Agsunta ‘signing off,’ takes down YouTube videos

MANILA — Four years after their music breakthrough, the band Agsunta announced on Wednesday it was “signing off,” and took down all of its videos on YouTube where it first grew in popularity for their unique covers of OPM hits.

In a video uploaded on their social media channels, members Jireh Singson, Mikel Arevalo, Josh Planas, and Stephen Arevalo revealed the “painful” decision, without giving a specific reason behind it.

“Masakit man at mahirap man, kailangan na muna namin itigil ‘to,” Singson said. “Kami naman muna. It was four years of solid OPM, ilang taon ng pagsasama, at pagpapadama sa inyo ng pagmamahal naming apat, pagmamahal nating lahat sa OPM.”

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The six-minute video also saw the members reminiscing the beginnings of Agsunta, as well as the band’s milestones. (It signed with ABS-CBN’s Star Music in July 2017.) They acknowledged criticisms they had received, both well-intentioned and demeaning, from both fans and industry colleagues.

“Hindi naman tago sa kaalaman ng iba na may mga harsh comments sa amin. May mga nanlalait, may mga nagagalit, may mga todo pa nga magsalita… Galing ‘to sa mga iba’t-ibang tao, mula sa mga followers namin, bata, matanda, magulang, sa mga katropa at hindi namin katropa sa industriya.

“Wala kaming sinabi, wala kaming ginawa, tumahimik lang kami. Hindi dahil sa tama ang mga galit, ang mga panlalait at comments, kundi dahil sa respeto namin sa boses ng bawat isa,” Singson said.

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It was unclear whether Agsunta was permanently disbanding, or would be on an indenifite hiatus, but Singson did tell fans, “We will see you around.”

“Isa lang mapapangako namin,” he went on. “Patuloy kaming gagawa ng musika para sa inyo, hangga’t mayroong mga taong nakikinig, hangga’t mayroong mga taong naniniwala sa amin, hangga’t mayroong mga taong napapasaya at nagbabago ang buhay dahil sa’min. We will always make music for you guys.”