OPM’s historic Grammy bid

October 10 ------ Great music is rarely made in isolation, but when the masterminds of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) unite under a single vision, the result is nothing short of history.

With his latest album, “Best of All (The Music of Dodjie Simon),” entering consideration for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards, award-winning songwriter and tech executive Elzar “Dodjie” Simon has convened an elite dream team of Philippine musical mastery.

At the heart of the project is an unprecedented songwriting collaboration between Simon and National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab. The partnership is showcased in “Kulang Ang Paleta,” a piece that brings together two of the country’s most celebrated creative minds.

Submitted for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, the track features an intricate melody crafted by Cayabyab — affectionately known as “Mr. C” — paired with evocative Tagalog lyrics penned by Simon.

The collaboration represents a rare alignment of Philippine compositional royalty. Cayabyab, named National Artist for Music in 2018, stands as the premier architect of modern Philippine music. Simon, a Metropop and Asia Song Festival Grand Prize winner, has penned enduring classics for icons like Lea Salonga, Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano and Sharon Cuneta.

“Working alongside Mr. Ryan Cayabyab is both a privilege and a masterclass,” says Simon. “When you collaborate with someone of his caliber, every note carries weight, and every word has to paint a picture. ‘Kulang Ang Paleta’ was born out of a shared passion for pushing the boundaries of what Filipino songwriting can achieve.” Beyond his work with Cayabyab, Simon curated an extraordinary ensemble of world-class artists, arrangers and engineers to realize the album complex, four-part vocal architecture.

Distinguished choral conductor Joel Navarro — whose career spans decades of excellence at the UP College of Music and Calvin University — handled all seven arrangements on the album, elevating traditional pop songs into rich, four-part vocal masterworks.

The album’s intricate vocal harmonies are brought to life by a supergroup of Philippine singers led by Moy Ortiz, the legendary artistic director of The Company. Ortiz is joined by acclaimed vocalists Nica Tupas, Bianca Lopez-Aguila and Joshua Cadeliña.

To ensure the project met the rigorous technical standards of international recording, Simon enlisted recording engineer Martin Andrew Guevara and Grammy-winning mastering engineer Jett Galindo (Gaby Moreno’s “X Mí [Vol. 1]”), alongside contributions from keyboardist Marvin Querido, cellist Francisco Llorin and oboist Japs Bautista.

For Simon — who balances his music career with a high-powered trajectory as an IT executive, AI author (AI Hacked) and Harvard lecturer — gathering this caliber of talent was about far more than assembling a stellar lineup. It was about proving that Philippine vocal music, when executed at the highest level, belongs in the global recording conversation.

Released on August 11, “Best of All” sits squarely within the 2027 Grammy eligibility period, submitted across four categories including Best Global Music Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. As first-round voting opens this October, this gathering of Philippine music legends stands as a proud testament to the timeless beauty of OPM.

Source: manilatimes.net