With music blasting from the School of Design and Arts (SDA) lobby up to 12th floor SDA Cafeteria, the College welcomed the “Best of Benilde @ 30” Music and Arts festival through beats and harmonies during the “Electronic Music Stage,” “Cafe Jam,” and “Plug In” last May 18.
Photos by Denise Paule
In an interview with The Benildean, Music Production student Chris Sta. Romana shared how he targets a wider audience through electronic indie-pop like his song, Ink & Paper, which is on Spotify.
“I feel like Benildeans are not afraid to wear their heart on their sleeves and are open to possibilities and new ideas,” Sta. Romana said.
“I would say make sure to enjoy yourself as you go along in your journey with music. Never forget that music is about having fun and connecting with people—never lose sight of that ideal,” he added.
Meanwhile, Music Production student Yuan Estrada (Zephyr) believes that Benilde has a good way of solely promoting its very own artists by exposing them to public performances. Estrada focuses on Future bass and Lo-fi stuff styles, or “low fidelity” where it combines jazz and hip-hop tunes to create soft or calm sounds that somehow resonates with his own stage name.
Photos by Denise Paule
The other 15 artists such as Benildean alumnus and Film Score Composer Jorge Wieneke V (SimilarObjects), musical artist Apex Chuidian (Floating Sound Nation), alumnus Zeon Gomez (U-Pistol), and Music Production student Moe Cabral (ｙｏｕｎｇｓｌｅｅｐｙｂｏｉ), also spinned their own sets.
Photos by Denise Paule
At the SDA Cafeteria, 10 other artists entertained the students gathered during the “Cafe Jam,” namely Ang Bagong Luto ni Enriquez, GMA music artist Not Informed, OPM band Jensen and the Flips, singer-songwriter Ena Mori, and musical group Banna Harbera—consisting of Yzabel Torres, Benildean alumni Jake Masigan, Theo Blanch, Patrick Felipe, and Josh Planas.
Saving the best for last, the first day of the Music and Arts festival ended the day with “Plug-In” concert where students and alumni gathered at the SDA Theater with performances introduced by different mentors.
Photos by Anne Valmeo
Current Benildean Music Production students and alumni entertained the audience through their own compositions and renditions such as the four-piece band Nathan and Mercury, frosh student and gospel singer Sheena Palad through her rendition of “Minsan Lang Kitang Iibigin” by singer Ariel Rivera, Star Music artist Jmko (Miko Manguba) with his rendition of “Weak;” originally sung by American R&B Trio SWV, frosh student Joko Reantaso, Filipino band St. Wolf, and Filipino Indie band Agsunta.
Singer-songwriter and Music Production alumna Roxanne Miranda looks forward to the audience witnessing the craft of the performers and the people behind in the making of the concert. “I want [the audience] to look forward to musicians, to everybody [na]nag-coordinate, ‘yung mga production, sound technician [to show] how good they are [at their respective fields]. And of course, ‘yung mga musician talaga. The reason why we’re invited here is because we know that our heads sa music production can trust us with what we can do to showcase our talent to everybody,” Miranda, currently a singer under GMA Music and is part of the online music show “Spotlight Music Sessions,” said.
