ABSTRACT
This chapter problematises the Original Pilipino Music (OPM) myth to expose the contradictions in its process of meaning-making, representation, marketing, and consumption by deconstructing or demythifying OPM itself. It discusses the myth-making process and why myth-making is important in conceptualising a cosmopolitan nationalism. The mythification of OPM indeed has a strong reference to recorded music made in Metro Manila that is broadcasted across the country. Going back to 1978, the Metropop Songwriting Competition amplified this dominant centre of production to build up and propagate a Filipino identity and artistic uniqueness through a pop music aesthetic. The framework of mythologising OPM engages a political language that allows one to contextually reinvent its validity through time. The chapter ends by exploring an idea of re-mythifying OPM as a substitute for contextualising popular music cultures in the Philippines. The current “indie” label had quite a similar confrontation with “mainstream” as “alternative” had with the latter in the early 1990s.
