Ambitious, exciting and coming very soon: “Pinoy Playlist,” a music festival to be held on Oct. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20 at the BGC Arts Center in Taguig, featuring 96 acts spanning virtually all contemporary and traditional Filipino music genres.

Playing on week 1, for instance, are Ben&Ben, Clara Benin, Johnoy Danao, Razorback with Nicole Asencio, Rachelle Gerodias and the Kundiman Cast, among many others.

Performing on week 2 are Abra, AMP Big Band, Autotelic, Bullet Dumas & Friends, Hoochie Coochie Mikkie, IV of Spades, plus many more. (For the complete lineup of performers, visit www.bgcartscenter.org/pinoyplaylist.)

The artists will be divided into batches to perform in BGC Arts Center’s three venues: Globe Auditorium, Zobel de Ayala Recital Hall and Sun Life Amphitheater.

Pinoy Playlist is a project initiated by BGC Arts Center head of content Maria Isabel Garcia, and made possible by maestro Ryan Cayabyab, The CompanY’s Moy Ortiz and movie-TV industry insider Noel Ferrer pooling together their resources to present a grand celebration of Filipino music.

Tickets are reasonably priced with three options: one-day pass, three-day pass and festival pass. There are regular rates, student rates and discounts for groups of four. Early bird rates available until today, Sept. 30.

Visit ticketworld.com.ph. Pinoy Playlist is presented by BGC Arts Center and Sun Life Foundation.

Exceptional artists

On a recent Saturday night, two places sitting beside each other featured electrifying performances by artists with exceptional talents.

At Good Guys Steak & Jazz, a restaurant with live gigs, the house band Joey’s Moods called a woman sitting near the stage to jam. Turned out to be Monet Ganir, whose engaging jazz singing style complemented the band’s repertoire.

She and the band lit up the crowd’s already happy mood a notch higher with a cover of Spyro Gyra’s “Shaker Song.”

Good Guys Steak & Jazz, 56 T. Gener corner K-1st Streets, Kamuning, Quezon City; tel. 7442918

Joyful noise

Stepping out for a breather, my attention was drawn to a joyful noise next door at Taumbayan—a nondescript dive, actually an apartment unit whose young crowd resembled that of Club Dredd in the 1990s.

In the middle of the living room-turned-performance area, singer-songwriter Nar Cabico was playing acoustic guitar and dishing out his own work, “You Won’t Stop,” an R&B-hip-hop depiction of the drug war.

Moments later, Freestyle’s Ava Santos took over lead vocals with jaw-dropping versions of Ryan Cayabyab’s “Limang Dipang Tao” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”