> Glimpses
from the past
Vacation in the Philippines is always an exciting event
particularly in April and May – months of town fiesta
celebrations.
The typical town fiesta is both a religious and social event
heralded among other things by: a novena, a “peryahan (games and
rides and plastic toys),” selection of Fiesta Queen and court,
parades, food, relatives, baptisms, sponsors and the town dance.
The fiesta tradition has evolved over the years, and the aspects
of celebration have changed too. Case in point: the town plaza
dance.
A year ago while vacationing in Bicol, I had the chance to be with
fellow Balikbayan’s at the Nabua Pintakasi – a progressive town in
the Rinconada region. It was a grand “encuentro” of sort because
of the nightlong duel between two well-known and often hired bands
in Bicol – the Patanao and the Lagrimas Bands. Indeed, it was
quite an experience for me since I’ve never been to one in a long
time. The rural setting is a big change from the dinner-dances and
jam sessions in San Diego. Actually, the last time I’ve seen two
big bands or orchestras’ playing in tandem, “hampangan” was when I
was still a small boy.
The Nabua Pintakasi Dance was reminiscent of my hometown, the old
Tinambac’s Town Fiesta back in the late 40’s minus the big
speakers and dizzying disco lights as told to me by my Papa. But
that was during the “golden days” of the town when generous town’s
folk would chip in to pay for the big bands. When hard times
struck, the old reliable Ma-yes Sound System Service became the
norm.
You see, in the old hard time days the town-dance - that fenced-in
social encounter set to music to raise funds for so and so causes
was a rather simplistic one. Before the introduction of portable
“disco lights” and mobile, monster, decibel-rich and
eardrum-breaking audio systems, the town plaza dance was a
one-phonograph, two-loudspeaker system. The one phonograph had
state of the art controls then: a 33 or 45 knob, a volume control,
and a tone control. The operators used 45’s most of the time, and
had a felt cleaner nearby for dusting off records. There were gaps
in-between the dances and operators used these gaps to announce
that the next piece would be for the yellow ticket holders or a
special dance for the town mayor and the wife, or for the visitors
from the big city. When a “general” dance was in progress, a
collector or collectors went around collecting “donations”. The
operator’s name was plainly advertised, usually painted in bold
letters on the sound box or on the loudspeakers tied up on the
coconut tree or some post along the road. Back then, there was no
NAPOCOR so the operators brought along portable generators.
The old town plaza dance was a plethora of visual and aural
experiences: entrepreneurs sold roasted peanuts and “juicy fruit”
by the light of gas lamps; kids, too young to mingle with the
adults, played catch or ogled at couples; benches borrowed from
the nearby elementary school or rented from elsewhere; “Pepsi” or
“Kool” multi-colored triangular flags hung from twine suspended
from one end of the dance floor to the other. Ladies, coy, sat on
one side, men, shy, sat on the other. When a sweet music (slow
dance) is played, the boys begin bantering “May I dance over you?”
– and all the shyness disappears.
And of course, the moment most everybody wished would not come
will eventually come: “And now, ladies and gentlemen, our last
piece - a dance for everybody!” Mind you, Donna Summers’ “Last
Dance” was not en vogue at the time, other wise that would have
been the last piece. In those days, Victor Wood’s “What Am I
Waiting For” was always appropriate.
