MANILA, Philippines?Saturday, May 16, we made sure that we caught the initial telecast of ?The Next Big Star,? hosted by Regine Velasquez, on GMA-7, because we were bullish about its ?mission? to discover tomorrow?s singing stars. Since every other Filipino sings well, we were optimistic that the new singing search would be able to come up with a really promising batch of semi-finalists.

After the show?s first telecast had ended, however, we were no longer as upbeat. What went wrong? The first and most damaging factor was the wrongheaded view of some of the people who conducted auditions for the tilt that ?birit? singing ability was a plus point for young singers joining the competition.

Conclusion

We came to this conclusion after viewing the show, because we kept track of the ?birit? performers featured, and found that the majority of the contenders who made it to the TV show were birit-singing exponents.

Truth to tell, we felt sad to hear one young singer after another screaming, screeching and bleating out all those high notes, in their kneejerk attempt to impress both jurors and viewers.

The overwhelming preponderance of birit belters was proof of the wrongheaded musical values prevalent in these parts. We hoped that the program?s decision-makers and jurors would rethink their own musical values?for the sake of all those millions of young singing wannabes out there whose musical future is in danger of being sorely compromised and damaged by the birit blight.

Now, for the good news: Last May 23, the show cut its auditionees down to 40, and many of the birit singers didn?t make the cut. Many of the 40 who did sounded sensible and promising, so ?The Next Big Star? could turn out to be a good showcase for some really interesting and outstanding talents.

This early, we can spot some five or six semifinalists who have it in them to make it as the music industry?s latest star-discoveries. They possess the unique combination of looks, talent and charisma that spell musical stardom in these parts.

Now that most of the birit bets have been canceled out, we thank the show?s board of judges for favoring genuine talent over sheer lung power. We trust that other young singers will take note of their generally judicious preferences for real talent and similarly favor harmony over noise in their own approach to singing.