Filtercha: From under the radar to basking in the Southern spotlight
Discover how the DJ, producer, singer & musician is making the most of her decade’s worth of experience away from the Philippine metropolis
It's uncommon practice for DJs to move away from the center of the action. However, for Cha Rapadas aka Filtercha, relocating — at the height of the pandemic — from the Philippine capital to the southern island city of Cebu not only meant a big change of pace. It also meant creating new opportunities to showcase herself.
"I moved here initially for a different project that I'm working on but after a while I fell in love with the mixture of city and island vibe, which makes everything here a bit more interesting," she shares in an interview with Mixmag Asia. "This is my permanent residence for now but in a year or two, I might move to a different city again. Maybe somewhere in Europe."
The 33-year old has spent over a decade in the music scene. From co-founding the now-defunct electro-pop band, FilterFilter and being the keyboardist of two-tone ska cover band, Earthlings, to fully immersing herself as a DJ and producer in 2010 and organizing her own parties along the way, Rapada's insatiable zeal to reinvent and explore dismantles genre constrictions.
Now residing in one of the most prosperous cities in the whole country, and what is known as the "queen city of the South", one can't help but draw out the differences and similarities of having lived in Metro Manila; even more so, that her big move happened during the pandemic.
"Manila has a wider array of audiences. Parties as well as bars play particular types of music according to their theme. Patrons can already tell what kind of event it is based on the posters they would post on socials," she explains. "Cebu has a different yet equally fun vibe. When I moved here, it's already the beginning of the lockdowns and I never got the chance to explore the old normal Cebu nightlife. Now, the party goers (at least the ones who are brave enough to go out) prefer at least one of these genres: pop/pop remixes, EDM, hip hop/RnB, and Latin pop. Since it's a relatively smaller market, it's easier for bar owners to follow which types of music are already working rather than take risks in exploring different niches."
She adds: “I prefer to be surrounded by the beaches of Cebu than staying in the concrete jungle. Although I shared a great deal of unconventional approach to life with some of the well-respected visionaries in the Manila scene, staying here in Cebu allowed growth in terms of flexibility and comfortability with my craft in a completely unfamiliar territory.”
For Rapadas, who counts Red Axes, Vitalic, Polo & Pan, Anoraak and Jupiter as some of her influences, it was about finding the balance of cleansing her newfound audience’s palate but at the same time, taking them from what’s familiar to what else can be appreciated — and finding the right space to truly express herself.
“I think my flexibility and my openness to listen to other types of music are my biggest drivers to grow my musical knowledge. Now that I'm starting to produce my originals, audiences will notice a variety of small elements coming from different genres that will create a unique blend.”
Before Category 5 Typhoon Odette/Rai pummeled through Cebu, along with countless provinces in the southern region of the country, she recently became the resident DJ of Verified, a popular sky bar in the city. Despite the curfew and lockdown restrictions, she’s steadily becoming a household name in the scene down south — one she is determined to continue working hard for.
“Verified gave me a chance to express myself a little bit every Sunday and let me play from chill opening tracks, a little bit of nu disco and various kinds of house music but recently closing on Sunday shifted to EDM again as the demand grows,” she says. “To compromise, I dig into thousands of electro/house remixes of a pop song/EDM track to find the perfect sound that I like and would still represent me. Funky house is still my favorite and lately been adding a bunch of jackin’ house into my mixes.”
With Cebu slowly rebuilding itself and its communities, and the city’s nightlife having hit an unprecedented pause, its proprietors and champions like Rapadas, are carving new beginnings for the emerging scene that’s welcomed her warmly. Along with it, an unbent desire to keep audiences on their feet once again.
