the language barrier, small market size, and socio-cultural emphasis away from regionalism in the Philippines. An example would be the Ilokano group The Bukros Singers, who swept through Ilocandia in the 1990s and became a precursor for other Ilokano performers into the 2000s, but rarely broke through other music markets in the Philippines. The country's first songwriting competition, Metro Manila Popular Music Festival, was first established in 1977 and launched by the Popular Music Foundation of the Philippines. The event featured many prominent singers and songwriters during its time. It was held annually for seven years until its discontinuation in 1985. It was later revived in 1996 as the "Metropop Song Festival", running for another seven years before being discontinued in 2003 due to the decline of its popularity. Another variation of the festival had been established called the Himig Handog contest which began in 2002, operated by ABS-CBN Corporation and its subsidiary music label Star Music (formerly Star Records). Five competitions have been held so far starting in 2000 to 2003 and were eventually revived in 2013. Unlike its predecessors, the contest has different themes which reflect the type of song entries chosen as finalists each year. In 2012, the Philippine Popular Music Festival was launched and is said to be inspired by the first songwriting competition. Another songwriting competition for OPM music being held annually is the Bombo Music Festival, being conducted by the radio network Bombo Radyo, first conceived in 1985. Pinoy pop (P-pop) From 2010s to nowadays Philippine pop music or P-pop went through a huge resurgence, with increased quality, budget, investment, and variety, mirroring that of the country's rapid economic growth, and an accompanying social and cultural resurgence of its Asian identity. Heavy influence from K-pop and J-pop, Asian style ballads, idol groups, and EDM music can be heard, with less reliance on Western genres, mirroring the Korean wave and similar Japanese wave popularity among millennial (born 1980-1994) and Gen Z (born 1995-2015) Filipinos and mainstream culture. Famous P-pop music artists who define the growth of this now mainstream genre include 4th Impact, Sarah Geronimo, SB19, 1st.One, KZ Tandingan, Morissette, Erik Santos, Yeng Constantino, MNL48, Regine Velasquez, BGYO, Bini, Alamat, Press Hit Play, and PPop Generation. Other popular music Choir music Choral music has become an important part of Philippine music culture. It dates back to the choirs of churches that sing during mass in