Iñigo Pascual performs at the Asia Rising Forever virtual music festival. Screengrab
MANILA -- Iñigo Pascual beamed with pride when he represented the country as a performer at Asia Rising Forever, a virtual music festival featuring Asian artists.
The festival was streamed Thursday on the social media pages of 88rising, a New York-based music label primarily for Asian American and Asian artists.
During his set, Pascual said his goal was to promote original Pinoy music (OPM) in the international music scene.
"My goal as an artist is honestly to just be able to bring OPM to the world stage," he said.
"I feel like now is the time, with a lot of Asian artists and groups crossing over, I think we have the perfect platform to be able to do that," he added.
Pascual, the 22-year-old son of actor Piolo Pascual, also shared how he began opening up to other Asian musicians after starting as a fan of Korean pop music.
"Nowadays it's so cool when I find new Asian artists that come out of nowhere. I was into K-pop at first and then I started listening to different Southeast Asian artists," he said.
Listening to other Asian music, Pascual said, was "a way to connect to different cultures, different people, different nationalities."
For his set, Pascual performed "Better Now" by American singer Post Malone and "Killing Me Softly" by Fugees.
Among the other performers during Asia Rising Forever were Filipino-British indie singer beabadoobee, Malaysian singer Yuna, Thai singer Phum Viphurit, Indonesian singer Niki, Indonesian rapper Rich Brian, Korean indie band Hyukoh, and K-pop acts Kang Daniel, CLC, and Loona.
Iñigo Pascual, music, OPM, Asia Rising Forever, 88rising, online concert, virtual concert, beabadoobee