New Generations Of Music Lovers Must Also Listen To The Songs/Music Of The Past

Aug. 16,2010
New Generations Of Music Lovers Must Also Listen To The Songs/Music Of The Past
By Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.

The new generations of music lovers, not only in the Philippines, but also in other countries of the world, must listen, not only the new songs but also the popular songs of yesteryears. They should not confine their listening/hearing only of the present and new songs. If the young music lovers of today who have also listened to the songs of Bob Marley, the original creator of reggae in the 1960s, they should as well listen to the songs and music of the past decades including instrumental pieces done in guitars and pianos.One of the famous guitar instrumentalists in the past who I liked was Chit Atkins.My uncles and aunts in Ozamis City,every now and then,used to play Atkins' pieces whenever they were relaxing or doing their things at home.
Bob Marley, who has passed away for several years now, has remained alive in the minds and hearts of those young generations who preferred to listen to his reggae songs, than the new albums of loud drumming from some bands.
Bands and soloists/singers whose songs and music would provide wide variety of tunes and melodies are worth listening to and learning to sing their songs. There are too many of them to mention their names that other popular bands and singers might slip in my tongue. However, I will try to recall as best as I could to give guidance to the younger generations of music lovers.
The singers here that I’m going to mention are not only the local talents but also British, Americans and other nationalities who have tasted popularity during their younger days. The singers here that I’m going to mention are either dead or alive.
Nevertheless, though singers/vocalists may have their destiny of death, their songs should not, and ought not to die with them. Their kind of songs can no longer be composed by any songwriter/composer of the present generation. Each songwriter, each composer or musician has a varied gift of doing music from decade to decade, and from past to the present era. This should be the main reason that full-blooded, real music lovers must listen to a wide variety of tunes and wide variety of songs. They should not be contented with listening only to the current hits.
The popular singers/bands that I’m going to mention here starts from the 1950s and up- down to memory lanes that I can recollect.
Here they are “Buddy Haley,Temptations,Four Seasons, The platters, The Four Aces, Nat “King” Cole, Steve Lawrence, Frank Sinatra,ElvisPresley,Jerry Vale, Patti Page, Perry Como, Brenda Lee,Timi Yuro,Connie Francis, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Rolling Stones, The Beattles,Dave Clark Five, The Searchers, Gerry and the Peacemakers,TheTurtles,The Animals, The Monkees,Gary Lewis and the Playboys,Hermans’ Hermits, Celia Black, Dusty Springfield, Vikki Carr,Paul Anka,Niel Sedaka,Julie Andrews,Anita Briant,Vic Damone,Bryan Hyland,Del Shannon, Bobby Vinton, Sarah Vaughn,Merci Molina, Linda Alcid,Eddie Peregrina,Victor Wood,Niel Diamond, Niel Sedaka,Paul Anka,Andy Williams, Carol King, Jaime Salazar,Al Commendador,Serges De La Piña Taks Huguete(dubbed “the crystal voice” of Cebu),Nora Aunor’s original English songs, Pauline Sevilla,Pelita Corrales’ songs in Cebuano, English and Tagalog,Ruben Tagalog,Cenon Lagman,Ric Manrique,Freddie Fender, Julie Andrews, Jack Jones, Cliff Richard, Joseph Folk(dubbed the Nat King Cole of the Philippines),Beach Boys, The Fabulous Echoes, The Gallery, The Stylistics, The Lettermen, Apo Hiking Society,Aegis,Dulce de Amour,Vina Morales,Rico Puno,The Commodores, Sergio Mendez and his group, The Spiral Staircase,TheVillage People, VST and Company,Hagibis,Bee Gees, The Hollies, Donna Warwick, Diana Rose,Bobby Gonzales, among others singers and bands.
Some of the popular singers/soloists and bands I have mentioned here can be viewed/accessed in the internet because they have their own websites where fans can download some of their songs for free.
In the past when there was only AM radio, no TV channels and no FM,the announcers/disc jockeys who would always play new songs on the air for its promotions to gain familiarity and popularity to the listeners would always mentioned the names of the singers or bands of each song after it would be played. They would repeat the mentioning of the names of the singers or bands that they have been playing on the air for several weeks. After 2 or three weeks of regular enunciations of the singers and bands’ names, they would stop the announcing and just played it from time to time. This system has had helped me in remembering the names of some singers and bands in the past. This is aside from my curiosity and the enthusiasm of asking records sellers at the bar or store bearing the names of the singers or bands whose songs I have come to like.
I have also learned later that when I was a kid some of the songs that I have listened and come to like and love them were not only the songs of the 1950s but also the songs in the 1930s and 1940s.
Enjoy and ride on the trip to memory lanes of songs and music and entertain ourselves with the “newly-discovered” treasures of entertainment which probably you did not yet heard during the previous years; except when I have opened to you the gate to discover them hidden under the shelves of oblivion or covered by dust in your parents’ closets or at the many radio stations that keep them, but did not play them because their were no requests to play. But how can you make a request to play any kind of songs if you do not know the title and the name of the singer who sang it? Playing regularly all the songs available inside a radio station without waiting for any request from any listener would make them expose and be recognized and appreciated by all the music lovers and listeners.
Young generations of music lovers must also listen to the songs written in their respective Mother Tongues. This is extremely important to do aside from listening also to the classical music of Mozart, Beethoven,Joseph Haydn and their contemporaries. According to an internationally-known pianist Emmanuel Lacson Cruz, all kinds of music whether pop,jazz,rap,rock,among others, have come from classical music.
Read also related article entitled “Yesteryears Songs, Regional Songs And New Songs Must Be Played Side By Side On The Airwaves” published /posted here in my blog on March 7,2010.Click the month of March and look for it. (Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)