Philippine Embassy, Filipino Community Celebrate Filipino Musical Talent

Photo courtesy of Philippine Embassy, Tokyo

TOKYO – Consul General Robespierre Bolivar of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo praised the Filipino people’s world-renowned talent for music in his keynote remarks at the 14th Utawit: Himig ng Pinoy at Hapon, Isang Pagdiriwang held in Tokyo on October 20. In his remarks, the Consul General noted that “many Filipinos are born singers” and that “Original Pilipino Music (OPM) is the voice of the Filipino people and an excellent way to promote mutual understanding between the Philippines and Japan.”

Eight Filipino singers from all over Japan performed various OPM classics, as well as some popular Japanese songs. The artists who performed were selected via singing competitions conducted by Filipino community organizations from Tokyo, Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kanto, Iwate, and Kyoto.

Utawit is now on its 14th year and brings together amateur singers from the Filipino community in Japan for a celebration of OPM and J-Pop. The term Utawit is a blending of the words “uta” and “awit,” the Japanese and Filipino words for “song.”

For the last 10 years, Utawit donated proceeds from their events to the Gawad Kalinga-Sibol, Child and Youth Development. In June 2018, the Utawit Executive Committee turned over the proceeds of the past year’s activities to Guagua Sibol School in Pampanga as part of their commitment to building the Filipino youth through education.

(Photo caption):  Consul General Robespierre Bolivar and ExecutiveCommittee Chair Irene Kaneko, (leftmost) award Plaques of Appreciation to thevarious Filipino community organizations and performers.