The Philippines’ bustling Manila music scene of the 1990s nurtured a generation of acts that redefined local pop and rock, blending global influences with uniquely Filipino perspective to create work that resonated both at home and abroad. Among the most beloved of these acts is Parokya Ni Edgar, a group widely hailed as the nation’s reigning court jesters, whose discography spans witty pop-punk and earnest pop tracks that carry the same playful, sharp edge that defined their career from its earliest days. The band first came together as a group of six students at Manila’s Ateneo High School, bonding over a shared love of irreverent, subversive music that rejected the polished sterility of much mainstream pop at the time. Initially performing under the name Comic Relief, the group cut their teeth playing parodies of well-known hit songs, honing the craft of reworking familiar material to fit their own playful voice that would become their signature for decades to come.