Ten pop music artists from Southeast Asia are set to grace the grand celebration of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) 50th Anniversary on August 8, 2017.
In a press briefing at the ASEAN International Media Center in Conrad Hotel Manila on Monday, August 7, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) International Affairs Office Head Mary Anne Luis and Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Artistic Director Maribel Legarda talked about the ASEAN Pop Concert, which will serve as the culminating event of the grand celebration.
“(The) Grand Parade from Luneta at 3 in the afternoon will end up at the CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) grounds at 5 in the afternoon, where we will have the program which will feature the 10 ASEAN pop artists to be led by our very own Christian Bautista. This will be followed by the ASEAN Pop Concert at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig at 7 in the evening to feature again our 10 pop artists from ASEAN,” Luis announced.
“At the same time, we will be able to see the CCP event through a live feed at the BGC… Then, we turn over the show to the BGC, and the live feed of the BGC concert will be shown at the CCP”, Legarda added.
Preceding the ASEAN Pop Concert, the guest performers from ASEAN countries will take part in the landmark lighting ceremony in the afternoon at the CCP in Pasay City. The ASEAN performers will showcase their popular songs, as part of the program.
The ten ASEAN artists will then be joined by leading local bands and artists, at 7:00 p.m. at Bonifacio Global City Ampitheater in Taguig City.
“It’s a wonderful platform to share this shared art with our ASEAN brothers who are, like I said, it’s really wonderful to have (it) based on arts because it’s really a very powerful way to come together and share our different cultures,” Legarda, whose organization PETA was invited to direct the show, said.
The other featured ASEAN pop artists include Myanmar’s Eint Chit, Cambodia’s Kong Sothearith, Thailand’s Natthika Iamthamai, Brunei’s Afiq Wafi, Vietnam’s Hai Nam Le, Singapore’s Aisyah Aziz, Indonesia’s Mia Ismi Halida, Malaysia’s Dhiya Suhaili Binti Abdul Ghani, and Lotchana Anoulack of Laos. They were introduced during the press briefing, and aside from singing a few stanzas or chorus of a song of their own choice, they performed in unison the ASEAN Song of Unity.
The concert and lighting events are hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the NCCA, the ASEAN 2017 National Organizing Council, and other participating government agencies. The Landmark Lighting event in the evening of August 8 will be held simultaneously in the capitals of the ASEAN Member States, as well as in 76 key cities/municipalities nationwide. ###PCO-Content
