A History Colored in Manila: Chroma Music Festival 2016

MANILA — A sunny Saturday on 2 April 2016 led a wide scope of audience from different parts of the Philippines, as Strix Inc. mounted Chroma Music Festival 2016. Coming from the highlands of cool Baguio to the lowlands of warm Ilocos, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, from the southern provinces of Batangas, Quezon, Cavite, Laguna, to as far down south from the isles of Iloilo, Davao, Bacolod, Cebu, from some countries overseas, and from the capital of mega Manila, more than 26,000 recorded attendees gathered at the Globe Circuit Events Ground to unite through music, color and dance, and to be part of this epic history.

Expectations from the production team were huge, and so were everything else that there is. Chroma 2016 showed off its wide playground full of activities of sorts, its extensive area catering an array of food choices, its train of colorful booths of merchandise and memorabilia, and, of course, in front of its massive stage, on the vast green field, the biggest and grandest colored powder toss ever in the metro, commenced. The fusion of music, color, dance, recreation and everything else was a relatively new concept to most, and, gladly, nobody was left displeased about it.

For its first time ever to mount such an event, Chroma Music Festival 2016 filled up the spacious Circuit Makati venue and made an hectare of field completely crowded even before the sun was ready to set. The front of the stage was filled with flashing lights, smartphones, digital and action cameras recording every possible second of people dancing and jumping restlessly during the local artists set times, and colorful powder being tossed in the air.

Kicking things off for the prime time sets were two Hungarian producers from Budapest that go by the name StadiumX, whose very uplifting set bursts of relentless energy with clean mashups and new tracks. Up next was Australian mayhem-maker, Timmy Trumpet, who gave chills as he initiated sounding his trumpet live, and during the time he did the infamous Adelle’s Hello. The crowd went crazy chanting and bouncing to his tracks. Not to mention, girls went gaga over his pretty face and his muscular built. Taking things a notch higher, German-born producer Tujamo delivered a unique style with his popular, distinguishable, killer remixes and tracks. Undoubtedly, he is one of the most sensational standouts, proving himself worthy as one of the top DJs of our time. Finally, closing the event's final hour is San Francisco-based supporting international act Zoo Theory, owning the deck with his future bounce music, making the still-energetic crowd ask for an encore.

For full 13 hours, the dance floor was a continual hotspot of pure, raw energy, in spite of the warm, humid Manila weather. Even adults in their mid 30’s to late 40’s accompanying youngsters, couldn’t resist the bouncy rhythm, making them throw their hands in the air and dancing their youthful selves away, careless of the multitude of eyes that look on.

Strix Inc.'s Chroma Music Festival really has set the bar high as it opened the metro's 2016 festival season, not only with big artist names and big audience attendance, but also with a big heart to aid in education and literacy through its beneficiaries, the Philippine Christian Foundation and Black Pencil Project.