MANILA -- “Alam mo [You know], you just have to finish it.”

Christian Chiu, professionally known as XT on Sax, recalled this advice from NatNat, a fellow singer/songwriter from Koronadal. Chiu was struggling to finish the songs he was writing back then, and this simple advice helped him get over the hump.

The first song he finished, "Di Na Makawala," was what he eventually submitted to PhilPop to get into the 2019 songwriting boot camp in Davao.

At the boot camp, Chiu witnessed Mau Ria get a standing ovation after performing a Visayan song. “Ang laki ng potential for a local language. If you write it tapos damang dama ng audience mo, iba 'yung effect [There’s big potential in using a local language. If you write it and the audience feels the emotion, the effect is different],” Chiu recalled how he felt during that time.

He then consulted the PhilPop coaches about making songs in Ilonggo. He finished writing his first one, "Hinambalan," during the five-hour trip going back to his hometown.

Koronadal is the capital of the province of South Cotabato. Despite being located in Mindanao, people there speak in Hiligaynon, more popularly known as Ilonggo. “Our grandparents hailed from Iloilo,” Chiu explained.

He has been musically inclined since he was a kid, but it was only four years ago when he considered taking music more seriously. He reached out to a community of saxophone players in Pasig, which includes JB Javelosa and Josh Espinosa, and he eventually joined them as a guest performer in "Saxophone Idols Live in Action (S.I.L.A.)" at the Music Museum in 2018, and "S.I.L.A. Volume 2" at Resorts World Manila in 2019.

In 2017, Chiu became part of Matcha, a local band in Koronadal, playing the saxophone. Unlike in Manila and Cebu, the local music scene in Koronadal did not have that much original music. Doing covers was the norm, and it was only two or three years ago when originals got some traction, including ones in Ilonggo.

According to Chiu, hearing songs in their native language brings a new sense of pride to local artists. “I’m also a Filipino capable of making music,” he explained. With this in mind, he suggested that his local group submit three entries each for the PhilPop songwriting festival in order to increase the chances of an Ilonggo song making it to the finals. While some were able to submit three, Chiu was only able to manage one -- "Kasadya."

The word "kasadya" literally translates to happy or happiness. It is, however, often used as an everyday expression, sometimes in a sarcastic way. “Ay kasadya, wala na namang kakainin mamaya [there’s nothing to eat again],” Chiu gave as an example.

In the song, the word’s meaning evolves as the song progresses. It starts off as an expression said when a grandmother catches her grandson who has been hiding because he did something wrong. And it ends as the genuine joy felt when the now adult grandson reminisces about the time he would run away and hide from his grandmother, the happiness those memories bring.

Used to writing lo-fi and three-four songs, Chiu had a hard time with his first “pop” composition, “The chords are simpler than my previous chords, but how can you make [the song] last?,” he said.

He already had the main melody down but he had problems putting the lyrics in. To get over this, he looked at how the songs of Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake were done. It took him three weeks to write the lyrics alone, finalizing it just three days before the deadline.

"Kasadya," an Ilonggo song, is now one of the finalists in the 2020 PhilPop songwriting festival.

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