Shining the light on Dumaguete OPM
It's hospitable, it's centrally located, it's got budding music talent and it's not in Manila.
It's Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental, which is kicking off the Dagsa Festival this weekend. Meant to showcase homegrown musicians, the two-day fest is part of the City's Sandurot Festival which runs from Nov. 9 to 15. The Sandurot Festival celebrates the innate friendliness of the people of Dumaguete.
All-OPM livestreaming site, Radio Republic, is organizing the two-day Dagsa celebration with the help of the local government.
"We realize that a lot of things not only in music but also in culture tend to be Manila-centric," explained Ron Titular, chief operating officer of Radio Republic. "The fact that Dumaguete is centrally located, geographically speaking, gives us the opportunity to bring attention to what's going on down South."
Deserves to be heard
He said that the festival aims to expose the music and events outside of Manila that don't get proper exposure in the mainstream media.
"We recognize that there are talents outside of Manila that deserve to be heard," he said.
"It goes hand-in-hand with our mission to discover and re-discover OPM. We then get to inform Manilans about this nice hospitable city down Negros Oriental that's a lot easier to get to than the more remote destinations in the country."
Fest sked
The main festival gets going on Nov. 9 at the Father Louis Chauvet Hall, St. Paul's University with "Muchikahan," the live music show on Radio Republic hosted by Ryan Cayabyab and Jay Durias which airs every Tuesday night.
The Dagsa weekend segment will feature new artists including budding talents from Dumaguete City and the surround Negros localities.
An all night street party will cap the festival's second day with live performances by DJs Red-I and Soulflower, Tropical Depression, Gruppo Tribale, Artstrong, Quest, Pedicab, Sandwich and Rico Blanco. A pyrotechnics show will conclude the evening revelry.
This year's Dagsa Music Festival is also a dry-run for a bigger musical event being planned for 2013.
