FILSCAP’s Songwriter’s Night Select 2026 Celebrates Emerging Songwriters

Oftentimes, we fail to completely comprehend the struggles an artist goes through just to get their name out into the open. Giving musicians these rare opportunities to share their music, the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (FILSCAP) is an organization that works passionately to help this country’s musicians. On July 31, 2026, the organization successfully created a space for budding artists to display their talents with its 7th edition of their Songwriter’s Night Select held at the Music Museum in Greenhills.

A non-profit association, FILSCAP works on its missions of not only “[c]hampioning the value of music and intellectual property rights of its music creators,” but also of discovering emerging musicians around the archipelago. That night, the organization hand-picked fifteen talented songwriters to perform with a full band composed of professional instrumentalists and backup singers.

Before the event, I was fortunate enough to hear FILSCAP trustee and chairman of its Socio-Cultural Committee Jim Paredes speak about the status of songwriting today. The APO member addressed two important issues in the current songwriting space: the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and the current obsession with trends and algorithms.

With issues and controversies about AI being trained on musicians’ music (most of the time illegally), Paredes gave a hopeful picture, saying that “the rules of AI are just beginning to be written all over the world. And it’s not looking good for AI.” He elaborated that platforms like YouTube were already beginning to withhold royalties from AI-generated music.

“The world doesn’t like it because they use all of the songs written by humanity,” Paredes said. For him, the point of songwriting was to allow yourself to be mediocre at first as you learned along the way. “I mean the whole idea of the artist is really to give yourself and then take the risk.”

This led to his second point; namely, that budding songwriters should go about their craft not overly fixated with trends. With social media and the need to chase algorithms, Paredes pushed back and encouraged aspiring musicians to compose music freely. “Go for quantity. You know, because quality will just happen, and you don’t know it.” He advised. “I never wrote a song and said ‘this is going to be a hit.’ I just recorded it because this is where I am at the moment.”

The APO singer-songwriter had a host of things to say and stories to tell; however, he was eventually called by the organizers as the event was about to begin. Entering the Music Museum, I took my place in the center-left row of seats.

“Excited ba kayo?” Paredes asked the audience onstage. After the introductory remarks, the program began with the first half of FILSCAP’s roster of songwriters. Once the 7th artist had finished, special guest Angela Ken walked to the stage to perform her hits, after which the blue-haired singer announced her upcoming concert in October.

Each singer brought their individuality and talent to the fray of the Music Museum, performing in a variety of genres, ranging from blues rock to R&B hip-hop, from OPM ballads to indie-alternative songs on unrequited love. After the last performance, all fifteen songwriters — Roli Manalo, Eric Diao, JeffreYumol, Ivee Mandamba, Off to Aurora, AuxJump, Maric Gavino, Aw’te Amakeh, Toni Panagu, Guava, VEEJ, Wyanet Nazareno, Thonzkie, Si Mau Ug J, and Maria Perion — lined up on stage.

The event proved successful in showing us the talented musicians this country was serving. FILSCAP further announced that it would continue its tradition of Songwriter’s Night in 2027, proving its commitment to unveiling emerging talents just as it did that night.