Maria Lourdes Aragon: Another Celebrity Sensation From Globalization?

Just like Charice Pempengco and Journey’s Arnold Pineda before her, Canadian based 10 year old Filipina Maria Lourdes Aragon looks likely the next celebrity sensation as a result of the web enhanced globalization evolution.

This from OMG.yahoo

Lady Gaga was overcome with emotion after a video of a 10-year-old fan performing a flawless rendition of "Born This Way" hit the internet and Access caught up with Maria Lourdes Aragon to bring you all the details on this budding web sensation! …

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the Grammy Award-winning singer saw Maria's video tribute less than 24 hours after the young fan had posted it. Gaga then re-Tweeted the video to her followers early Thursday, writing, "Can't stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future."

The reason I have been pressing on this is to demonstrate how the web has virtually cut the geographical distance and directly connected people or increased social interactions without the traditional layers that would have limited discovery and access to required information.

And this isn’t just in seen in celebrities. Goods and services and most importantly ideas have likewise fluxed in such a horizontal manner where knowledge, which used to be localized, has now been globalized. In terms of knowledge, the world is now everyone’s oyster.

And this is why, in contrast to the obstinate views of top-down analysts and the ideological neo-luddites, the unprecedented spread of the People Power phenomenon in the Middle East and Africa, have caught almost everyone by surprise.

The internet, like the printing press, has and will serve as the most critical instrument for the spread of the Hayekian knowledge revolution or Alvin Toffler’s Third wave, as epitomized by the newly discovered celebrities bypassing traditional talent recruitment channels or as seen in the People Power near synchronous phenomenon in MENA.

These are structural changes occurring at the fringes which people hardly notices (yes they see the changes but they hardly understand its mechanics and implications).

Like it or not, these changes will inevitably shape our future (commerce, lifestyle, culture and politics).

Celebrities of Globalization: Charice Pempengco and Journey’s Arnel Pineda

2 fantastic Filipino international music superstars Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of a pop rock band of the 80s Journey, represent as shining examples one of the miracles of globalization.

Charice Pemepengco (left) and Arnel Pineda (right)

[sorry I am not aware of the billing order for the two celebrities thus made use of family name alphabetical order. Nevertheless portraits from Wikipedia.org]

The stepping stone to newfound stardom for these Filipino artists:

Charice Pempengco, according to Wikipedia.org (bold emphasis mine)

Pempengco made minor appearances on local television shows and commercials, but essentially had fallen off the radar after her stint at Little Big Star. It was not until 2007 that she gained worldwide recognition after an avid supporter started posting a series of her performance videos on YouTube under the username FalseVoice. These videos received over 13 million hits which, according to Reyma Buan-Deveza, makes Pempengco a "YouTube singing sensation"

Arnel Pineda, lead singer of popular 80s rock band Journey, based on the accounts of the mainstay members on this interview:

______________

Arnel Pineda’s biography according to Wikipedia.org here

My observations:

-The recent career success of both Filipino artists has been founded on the crucible of technology, social mobility, and importantly in response to a global audience.

-Both artists have defied the traditional-conventional vertical (organizational) process of discovering talent for the music industry.

In the case of Ms. Pempengco, her seeming unsuccessful debut in the local TV contest (one of the orthodox way of talent scouting) had been representative of the failure of the select judges to appreciate her talents in lieu of the market.

But that didn’t deter her. The viral (word of mouth) ramifications diffused over the web apparently neutralized the rigid and discriminatory screening process that eventually launched her newfound fame.

In short, 13 million hits demolished the subjective opinions of a handpicked few who presupposed ascendancy over the market’s opinion or appreciation over her talents.

Although one might interpret that Ms. Pempengco’s genre of music appear to cater to international audience more than the local ones, which may be partly true, I would suspect more of the rigid screening ‘syndicate’ based process as responsible for missing out in identifying her talent.

After her international success, local outfit have been quick to embrace her.

Of course, her perseverance and creativity had also been instrumental to the advancement of her aspirations.

In the case of Mr. Pineda, while years of exposure may seem to have augmented his recent career glory, the orthodoxy in the artist talent scouting system surely didn’t—as Mr. Pineda’s career didn’t make any significant headway.

Of course, this was not until Journey’s direct discovery through the internet (via Journey’s guitarist Mr. Neal Schon), which serves as a testament to the technology-aided short-circuiting of the archaic agent based process.

While it may be true that Mr. Pineda or Ms. Pempengco’s case could be, for the moment considered as unique, nevertheless, such trends appear on the way to radically alter the conduct of business as manifested in the music industry.

-Lastly, the Pempengco and Pineda ‘rags to riches’ success story appear to be representative of the internationalization or the global integration of the marketplace. In particular, the expanded access to a global pool in the matching of ‘specialized’ talent-to-‘niche’ audiences.

Think of it, if one of the three variables (technology, social mobility, and a global audience) had been encumbered, then the many would not have appreciated the magnificent repertoires provided by these newly discovered highly talented Filipino artists.

In short, the democratization of information (via technology platform) and increasing social mobility appears to have played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the success story for these Filipino celebrities of globalization.

And count me in as a fan of the market elected talents.