You have to hand it to Mei Bastes. A host, a stylist, and an events management specialist (among many other things, of course), Mei is also known for her Meiday! Meiday! series of gigs, which champion and support the local indie music scene. And after a little hiatus, Mei is back to make sure the scene continues to flourish.
She has just put up DOPE MNL, which seeks to expand its repertoire by including all genres of local independent music. It’s already produced three gigs in just the first month of its birth, and now it’s about to reignite the music scene with PopFest.
Admittedly patterned after the NYC Popfest, this “local version” promises to be as (or even more) fun and crazy as the international original. In collaboration with Dr. Martens Philippines, PopFest is happening Saturday, June 2, kicking off at 4pm in the open air of The Fort Strip Plaza.
It will feature music from Nyko Maca and Gafeiria, Pedicab, Ang Bandang Shirley, Ciudad, Sell Our Door, Bee Eyes, The Wilderness, The Strangeness, Twin Lobster, The Discoball, and Misyonaryo, plus DJ sets by FLUXXE’s Kiko Escora and Gian Romano.
The best thing about the whole thing is that it’s for free. Now you have no excuse to not head over to The Fort on Saturday. Niño Mark M. Sablan, Contributor
Because DOPE MNL shines a light on all genres of local independent music. Let’s go back to the basic heavy metal sound, babe? Feat. COG, EarthMover, Talata, The Butchercons, The Shocking Details etc. June 21, BSIDE Malugay St. Makati
The gang invades Time Roofdeck for Nomad Massive. In the photos: Steve Tirona, Sarah Morales, Archie Geotina, Mara Garcia, Kiko Escora, Marita Ganse, Otto Feraren, Mei Bastes, Xtina Superstar, Hannah Cruz
Filipino band Sandwich plays Mayday, one of the songs from Marie Jamora’s Cinemalaya entry- Ang Nawawala. The song debuted at the last Meiday at The Collective on March 10, 2012.
This performance was taken at Cafe Saguijo on May 21, 2012 and was dedicated to the May birthday celebrants- Mei Bastes of Meiday and Aia De Leon of Imago.
“If you don’t do what you love, you might go mad.” This was what one of Mei Bastes’s collaborators commented on her decision to continue having independent music gigs.
Poster by JP Cuison
This June, her new project Dope MNL launches the Manila Popfest, an independent music evening which provides a glimpse at some of what part of Manila’s independent music scene has to offer. It will be held at the Fort Strip Open Plaza on June 2 starting at 3 p.m. Admission is free and features, among others, Nyko Maca and Gafiera, Ciudad, Pedicab, Ang Bandang Shirley, Twin Lobster, and DJ sets from Kiko Escora and Gian Romano.
Bastes, founder of a music production, has not stopped doing independent music gigs. Even with her new day job (as an events management specialist for an agency), she says she decided to create a new production called Dope MNL, itself inspired by similar (and more hip-hop oriented) gigs across the region. Its first three stagings were held at Saguijo in Makati, and while the first Dope MNL gig featured hip-hop, the others featured different genres and artists.
Inspired by the NYC Popfest, a multi-day event in which local singer-songwriter duo Outerhope recently performed, Manila Popfest is meant to raise awareness of the independent music scene and the importance of supporting it. Hopefully, its organizers believe this would be the first of an annual series of events highlighting what independent music has to offer.
“The [independent music] scene is much stronger than before,” Bastes said, adding that even the more prominent rock bands nowadays such as Itchyworms and Sandwich had their start as independent bands themselves.
The Manila Popfest gig is being backed by Doc Martens Philippines, with additional support from Phillips.
With the recent overseas trips of independent bands Taken By Cars (to the SXSW event in Austin, Texas), Outerhope (to the NYC and San Francisco Popfests), and Wilderness (to Bandung, Indonesia), local independent groups are finding new live audiences. New technology, especially social media, has allowed bands and other performers to make new friends and fans both here and elsewhere.
And while mainstream popular music tends to take a more homogenous shape, indie groups are able to explore different sounds and get noticed for it. In fact, such growing prominence has led a young German ethnomusicologist to town to explore the indie scene and write a doctoral dissertation on the nexus between Philippine independent music and new technologies. Monika Schoop, whose blog has become a record of her adventures exploring part of the Manila independent music scene, told GMA News Online, “I guess that Mei has a very good sense of which bands go together. She knows how to put up a good lineup.”
Supporting the music is what the Manila Popfest’s organizers hope to achieve. And perhaps, with time, more people would come to know Philippine independent music for its vibrancy, variety, and creativity. –KG, GMA News
Ren Aguila wrote about the independent productions Folk U, Meiday, and Admit One for GMA News Online.
When was the first time you fell in love with a local rock band? Or when was the first time you wore a pair of shoes and felt supreme? Doc Martens Philippines and DOPE MNL bring back the frenetic feeling of falling in love for the first time with POPFEST, a music festival set to prove that those who say our local music scene is dead have been looking at all the wrong places.
Reigniting that love affair with music
The Doc Martens brand ambassadors are well known fashion faces, Agyness Deyn and Ash Stymest.
Forget dimly lit bars and smoke-filled rooms that refuse audible conversation and appreciation of sound. Forget having to scream over the stereo system to order another round of beer before turning to ask the person next to you, “Oh, who’s this playing again?” POPFEST aims to reignite the festive feel of concerts from past decades where you are given hard-hitting music experiences that you take to bed with you when you go home, memories that will grip you awake no matter how many years have passed. Think something like Woodstock but staged in your neighbor’s backyard. POPFEST, patterned after its New York namesake, will be at once bigger and more intimate.
And who better to carry out that promise than Doc Martens—which remains first and forever for many music-lovers— and DOPE MNL, a powerhouse production with “a keen ear cocked to listen to all genres of local independent music.”
“DOPE MNL is my new baby,” says Mei Bastes, whom people remember from the wildly celebrated Meiday! Meiday! series of free gigs. As the local indie music scene continues to expand its influence and reach, DOPE MNL couldn’t have come at a better time.
Mark your calendars: June 2 at The Fort Strip Plaza
Nobody forgets a Mei Bastes party just as nobody forgets their first pair of DMs. So if you want something different and something that will last longer than last night’s hangover, strap on your boots and head on to The Fort Strip Plaza on June 2, Saturday. The festivities will stretch on from 3:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., so have extra rounds of attitude ready.
And just so you know that local music isn’t dead, here’s a line-up that will blast your elitist indifference away: Nyko Maca and Gafeira, Pedicab, Ang Bandang Shirley, Ciudad, Sell Our Door, Bee Eyes, The Wilderness, The Strangeness, Twin Lobster and The Discoball. Catch this mix of new flavor and music mainstays alike in an open-ground type of concert at POPFEST.
DJ sets by Kiko Escora and Gian Romano will follow as a throwback to Fluxxe parties.
POPFEST will be fun, fierce and free. Don’t blame us if you get that royal feeling of falling hard. Instead, thank music and those who still believe that it can thrive.
