‘Boses ng Baguio’ talent search on

By Carlito Dar  and Michelle Joy Guillermo

BAGUIO CITY -- Do you have the talent and the guts to be Baguio City’s next singing star?

Join “Bosesng Baguio - the search for the summer capital’s new singing sensation”.

A project of John Glen Gaerlan, a renowned Baguio tenor and music enthusiast, in partnership with the city’s Association of Barangay Kagawads (ABK), the search is open to all residents of Baguio City aged 15 to 30 years old.

Qualified contestants must be certified residents  of the barangays they are  representing, must not have joined/ competed in any national/international competitions and must not have any contract with any production company or agency.

Gaerlan, in launching the search in a recent media forum,  said  he came up  with the project in recognition  of  the potentials of Baguio talents.

“Bosesng Baguio is envisioned to be annual search for the most competitive singing sensation of Baguio City, highlighting the participation of the different barangays in the city and giving them equal opportunities to showcase their talents. Eventual winner will also represent the city in any other singing competition outside of Baguio,” Gaerlan said.

Baguio ABK president Eva Fianza said auditions will involve all the 128 city barangays clustered into 10 areas.

Cluster contestants will battle it out within six to eight weeks before the semi-finals.

The organizers set the semi-finals on July 27 at the SM City Baguio, while the finals would be on August 9 at the Baguio Convention Center.

Justin Samson, one of the contest organizers, said the preliminary auditions will take place in a venue they will assign and would run five to six weeks.

Contest guidelines:  maximum of two contestants per barangay allowed to compete; contestants are required to prepare one song from any genre/style of his/her choice to be sung either acapella, or with minimal accompaniment (eg. guitar or keyboard) or with minus one; song piece should not be less than two minutes and not more than four minutes,; and all minus one (in MP3 format written in cd or recorded in a flash drive) should be given to the organizers upon registration.

The contestants will be judged based on vocal range (20 percent), vocal quality (20%), subtext/artistic Interpretation (20%), level of difficulty (15%), stage presence (15%) and audience impact(10%).

The Boses ng Baguio grand winner will be awarded with P30,000, 1st runner- P20,000 and  2nd runner- P10,000. Consolation prizes of P2,000 will also be awarded to the other finalists. The barangay represented by the winners will also receive a pocket wifi from Smart Bro.