to mine golden discoveries but rather to undermine enthusiastic and even deluded young talents into products that will be shaped, packaged, and sold as long as a trend lasts. Note, for instance, that today's singing champs have a glaring common denominator about their performances as well as their voices: they are all belters whose concept of good singing is hitting and sustaining throat-shredding, lung-busting high notes enough to shatter eardrums and make the audience gasp in amazement.
Unlike before when "Tawag ng Tanghalan" produced a Nora Aunor or "Ang Bagong Kampeon" yielded a Regine Velasquez, the speed-star system produces too many names that will have no recall value not unless they become bigger than the studios that discovered them. And that is a near impossible feat.
As it is, not a single one among the new breed of popular singers can boast of a signature style that made the Kuh Ledesmas, Zsa Zsa Padillas, Martin Nieveras, and even the Pilita Corraleses of the past. Once in a while there is a Paolo Santos, but by and large all the new recruits sound alike — cover versions of Western vocalists who they consistently and persistently mime all the way down to the flicking of the finger while grasping the wireless microphone.
- end of article -
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PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
http://www.pcij.org/
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