As a band that was described by Jedd Ong as “The Oh Hellos mixed with a touch of The Strokes, lyrics reminiscent of Huseng Batute and the book of Psalms,” Munimuni is a Filipino folk rock band whose sound is as iconic and genre-redefining as the term they coined: makata-pop (or poetry-pop, in English).

The history of this band of poets lies in all its original members, AJ “Adj” Jiao, Red Calayan and “Moses”, coming from the University of the Philippines, where they started out as The AJ Project. Shortly after “Moses” left the band, their five-man lineup started forming with the addition of John Owen Castro, TJ de Ocampo and Jolo Ferrer.

Their penchant for folk-rock compositions comes from a wide array of sources: OPM artists such as Rivermaya and Sugarfree, personal experiences and thoughts, and even Japanese culture with bands like Indigo La End. Their co-songwriter, TJ de Ocampo, even draws his inspiration from books in the Bible such as Psalms and Job when it comes to writing their songs, which is in Filipino and one that closely mirrors poetic structures, something he doesn’t see often in the local Philippine indie scene.