In a small gig venue somewhere in Manila, Filipino songwriter-artist Keath Osk dons a hare mask with goat ears and Renaissance era-like garbs. Armed with a rustic blue guitar-lele, they immediately launch into a song that seems plucked right out of a Lord of the Rings-esque fairytale.
In this gig, they play to a room of about 20-or-so people, but online? Osk’s storytelling project, Yaelokre, has an audience in the millions.
Yaelokre made its official debut earlier this year with the release of “Harpy Hare.” In the song, Osk gives life to the story’s four main characters: a band of singing adventurers named Cole, Clementine, Perrine, and Kingsley. Each character has its own voice and accent – all performed by Osk themselves – and they sing a vague, mythical tune asking a “Hare” where they buried their children.
The song and its visuals spread like wildfire on TikTok and YouTube, eventually gaining Osk over 8.5 million views on the music video for “Harpy Hare” and over one million followers on TikTok. And then came the icing on the cake: “Harpy Hare” debuted at the number one spot on Spotify’s Global Viral Songs Chart last July 15. It remained on the top for nine days straight, and as of writing, continues to stay at the top half of the chart for 21 days in a row.
However, “Harpy Hare” is just the tip of the iceberg. In March of this year, Osk released the first Yaelokre EP, titled Hayfields. “Meadowlark is a field where everything [I] foster is kept,” Osk reveals in a YouTube video for the track “Hartebeest.” “From each narrative, song, and characters, it is not a place but rather a bridge. A story that tells stories within more. A fairytale! Hayfields serves as a prelude, the more songs are released, the more the stories [progress].”
Given the non-chronological way of storytelling, many new fans find themselves lost with the current lore surrounding Yaelokre. What we do know so far is that the “main faces” of the story are the four singing adventurers: Cole, Clementine, Perrine, and Kingsley. Together, they make up a musical ensemble called “The Lark.” Cole, who wears a hare’s mask, is the leader while their stage partner Clementine wears a goat’s mask. Perrine dons a moose mask while Kingsley has a tree mask.
The Lark perform plays on small wooden stages with songs that were once sung by The Harkers: four wandering singers who seem to be the artists that The Lark are representing through their masks. While not much is known yet about the Harkers, we know their names: The Storyteller, Yarrow (the) Bell-ringer, the Enkindled, and the Croon.
According to YouTube comments by Osk, ethnicity and gender do not exist in this world, which may explain why in a short skit uploaded on the YouTube channel, Kingsley refers to a certain “Tita Amara” despite all of them having seemingly European accents.
The mystery surrounding these characters and the world that Osk is building have only furthered more interest in the project, with many people drawing their own original characters or making theories about the Yaelokre world. You even have fans all over the world recreating the choreography for “Harpy Hare,” and garnering millions upon millions of views.
For college student and fan Esther Comia, the secret to Yaelokre’s success comes down to the magic of Osk’s story. “I think ‘Harpy Hare’ went viral because it attracts an audience that appreciates music that’s full of wonder and magic. It takes you to a world of reeds and hay, and animals prancing about and I think it appeals to a lot of curious and whimsical minds!”
“Yaelokre’s ability to bring their stories to life through visuals and music enticed many other artists and storytellers, there’s just something so distinctive about their artistic prowess. I think that’s why it went viral. It’s different and it pulls you to their world.”
This magic isn’t just felt online. Comia, who attended Osk’s gig in Manila, shared how watching Yaelokre live was a memory she “needed to preserve.”
“Watching them perform felt like listening to a bard in a tavern, it was wildly immersive. They played the kind of music that was perfect for frolicking in the fields, daydreaming, or sitting around a campfire telling stories. It felt like wonder, like magic.”
When we talk about the Filipino music industry, it’s easy to see representatives from “traditional” genres – P-Pop, rock, hip-hop, and their ilk. However, Yaelokre proves that you don’t need to conform to the mainstream to make magic.
As Comia herself shares, “I was so excited [when I found out about Yaelokre] because it was the first time I’d ever seen any OPM artist close to my age do the kind of storytelling I aspire to do and be really successful in crafting that identity.”
So when people say that the future of OPM is bright, Yaelokre is part of that vibrant future – one that’s filled with magic, mystery, and wonder.
Listen to Yaelokre’s Hayfields below.
– Rappler.com
