to the people who say that they are helping, you are only looking at it in a very small scale. you don't know the impact of these celebrities in provinces. try to see this picture ... i grew up in a small town, there's only tv and radio. not much choice when it comes to entertainment.. pros: simple laid back life much focus on meaningful things. cons: less exposure.. but that's alright coz we had great bookstores, one yupangco store, good local cuisines no franchise fast junk food. we had everything we need. when i got bored with tv and wanted to learn more... i took books, cds, cassettes, vinyl records, guitar, cooking with my mom as a past time. there were indian sellers here with enough collection of great music... beatles, hendrix, steely dan, led zeppelin, dire straits, zappa etc. there was a market for that... it was a healthy scene for art and music. now it is gone! im back in my hometown and it doesn't feel like home anymore... it's totally destroyed by media. you know why? i go to a cd store, what do i get? artista crap albums and american trash, i go to a bookstore, artista magazines, fhm, crap! maybe if you live in manila, it's an advantage, coz you might get hired. but how many good musicians and sound engineers get hired? around 10 to 30? how many young musicians are influenced by stupid celebrities nationwide? millions! ever wondered why a lot of good musicians before come from provinces? coz they had great teachers. now kids look up to celebrities who can't even act or sing. so the great teachers lost their jobs... they flew to manila or just went abroad to make a living. that market was destroyed by media.
but again even if we erase artistas from the picture, i still don't think it would make much of a difference, our level of musicianship is not yet that high due to a lot of factors. colonial mentality, no support from the government, geography... class consciousness, dialect barriers, regional differences, etc... but these could be good sources of inspiration, it's a shame no one writes songs about them. reality, rape, child labor, politics, social awareness, world issues, in a deeper sense. or maybe someone does he just doesn't have a market. what a boring scene... i'll just sleep till someone great pops out. i'd rather support the filipino traditional musicians than these wannabes in the market now.