Rising record label Widescope Entertainment delivered bold strokes in creating its lean-but-mean talent roster, signing young acts with great potential and putting in a couple of established names to solidify the pool’s balanced mix.

The weight of that blend is touchingly felt by way of the Christmas EP release “Pagmamahal Ngayong Pasko” dropped in digital stores today, Nov. 19. It essentially gathers the label’s artists as a unified variety; their collective craftsmanship competent and caressing.

“I’m very proud of all the songs in this collection,” said the label’s iconic A&R manager and record producer Ebe Dancel. “Our artists really worked hard on their tracks and recorded them despite the limitations and challenges brought about by the pandemic. Each song has a different flavor, but the compilation is a solid effort, with each track reminding us about the real reason for the season.”

Ebe, along with the country’s bossa nova queen Sitti, provides the muscle that a seasoned act necessarily provides in a carefully selected pack of young blood thrusted into the label run by industry experts.

The EP of six songs opened and ended on a high note, not literally as Sitti’s elegantly jazzy “Malapit Na Ang Pasko” welcomes listeners to a stretch of feel-good, heartfelt takes on the spirit of love and the Yuletide season. Then four tracks from youthfully dynamic artists beef up the collection, with the Letrang Norte duo showcasing their rich vocal harmonies and knack for intelligent arrangement in “Ngayong Pasko,” followed by the upbeat pop “Reason For The Season” by the trio of 46 Hope St.

Widescope music and entertainment director Neil Gregorio noted, “This is an important release for us, sharing in a small way our vision of unity through collective works from our artists, and coming together as one despite differing musical preferences.”

The EP’s fourth track offers the sentimental balladry of Jam Quijano with his composition “Pag-ibig Noong Pasko.” It’s a standout track that puts on display his sincere voice.

Then the girl-power quartet of Catharsis comes into the picture with their version of the traditional tune “Deck The Halls.” It’s a Yuletide classic rendered in girl band sound that charmingly prepares listeners to the big climax that is the title track.

The last song gathers everyone in Widescope family into the booth, albeit just in communal spirit, including Tim Allen, Bongclinks, Noel Mendez, and Ebe himself. Once the chorus of the ensemble piece written by Jam comes in, you’ll easily identify that it’s Ebe singing.

Now a doting mother to two little kids and a loving wife-businesswoman, Sitti, whose own voice towers with warmth and wonder when placed into the fusion, expressed her thought on her label’s commendable effort to pull everyone together: “We need to support each other, encourage and let each other flourish if we are to keep our industry alive. We have to help each other’s music be heard.”

In the vein of Warren Wiebe in the now-classic "Voices That Care," she wistfully delivered the EP’s final line, “Ngayong pasko magregalo ka ng pag-ibig,” which summed up the whole idea of the endeavor. It's quite a statement project from a company that hopes to spread the message of how a new label should be run in a digital, challenging world.

The recording process was a major challenge in itself as most of the artists had to obviously do the recordings remotely. But not after considering the idea of the whole team being in the same room as everybody hoped to. Gregorio, who supervised the proceedings, said, “Ideally we would like to record all our artists in one go in the studio, but given our current situation we opted to do the recordings separately for each artist.”

With the EP wrapping up the label’s significantly busy record release run for the entirety of 2021, Widescope Entertainment President Vic de Vera lightly abridged the meaning of it all: “I believe Christmas is love. The music we make inadvertently brings out one’s true feelings and affection. It would be the best time of the year where we realize most deeply that when more love is shared, joy overflows in every person’s heart.”

Ebe added, “Now is the time to collaborate and feed off from each other's strengths. Music, for Widescope artists, is camaraderie personified.”