“Punk Mi Bai”: The Iligan City Hardcore Punk Movement

Abstract

This study details the Iligan City Hardcore Punk Movement as a subculture in the music scene with its own style, event preferences and ideologies. The lifeworld of the Punx, as members are called, is described using focus ethnography through the sociological lens of Emile Durkheim's notion of the collective effervescence and the New Social Movements Theory. The study examines the Punx experiences in terms of their sense of collective identity and through its adapted influences. This also describes how the local music scene operates as an influence itself. The study reveals that during events (shows and gigs), this movement comes together and spontaneously communicates collective thoughts and ideologies in a collective effervescence as one unified unit. It is argued that this is an emerging New Social Movement as punk operates in social mobilization through cultural innovation, identity and lifestyle transformation, with self-limiting radicalism against the social establishments and existing structures. The Iligan City Hardcore Punk Movement is a collective of individuals that exists under the nose of mainstream music culture. They are often misunderstood and branded negatively but persists on preserving their autonomous and often-underappreciated contribution to the music community in particular, and the public in general.