Cebu center of culture

I am happy with my small collection of old long playing vinyl records. During my free time, I clean them and repair their torn jackets. Whenever the albums are hopelessly brittle, I make new ones with prints from modern day internet and a state-of-the-art printer.

These antiquated sources of wholesome music are simply called "plaka" but I do not know how the term evolved.

Ever so often, I play these records using an antique technology called turntable which is a part of my decades-old but still reliable Pioneer component. The relaxation that I savor when I hear the songs of such great singers as Tony Bennett, Vic Damone and Eddie Fisher, one of the ex-husbands of movie star Elizabeth Taylor, is beyond compare.

In the early morning last Monday, I wanted to start my week with a different air. Instead of enjoying the so-called "oldies but goldies" in the songs of Frank Sinatra, Jerry Vale, Andy Williams and my favorite crooner, John Gary, I lined up few LP's with local titles and singers. I thought of contributing a few of the vinyl discs to the museum of Dr. Jose R. Gullas, after listening to them.

It was supposed to be a rare occasion, playing for the last time few "plaka" before giving them up to a museum for the benefit of future generation. To my shock, Sa Kabukiran, which was cut number 1, Side A, of the album I chose to spin and which is among the most popular of the old Visayan songs I have come to know, was not sung in Cebuano. The lyrics used were in Tagalog. It is not that I hold anything against our countrymen from Luzon, but I did not know that there was a Tagalog adaptation of that song and the others in the same LP. When I examined the 33 1/3 rpm record, I noticed that there were no credits given to the composers. The net result of such failure to print the names of the composers was to project them as if they were originally written in Tagalog by Luzonian minds.

How many songs created by Cebuano writers have been copied elsewhere without as much as a formal consent previously obtained? Do we know, for example, that Kasadya Ning Taknaa, a very famous Cebuano composition has a Tagalog version but no efforts have been made to indicate the original composer of the song such that the Tagalogs think that it was composed by one among them?

Realistically speaking, I would rather not want to talk about violations of intellectual property rights because while that process is most logical, it is also both tricky and expensive to the parties concerned.

There is a need for the leadership of the Province of Cebu, not only to right the wrong done unto the heirs of the composers of great Cebuano songs by intellectual pirates, but more importantly to establish an environment that is most conducive to advance Cebuano culture especially in the field of music. To be sure, there are already herculean tasks undertaken by private individuals. Among the more notable efforts are those exerted by the former Cebu Governor Eduardo R. Gullas. For many years now, he single-handedly continues to hold the Cebu Pop Music Festival. But, it is going to be a different ball game if government takes the lead.

There are very respectable officers of our province who can spearhead this move. In few meetings I had with the Honorable Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, I could sense that she has profound love of our culture. Provincial Board Members Arleigh Sitoy, Thadeo Ouano, Alex Binghay and Raymond Calderon trace their roots to distinguished lovers of art and culture.

These respectable officials are our leading lights of Cebu who can very well create a permanent office in the provincial government, a kind of Cebu Center of Culture, that is designed to promote initially this specific aspect of our love for music and later on expand the efforts to advance the entire gamut of Cebuano culture. It will be their lasting gift to us and to our future generations. The task is not entirely difficult because aside from the fact that these leaders are knowledgeable, they can tap brilliant talents relevant to the objective. I am sure that our province abounds in them. Good luck to them and all of us.

Birthday greetings to my daughter's best friend, Charisse Ledesma, who is now in Australia.