Ang tanong, eh naging "unique" nga ba??
to my ears - yes. because it carries our sensibilities, and at times our language, sometimes even "native ethnic" instruments. your mileage may vary.
the unique card is subjective. rock and roll? listen to the blues - rock and roll started as blues electrified and given a more danceable beat. heck, black people then firmly thought that it was stolen by whites, probably why little richard says that he's the true king of rock and roll, not elvis.
and so on...little changes here and there (not even necessarily unique)....and after a while, you have "American Junk", which to me is very much more a true expression of the history of OPM than many of the "world music" sounds here in the Philippines - because, you know, you can hear that all across the Asean, too. it's not "unique" either.
My point is...what do you mean by unique? something mind bogglingly different? you'd need whole generations, probably centuries from the sun source to get that. as it is, Filipino music is music made by Filipinos. anything else is subject to interpretation.
I would rather keep on supporting all of OPM and encourage them to experiment to really come out with something. putting people down because they are imitators is just plain wasting time. kung ganun yun, eh di i-put down mo si Elvis for imitating Dean Martin, si John Lennon and Paul McCartney for imitating Elvis and all the other first-gen pioneers, and the Eraserheads for liking the Beatles.
Or maybe you should put them down, para mas lumakas loob nila to prove you wrong.
But for me, I enjoy going to a gig here in Manila, listening to some band cover a song from some band in America...and am pleasantly surprised that later, I'll hear them come out with a song that's all their own, and a sound to go with it. Or maybe, I'll hear some young kids come out with something that's everything they've heard, and now they're doing it their way. Either which way, it's fun. It's Pinoy, and I don't worry so much about all this colonialism, kasi yung kumakanta sa harapan ko, pinoy.
and if I'm really lucky, I'll hear someone like Joey Ayala, whose lyrics, at times, transcends all this Filipino nitpicking, and simply talks about being human. And that's not original - that's universal. And it was while listening to him that I realized that what makes Filipino music, American Music and British Music is simply the adjective that speaks about their location. But in the end, real music doesn't care, as long as you enjoy it.
