Friday, January 11, 2008 No text voting for Cebu Pop
ORGANIZERS of the Cebu Pop Music Festival took out the Texters’ Choice award from this year’s Visayan song-writing contest, after they ran out of time to produce the compact disc of the 12 finalists’ entries so these could be aired on the radio.
Still, spectators of the 28th music festival can look forward to a performance of the internationally acclaimed University of the Visayas chorale and the attendance of some show business personalities such as John Prats, Piolo Pascual, Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson.
The awards will be handed out on Jan. 18.
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts has given P211,000 for the annual song-writing contest, among the highlights of the Sto. Nino fiesta celebration, said project director Philogene Florita in a press conference yesterday.
Four new composers made it to the final 12 in this year’s competition, he added.
Since 2005, the festival has included a Texters’ Choice award as one way to promote appreciation of the songs. To help listeners make their choices, the finalists’ entries were repeatedly played on air.
“But there is no demo CD (this year), so ipasintabi usa nato ang (so we will have to forgo the) texters’ choice because it does not serve its purpose,” said Florita.
So far, the compilation of songs from the 25th Pop Music Festival, where “Bakakon ka Diay” composed by Lauro Flores grabbed the grand prize, remains the top-selling album of the group. (AIV)
