Harana Music Festival 2026: TJ Monterde Leads the Lineup for Manila’s New Acoustic OPM Fest
Harana Music Festival 2026 bills itself as intimate and acoustic — then lists more than 10 headline-level OPM acts. Here’s the lineup, tickets, and dates.
All posts tagged: music
SB19 Proves the Tourism Ambassador Bet Paid Off with Lollapalooza Debut
Four days. That’s how long it took SB19 to go from pop group to instrument of Philippine tourism policy. On July 26, the Department of Tourism named the five-member act as the country’s newest tourism ambassadors. Four days later, on July 30, they walked onto the Allianz Stage at Lollapalooza in Chicago and became the first homegrown Filipino act to ever play the festival. Two headlines, four days apart, and they’re not really two stories. They’re the same story, told first by the government and then by a hundred thousand people at Grant Park. The Set That Made It Real Whatever the DOT announcement meant on paper, Lollapalooza is the part that had to be earned in front of a crowd that had no obligation to care. SB19 — Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken, and Justin — opened their hour-long set with “DAM,” moving straight into “GENTO,” the song that’s done more than any other to put P-pop on non-Filipino radars. They dropped a new single, “LAWLESS,” the same day, released as a standalone track rather …
Tanghalang Pilipino sweeps top prizes as Kisapmata leads 16th Gawad Buhay Awards
Tanghalang Pilipino was the company to beat once again at this year’s Gawad Buhay Awards. “Kisapmata” took the night’s top play honor while “Gregoria Lakambini: A Pinay Pop Musical” claimed the top musical prize — marking the second year running that the company has walked away with both. It’s a feat TP also pulled off at last year’s 15th Gawad Buhay Awards, where “Balete” won Outstanding Play and “Pingkian: Isang Musikal” took Outstanding Musical, part of a haul that saw the company collect 17 of the 26 competitive prizes that night. This year’s sweep was more concentrated, powered almost entirely by a single production — “Kisapmata,” which racked up 11 trophies spanning acting, direction, and design, making it the single most-awarded production of the night at ceremonies held Tuesday at the Aliw Theater, hosted by Reb Atadero. Its leads, Jonathan Tadioan and Lhorvie Nuevo-Tadioan, won Male and Female Lead Performance in a Play, respectively, while Toni Go-Yadao and Marco Viaña took the featured-performance prizes in the same category. The production also won Outstanding Stage Direction …
A Night with the Manila Symphony Orchestra: When Manila Breathes in Music
There are nights in Manila when the city feels louder than usual — not because of traffic or crowds, but because art decides to take up space. This weekend was one of those nights. The rain lingered over the bay, the streets glistened, and the world felt like it was pushing people indoors. Yet inside Aliw Theater, something powerful unfolded: a performance by the Manila Symphony Orchestra that reminded me how alive the city’s cultural pulse truly is. The MSO: Nearly a Century of Sound Founded in 1926, the Manila Symphony Orchestra has lived through war, rebuilding, cultural shifts, and generations of changing tastes — yet it remains steady, almost stubbornly graceful. It’s one of the oldest orchestras in Asia, and every performance feels like a continuation of a legacy Manila is lucky to have. Watching them isn’t just about listening to classical music. It’s about witnessing history breathing. “Dancing with Tchaikovsky”: A Dialogue of Emotion That night’s concert, Dancing with Tchaikovsky, felt like stepping into a story told not with words, but with movement …