A grand Bohol song competition has been launched, effectively reviving the search for excellent local musical ingenuity that used to be a highlight of the province's signature annual Sandugo Festival next month. The themes and styles of the entries to the Bohol Sandugo Song Festival (BSSF) 2014 are open-ended and, being a popular music festival, experimentation and discovery are encouraged, according organizers of the event sponsored by the FCB Foundation. The songfest, which grand prize is P40,000, is open to both professional and amateur composers of any ages, even including talented minors, and each composition must entirely be original. It is just one of the spectacles of the Bohol's foremost month-long, multi-event socio-cultural celebration that will climax in the Sandugo streetdancing competition in Tagbilaran City on July 27.

A pop music festival had used to be one of the attractions of Sandugo in the long past but had since been “scrapped” for yet uncertain reasons until its revival in this year's celebration led for the first time by Gov. Edgar Chatto. A song entry may be of popular or contemporary style in any form or structure, its playing time preferably not exceeding four minutes, inclusive of intro and extro. Its lyrics must be in regional language---Cebuano Visayan or Boholano Visayan---although English terms may be combined if they add to the total charm and impact of the song. Colloquial expressions and made-up terms are also allowed. The songfest is limited to resident or non-resident Boholanos, or composers of Boholano descent who must present their respective birth certificates upon submission of entries.

Each competitor can submit only a maximum of two entries, both entirely original and must, therefore, not infringe on any existing copyrights or intellectual property rights. An entry must also not have been licensed to any producer or publisher, printed and distributed in hard copy or circulated on internet, and recorded for any commercial purposes. It must likewise not have been performed live in any venue, on traditional radio and television, or pre-recorded and uploaded on the internet, or recorded on video and other formats for future broadcast. Submission of entries shall only be until June 25, although the event organizers reserve the right to extend the deadline, as the case may be, with the new date posted on the provincial government's official website, wwww.bohol.gov.ph. Song entry forms can be downloaded from the said website or secured from the BSSF secretariat.

There will be 12 finalist songs which titles and composers' names will be announced in both local broadcast and print media on or before June 29. The ‘magic dozen” will be rendered and interpreted by the songwriters' chosen singers/performers or by themselves during the grand performance night on July 25. All entries are to be judged based on these criteria: music (the quality of melody, harmony and rhythm), 40%; lyrics (the arrangement of words and ideas), 30%; and song interpretation (singer's overall projection), 30%. The grand champion composition gets P40,000; second prize winner, P30,000; third prize winner, P20,000; plus P7,000 for each of the top 10 finalists while the best interpreter purses in P5,000. There are also special awards, according to Provincial Administrator Alfonso “Ae” Damalerio who is the provincial coordinator of the Sandugo festivities. For the first time, Gov. Chatto, on behalf of the provincial government, has been entrusted to lead the Sandugo celebration together with the city government under Mayor John Geesnell Yap II and Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso and Provincial Tourism Council headed by lawyer Lucas Nunag. (Ven C. Arigo)