Chabacano songfest on

Deadline for the 2008 Chabacano Song Festival, a highlight of the Grand Zamboanga Hermosa Festival is set for Friday, September 26.

Now on its 26th year, the chabacano song tilt is one of the city government's efforts to preserve the chabacano language, the only one of its kind in the country and entire Asia, earning Zamboanga the title as "Asia's Latin City".

The competition is the brain child of the late Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat, who initiated the tilt when she was still the president of the defunct First United Broadcasting Corporation (FUBC) in 1982.

Entries for the songfest are to be submitted not later than Sept. 26 (Friday), during office hours at the Office of the City Tourism at the Sunken Garden or at the Office of the Barangay Affairs in City Hall.

Any entry should be original in tune and lyrics in chabacano with only guitar or organ accompaniment during the contest proper. It should be at least and not more than 3 minutes.

The entry should be submitted for the first time and was not considered as an entry in previous chabacano song festivals; submitted with accomplished entry form of the contest and submitted with the corresponding copy of the musical chords and lyrics of the song within the prescribed period.

Audition and final elimination will be on Sept. 29, 2008 (Sunday) at the Jardin Maria Clara in Pasonanca.

Actual contest will be on October 9, 2008 at the Garden Orchid Hotel. Prizes at stake are P10, 000 for the first prize; P5, 000 for the second prize and P3, 000 for the third prize. The owner of the entry that will be selected as best in composition will get a prize of P5, 000.

All entries are considered an official property of the city government as the organizer of the contest and that the decisions of the board of judges are considered final. (City Hall PIO)