Budots
Budots (/buˈdɔːts/; boo-DOTS) is a grassroots electronic dance music (EDM) genre that originated in Davao City, Philippines, and is considered as street style hiphop. It eventually spread in Bisaya-speaking regions. Based on house music and Sama-Bajau tangonggo rhythms, it is regarded as the first "Filipino-fied" electronic music, characterized by its heavy use of percussion, hypnotic bass, high-pitched "tiw ti-ti-tiw" whistle hooks, and organic noises that surround the city.[2] It is created to complement a form of freestyle street dance that bears the same name.[1]
Budots
2009, Davao City, Philippines
Etymology[edit]
Budots is a Bisaya slang word for slacker (Tagalog: tambay).[1] An undergraduate thesis published in University of the Philippines Mindanao suggests the slang originated from the Bisaya word burot meaning "to inflate," a euphemism to the glue-sniffing juvenile delinquents called "rugby boys." The publication also claims that rugby boys dance in a style that would be called budots to disguise their drug use.[4][3] It can also be traced from the Bisaya word tabudots, which means "a person dancing with unpredictable movements."[5]
Depictions in popular culture[edit]
Budots first appeared in Philippine mainstream media in 2008 when Ruben Gonzaga, the winner of Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 2, performed the dance steps on national TV. An episode of GMA Network's news magazine program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho featured a segment about budots in 2012.[1] In an effort to explain a regional subculture to a Metro Manila-based TV audience, host Jessica Soho called the budots dance as the Philippines' counterpart to other dance crazes at the time such as the dougie in the United States and the "horse dance" in Gangnam Style by Psy of South Korea, describing it as "seemingly freestyle like the pandanggo."[18] She also said that in some instances, the performers did the "spageti dance" that was popularized by SexBomb Girls, but they spent much of the time grinding while in a squatting position that it was deemed vulgar by people who were unfamiliar with the genre.[8][19]
BuwanBuwan, a Filipino electronic music collective, released a playlist of budots music in 2017 as part of their monthly challenge to their producers. Each track featured excerpts from speeches of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, a resident of Davao City.[1][5] London-based collective and label Eastern Margins released a compilation album titled "Redline Legends," which features reinterpretations of East and Southeast Asian dance music genres such as budots, Vietnam's vinahouse, and Indonesia's funkot.[20]
D'Squared Cru, a street dance group from Davao City, won second place in VIBE PH Dance Competition in 2018 after performing a routine that featured budots tracks namely Budotz by Q-York, Asukarap, and Kiat Jud Dai.[21] Their choreography to the Kiat Jud Dai segment became viral in China after multiple content creators on TikTok and other social media replicated the dance steps, which they referred to as the "electric pendulum dance" (电摆舞, diàn bǎi wǔ).[22][23] Chinese celebrity Wang Yibo danced to Kiat Jud Dai in an episode of Upward Everyday variety show on Hunan Television.[24]
D'Squared Cru participated in the first season of World of Dance Philippines in 2019, also performing to budots, but failed to pass the Qualifiers.[25] The group then flew to China that same year to participate in Shenzhen Satellite TV's Dance in Step. Their Round 1 performance featured their viral budots choreography, which impressed all three judges.[26]
The documentary Budots: The Craze by Jay Rosas and Mark Paul Limbaga explored the music genre and its dance style, featuring an interview with DJ Love. According to Sun Star of Davao City, the film "raises questions on creative gatekeeping and the extent of ownership", as DJ Love's music was played on Filipino TV networks without proper acknowledgment and compensation. He also alleged a YouTuber claimed ownership of his popular mixes.[2] The documentary premiered in 2019 at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 43rd Gawad Urian Award.[1][27]
A restaurant in Cagayan de Oro had its waitstaff dance to budots once the disco lights were turned on.[28] An advertisement for Lucky Me! Pancit Canton in 2019 used budots as a mnemonic device for its "No Drain Cooking" method.[29]
In February 2023, Manila Community Radio won Boiler Room's sixth Broadcast Lab grant to mount a showcase spotlighting budots and its many mutations.[30][31] The Broadcast Lab grant scheme funds ideas in the broadcasting space, and brings new audiences to underrepresented scenes, communities, and artists.[32] The recording session took place in April 2023 at an undisclosed location, featuring DJ Love, Libya Montes, Teya Logos, Showtime Official Club, T33G33, Hideki Ito, obese.dogma777, and Pikunin.[33][31]
Budots remixes of popular songs have become mainstays in Philippine festivals, local radio stations, and Christmas parties. It has also become a form of "uncool" yet non-derogatory self-expression.[1]
The 2022 Irish-Filipino horror film Nocebo also features Budots as part of its soundtrack.[34]