For its eighth year, independent music festival September Fever returns to Cebu City with one goal in mind: to bring regional music to the forefront. Long considered one of the country’s most consistent independent festivals outside Manila, the 2025 edition marks a major shift with its first-ever slate of international guests. South Korean indie pop group Hathaw9y, Singapore’s Subsonic Eye, and math rock outfit Dabda will join VisMin mainstays and rising talent onstage this September.
While the festival is intended to introduce up-and-coming names, it’s also about building on the legacy of acts who laid the groundwork for today’s VisMin scene. Past inspirations like hip-hop collective No Pets Allowed, reggae veterans Junior Kilat, pop-rockers Missing Filemon, and heavyweights Urbandub all helped define what a successful VisMin act could look like on a national scale. For this festival, the aforementioned acts have opened the door for younger artists like R&B singer Zeke Abella, indie folk writer Vincent Eco, and surf pop band Sansette to take up space not just in Cebu’s September Fever but across the country.
In this year’s lineup blends new and known. You’ll find Bakeshopboyz, a Bisaya hip-hop act under the guidance of rapper Cookie$, and Davao’s jazz-pop band Cerise alongside Cagayan de Oro’s blues-fusion outfit Evita. These are acts that are already growing their own respective followings in their hometowns, but limited stage time in Metro Manila. September Fever flips that narrative by inviting not just Manila audiences to come down, but also offering a real platform built for artists from the south.
“There’s always been talent in this region, but the visibility has always been the gap,” says co-director Kara Angan in a press statement. “We wanted to create a space where we could bring together independent acts from Visayas, Mindanao, and the rest of Asia.”
Councilor Joel Garganera also announced plans last March of this year to propose the Bisaya Music Preservation and Promotion Ordinance, adding policy weight to the cultural push. But festivals like September Fever already do what ordinances can’t: get the music heard, felt, and remembered.
Pocket shows, music workshops, and the music festival proper will also run across Cebu on September 7 and September 8.
