OPM Archive collects stories, artifacts from local music scene; now available online

The many colorful stories about Original Pilipino Music from the ’60s up to the present are now just a click away!

Launched today, the OPM Archive collects stories and artifacts from the local music scene spanning different genres and periods.

According to Tats Rejante Manahan, one of the founding members of the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit and OPM Archive, the initiative aims to become a living repository of the local music scene’s history.

“It’s going to be an ongoing physical, digital collection of documented music. Not only of music, but the stories behind the music, the artists who performed them, the lyrics," she said during the press launch of OPM Archive on Wednesday.

“Music is not a dead heritage. It’s a living heritage. It changes with the times, that’s the reason why we wanted to archive,” she added

With the OPM Archive, Manahan said people would be enlightened on the stories behind the hit songs, since the collections were actual “social records” of specific periods in time.

The initiative would not only “pay respect to a specific era, but it will go all the way to the present and hopefully to the future,” she added.

According to OPM founder and first president Celeste Legaspi, the OPM Archive team initiated the project because they didn’t want the records, documents, and the history of OPM to just be discarded.

“Both Tats and I were amazed with the set. Nanghihinayang kami, sayang naman all these photographs and scripts,” said Legaspi.

OPM Archive is a collaboration by OPM, PhilPop, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Philippine Educational Theater Association, and Filipinas Heritage Library at Ayala Museum, where the physical collection will be housed.

Filipinas Heritage Library’s John Labella said that while they remained closed amid halted renovations and the pandemic, they hoped to open their doors by next year.

OPM Archive vice president Krina Cayabyab encouraged the public to donate any artifact, be it a photograph, poster, music scores, scripts, CD covers, or any item relevant to local music history.

According to Krina, the OPM Archive is not Manila-centric and welcomes music in any language as long as it is created or performed by a Filipino.

This project is spearheaded by Legaspi, Cayabyab, Manahan, Girlie Rodis, Lyca Benitez Brown, Moy Ortiz, Chevy Salvador, and Dinah Remolacio.

To check out the archive or for information on how to donate items to its collection, visit opmarchive.com – RC, GMA News