Blooming new Filipino girl group Bini performs in Winnipeg

August 16, 2024 Canuck

Remember when Korean pop music — K-pop — took the world by storm? Well, a new melodic hurricane is bound for landfall in Canada.

Bini, an emerging girl group from the Philippines, is performing Friday night at the Centennial Concert Hall, and fans among the Filipino community in Winnipeg are looking forward to jamming along.

Bini first became a viral sensation when their song Pantropiko became a TikTok dance craze.

The group, composed of eight women, is known for their catchy upbeat tunes. Their latest single, Cherry on Top, garnered one million streams on Spotify less than 24 hours after its release.

Their fans call themselves Blooms. Here in Canada, many Blooms have sprung.

Ejhay Perez is in Winnipeg from Edmonton — she’s attending all four stops of the Bini Canadian Tour. She has been to Vancouver and Edmonton and Toronto will be the last stop.

Bini’s latest single, Cherry on Top, garnered one million streams on Spotify less than 24 hours after its release. (ABS CBN Corporate)

Bini was an accidental discovery for Perez, who had the girls come up on her algorithm by chance a year and a half ago.
It’s important to her to show her support as a fan.

“Even though Bini doesn’t know me, I want [them] to know that I support them, especially because it’s their first international concert,” Perez said.

“We’ve been waiting for this. I don’t want to miss anything.”

For Bini’s first international tour, Perez commissioned an artist and spent money out of her own pocket to print out almost 5,000 hand banners to give away to fellow fans during the concert. She’ll print more of them for the group’s last stop.

“We don’t want to gatekeep Bini from other people. So we want to show the world who Bini is, and I want them to know more of Bini. Especially the songs and the meaning of their songs,” Perez said.

A girl talks to a reporter in front of the camera — Caydence Simpson is a K-pop fan who discovered Bini through social media and friends. (Jeff Schmidt/CBC)

The Bini phenomenon is not exclusive to the Filipino community.

Caydence Simpson is a K-pop fan who discovered Bini through social media and her friends. She says P-pop has a lot of similarities to K-pop.

“I really like their style, and the way their outfits are styled, and the style of their music videos,” Simpson said. “It’s just very fresh and colourful and it really goes well with a young audience.”

A Filipino man with glasses smiles for the camera. — JP Sumbillo says Winnipeggers are lucky to see Filipino stars face-to-face. (Jeff Schmidt/CBC)

JP Sumbillo co-founded and co-manages the Facebook page 204 Live Music, which shares updates and posts about events within the Filipino community in Winnipeg. When he first came to Winnipeg in 2006, only a few entertainers would come to serenade the community, he said.

Now there’s at least three or four acts a month.

“This time we are very lucky to see Filipino artists straight from the Philippines,” Sumbillo said.

“Some artists I haven’t seen in the Philippines face-to-face, but here, you can actually see them and watch them face-to-face.”

For him, concerts such as Bini’s bring the community together.

“Winnipeg is like Little Manila, you know. It’s very exciting. It strengthens the culture of our original Filipino music.”