by Telly G. Ocampo
Of Phonographs and Photographs
I was excited when we bought our fourth (4th) phonograph, just recently. With the acquisition of this phonograph, inevitably, I remembered (so well) all the phonographs we had.
The first one was my husband Roger’s phonograph which he brought to our marriage. It looked like a travelling bag. Na biktima hinuon sa lungkab sa balay nga among gipuy-an sa Cebu. It was a treasured property. At that time, most gadgets of this kind were “smuggled” into the country.
The second one was acquired when we were in Medina, Misamis Oriental in the 70’s. The distributor then was Radiowealth. It was already a combination of a , radiophone and microphone. We gave this item to our laundrywoman when we left Tacloban for Bohol.
That was in the 90’s – the age of the components. In between, those years, the phonographs became obsolete. I remember there was the stereophonic. Then came the quadroophonics and finally, the components which were usually brought home from abroad by our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Ug kay uso man, nagpa-uso pud mi. Wa also had it. That was during the uso of the karaoke. And the component had several functions aside from the fact that its sound was superb. Obsolescence was fast after the rise of the components. Unya miabot ang computer age. Betamax, DVDs were gone. From those huge gadgets, we now have the smallest material that you can just insert it in your wallet – the usb. Now, we also have the magic behind the mobile phones, the wifi, the internet. We only used to see these things in the James Bond and Star Wars movies. But, today, even a kid can get hold of it – with gusto!
In all those years that we collected the long playing (LP) albums we call the mga plaka, we have collected what I consider a treasure: music of a lifetime from The Lettermen, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Ray Coniff and the Singers, Roger Whitaker, John Denver, Matt Monro, and most of all, the plaka carved when the Bohol Choral Group grabbed the Champion’s trophy in the choral contest at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The group was under the baton of our very own Mam Ekit Butalid whose husband, Nong Rolly Butalid, was then the governor of Bohol. This plaka was the most treasured by my mother Mama Gunding. She was part of this choral group with Nang Neria, Rizzy Andoy, and Nang Puriping Alas, of Baclayon Central School. The group had their swing to several places. I have their black and white enlarged photo beautifully mounted on the wall in our Karaang Balay sa Baclayon.
Christmas is in the air! As I write this article, I have a Christmas album from “The Readers Digest” fame playing in my fourth phonograph which we recently bought. The phonograph also looks like a travelling bag, colored blue. The look is updated. As I am playing the whole album of our Readers Digest Christmas collection, my reminiscing of Christmasses in the past became a joyful moment.
Looking for a new phonograph came about when Nang Meng (Carmen Gatal) called me up during this pandemic. Nangumusta siya ug okay pa ba ang akong component kay naa kunoy tig-ayo. Ako gyud gi tawagan nga magpa service pud ko sa balay para sa akong component. Pag-abot sa serviceman, miingon siya nga dili na gyud ma-ayo kay wala nay mga pyesa nga mapalit.
Finally, this week, my phonograph was brought home from Cebu. My children ordered this from a retro store in that city. So with this beautiful development, I have all my LP records cleaned and ready for playing. I played first the lettermen’s “Smile Though Your Heart Is Aching”! Im sure most men and women belonging to my age group know the lyrics and the melody by heart.
What a song amidst the Christmas air!