Iñigo Pascual leads 3rd Wish Music Awards
these days are dime-a- dozen. They’re found everywhere promoted by the aficionados of beautiful bodies inside and out—actors for stage, TV, films and the like. It’s the same with music awards where vis-a-vis the jurrasic awardgiving bodies compete with the more innovative and daring ones in our midst.
Monday, January 15, Wish 107.5, presumably the No.1 FM Station on YouTube, in cooperation with Breakthrough and Milestones Productions International (BMPI), showcases its most anticipated third Wish Music Awards ( WMA) at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
It aims to pay homage and recognition to last year’s best and wellloved local musicians and artists spotlighting those who have recently helped rekindle Filipinos’ love for Original Pilipino Music (OPM).
Fortuitously, artists from Star Records and ABS- CBN’s stable of singers who are ubiquitous in the Sunday variety show, “ASAP,” dominate the list of nominees in several break- through categories of WMA. Some of them are in the list of presenters and performing artists as well. It is not surprising for the son of Piolo Pascual, Iñigo, to make it to the list of top nominees for his self- titled and breakthrough album. He is considered the first and phenomenal OPM artist to hit the No. 1 spot in the Billboard Philippines charts with his single “Dahil Sa’Yo.” In one of his most recent face- off with the entertainment press, Iñigo in jest disclosed that said phenomenal song sort of whisked him away from the eclipsing shadow of his dad. “Thank God, I’m humbled by my little achievement in the direction of helping promote mass appreciation of OPM for the younger as well as the older generation. Also, as bonus I can say that I’m no longer usually referred to as the son of Piolo. I hope I can be what I am now,” gamely he guffawed.
The other OPM artists from Star Records and ABS-CBN’s pool of singers in the nominees list include James Reid for “Cool Down,” Bugoy Drilon for “One Day,” Yeng Constantino and Erik Santos for “Paano Ba Ang Magmahal,” Nina for “Jealous,” Billy Crawford for “Future,” KZ Tandingan for “Two Less Lonely People In The World,” Morissette Amon for “Rise Up,” Sue Ramirez for “Your Love,” Juris for “Forevermore,” Michael Pangilinan for “Tayo Na Lang” and Angeline Quinto for “At Ang Hirap.”
For the uninformed, the WMA came out as a result of the past efforts of UNTV’s big boss Daniel Razon, also the chief executive officer and president of BMPI. About three years ago, Razon launched the Wish 107.5 FM band and made it as a station that played hit tracks from the ‘70s up to the present. Said breakthrough project was given a theatrical, musical face, so to speak, with the Wish 107.5 Bus, the country’s first FM-on-wheels.
Since its launching, the unique performance stage FM station on-wheels as its platform has already witnessed numerous artists bringing their music right where their fans and listeners are — streets, roads and parks, and on their gadgets as well. Since then the pioneering project that promoted OPM got stuck and for good.