Photo shows Napoleon Nazareno, Smart President and CEO (right), with PhilPop People’s Choice winner James Leyte (left) during the 1st Philippine Popular Music Festival at the PICC.

[18 July 2012] An engineer’s song expressing his reservations about approaching a long-lost sweetheart proved resonant to mobile subscribers, who voted it the Smart People’s Choice in the first Philippine Popular Music Festival.

James Leyte’s song “Brown ” – referring to the color of his ex-girlfriend’s hair – garnered the highest number of text votes among 14 entries during the two-week voting period for the Smart People’s Choice Award. Leyte received P200,000 and a trophy by renowned sculptor Ramon Orlina during awarding ceremonies held on July 14 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Ryan Cayabyab, executive director of the PhilPop Music Foundation which organized the songwriting competition, said Brown’s distinctive rhythm helped it connect with voters.

“It is unique in that it has touches of reggae and rap. The use of a complex lyric rhythm is what makes it an exciting hybrid. This unique blend of rhythm with a very infectious melodic chorus-hook is what made it win,” he said.

“I think everyone related to my experience. We’ve all had former lovers and when we see them again, we just don’t know what to do,” the 27-year-old Leyte said.

The song got nearly 40 percent of the total votes sent via text from July 1 to 12.

“The active participation of our subscribers in the text voting component of PhilPop shows the high level of support for local songwriters and original Filipino music,” said Smart President and Chief Executive Officer Napoleon Nazareno, who presented Leyte with the Smart People’s Choice Award.

“We are happy to have given Filipinos the opportunity to choose their PhilPop favorite. Through a simple text, subscribers were given a voice in this prestigious competition,” he added.

Meanwhile, Smart’s Wireless Consumer Division Head Emmanuel Lorenzana said: “Smart will continue its efforts in promoting original Filipino compositions. Bringing Filipino music closer to our subscribers is one of the ways by which we encourage people to ‘live more.’”

Smart co-presented the PhilPop festival with other major companies like Maynilad Water, MERALCO, and PLDT. Smart’s chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan chairs the PhilPop Foundation, while Smart’s chief wireless advisor Orlando Vea is one of the executive directors.

The festival launched last February collected a record-breaking 3,000 song entries from Filipino music makers here and abroad. The entry list was trimmed down to 14 through a judging process supervised by Cayabyab. All 14 songs are featured in an Ivory Records CD which is available in music stores nationwide. 

Leyte (leftmost) sings his heart out with local act Brownman Revival at the 1st PhilPop Music Festival.

Aside from Leyte, three other big winners were recognized during the awards night. A board of judges declared Karl Vincent Villuga’s “Bawat Hakbang” (interpreted by Mark Bautista and the Akafellas) the festival’s grand winner, and awarded him 1 million pesos.

In second place was “Tayo Tayo Lang” by Ronaldo Sorioso (performed by former Sugarfree lead vocalist Ebe Dancel), followed by “Kontrabida” by Soc Villanueva (interpreted by actor and singer Sam Concepcion). Sorioso and Villanueva took home P500,000 and P250,000, respectively.

Leyte, who had not joined a songwriting competition prior to PhilPop, sang his entry with Brownman Revival during awards night.

“It was my older sister Gen who urged me to join PhilPop. She’s really supportive of me. I said to myself, why not? I believe in my music and thought that it was my time to shine,” Leyte said.

While he has not received formal music training, Leyte has been writing songs since his senior year in high school. He counts among his musical influences The Beatles, Maroon 5, Jason Mraz, and local acts Eraserheads and Rivermaya.

Leyte thanked Smart for supporting local music makers like him, and expressed his gratitude for Smart subscribers who voted for his song. “Your efforts are greatly appreciated. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.”

He also gave a word of advice to other songwriters. “You just have to be patient and believe in what you do.”

For his part, Cayabyab has this to say to aspiring music makers: “Keep writing songs that talk about your unique personal experiences. Keep them simple, sincere, and easy to sing. It is time for OPM to level up.” [END]