There are two things we should be doing more of: cramming independent music into our minds and embracing grassroots aid. Last week, Northern Cebu in the Philippines was hit by a devastating earthquake. Local outlet Pawn Records has some beautiful music to support and not nearly enough people supporting it. Let’s change that, CDM readers. I’m curious to see how many people we can get onboard.
PAWN is a special platform out of Cebu City, and they’ve been doing great work since their founding in 2017 — as a label and as a publishing voice. I got to know them and met their founder through Tengal, founder of Manila’s former WSK: Festival of the Recently Possible, and the collaborative regional Nusasonic, who also passed along this compilation.
Every word. PAWN doesn’t just add values as a kind of fashion accessory; it pours out of everything they do. En Passant: Vol. 1 had been in the works already, and it sounds like nonstop a-sides, not extras. This is some serious indie/post-punk vibes that’ll you’d want to crank up and repeat. Ever hear a song that you feel like you want to shout along with even the first time you heard it? Like that.
That release took on a new significance as the deadly earthquake hit Bogo City at 9:59PM on Tuesday, September 30.
On September 30, 2025, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck near Bogo City in Northern Cebu. The quake caused significant damage to homes and public buildings, displaced families, and left communities in urgent need of assistance.
21 music artists have come together to share their work in support of communities affected by the earthquake in Northern Cebu. Featuring contributions from The Spirals, Awkward Dancer, Folding Bed, Gleam, Marcid, Coney Reyes on Camera, The Pervs, Future Teenager, Deanery, Highway Seven Circus, Vedas, Offals, Novagrancia, The Stawnes, Ala Ahkbar, Cross Three Runs, Milkmus, Modry-modry, Levi Masuli, and Libya Montes, this compilation spans previously released and unreleased tracks recorded between 2017 and 2025.
Pawn Records’ Erik (Eric Tubon) spoke to me via email from North Cebu about the project and the grassroots aid effort:
100% of the proceeds for both digital purchases and physical copies of the En Passant Vol.1 compilation will be donated to those affected by the Northern Cebu earthquake, thru grassroots efforts from the independent music community.
This is an ongoing effort; however, due to the urgency of the situation, a partial amount of the earnings we received has been used to purchase what we deem as immediate needs for the beneficiaries: food, medicine, tents, toiletries, etc. we coordinated with one of the artists under PAWN, who made their way to Northern Cebu to deliver essentials to remote areas that were experiencing delay in assistance from the LGUs. The remainder of the total sales will go to our chosen NGO.
Natural calamities are sadly a common occurrence here in the Visayas. In 2013, we are also jolted with an earthquake with almost the same magnitude. Super typhoons plague our region too very often, including the recent one in 2021(Odette) which left a devastating onslaught on its path, especially in Cebu. But we have to push through, if not for ourselves, then for others who badly need help. Moreso, for some of the artists in this compilation, the recent earthquake struck really close to home since their loved ones were directly affected. thus, giving their effort a profound personal significance.
Actually, the act of releasing a compilation project has already been in the plan a few years ago, and has been ripe for release for some time now. But it was always sidetracked for other reasons. Or perhaps because at that time we didn’t really have a higher sense of purpose to put it out. With the permission of the artists and musicians involved on the project, we asked them if we can use their songs instead for a benefit compilation and luckily, everyone said yes.
Almost all of the tracks featured on the compilation are either previously released on the label as a single (or part of an album) or unreleased stuff from artists part of the label. This is also intended since we want to immediately put out material (with meticulous curation, of course) without going through the delays and inconveniences of audio licensing and other legal issues.
“The recent earthquake struck really close to home since their loved ones were directly affected.”
Okay, so enough. Let’s see how many people can support this one release. Get a couple of friends onboard; I bet you know folks who want to hear this. It’s $9 for the digital release, or $10 for a limited-edition CD, and you can add more if you’ve got spare change to share.
Our Filipino friends have stood with us — they’ve even been out in the streets for our causes, and they’ve supported us and our music. We need to show up for them. And it’s a great chance to discover their music. These songs tell the story of this scene’s struggles, too. (One favorite, which did come out as a single — CUT from Ala Ahkbar.)
Images courtesy Eric.
Done that?
Check PAWN’s online magazine next:
There’s a feature of the womxn’s month celebration, a reference to local womxn-led groups in April and work to bring together a pop-up market, speedfriending, music, and more:
Scene Report: 𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳𝑯𝑶𝑶𝑫 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑹𝑼𝑴
Or try this artist profile, trio Vedas:
Beyond Transcendence: Vedas’ Genesynthesis
That event also came with a second purpose: donations of clothes, toiletries, and sanitary products My Bonita Home for Young Girls.
We also need purpose-built tools for grassroots and mutual musical aid. It’s clear that Bandcamp as a platform is being stretched beyond what it alone can do. I’m glad it does its job, really, but between the logjam of Bandcamp Friday and changes of ownership, it’s also clear we need more infrastructure than just one platform. Bandcamp has proven this model can work, especially during the pandemic lockdowns. But with lot of folks working on additional self-hosted and decentralized tools, we should be talking more about how those can support cases just like this.