PH Embassy, Filipino Community Celebrate Filipino Musical Talent in Japan
Consul General Robespierre Bolivar of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo delivers the keynote remarks, where he called OPM “the voice of the Filipino people” (Tokyo PE photo)
TOKYO 06 December 2018 — 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, Japan on 20 October 2018.
In his remarks, Consul General Bolivar 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 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’, respectively.
For the last 10 years, the contest 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. END
For more information, visit This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./ www.tokyope.dfa.gov.ph/ www.tokyo.philembassy.net/ https://www.facebook.com/PHLinJapan/
Consul General Robespierre Bolivar and executive committee Chair, Ms Irene Kaneko, (leftmost) award Plaques of Appreciation to the various Filipino community organizations and performers. (Tokyo PE photo)