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Songs Of Dead Singers Should Not Die With Them by Quirico M. Gorpido.Jr.

Maasin City, Southern Leyte-I have observed that many of the songs of already dead popular singers have ceased to be played on the airwaves of many radio stations both AMs and FMs.Why? Does it really mean that when popular singers die, their songs will also die with them? I dont think so and its not necessary either.

Songs of dead singers, whether popular or not, should not die with them. When two of the popular Cebuano singers died in separate occasions, their respective songs were played on the airlanes by different radio stations in Cebu on the very day of their death. It was continued the following day.

After their death however,Al Commendador s and Jaime Salazars songs that were mostly original renditions and some were adaptation songs have gradually faded away. And for several years now after their death, I could rarely hear their songs played on the airwaves in radio stations in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Popular singers for instance like Buddy Haley, Sue Thompson who died due to accidental plane crashes, including those who died a natural death or diseases like Diomedes Maturan,Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Benn Zubiri,Del Shanon,Elvis Presley to mention a few have also suffered the same feat. Some of their songs,nevertheless,can only be heard in the internet, but not in the popular medium which is the radio, that are portable and accessible for the poor listeners in the rural areas where broadcasting is the most sought-after.

Are popular singers like Pauline Sevilla,Nora Hermosa, Louie Levant(Luis Relevante in real life),Bobby Gonzales, Ruben Tagalog,Cenon Lagman,Merci Molina, Linda Alcid,Carmen Soriano still alive? Why is it that we do not hear their songs anymore play on the airlanes side by side with the current hits? The songs of these singers whether original or adaptations are still good to hear. Young generations of music lovers will surely appreciate their songs as well since it has different kind s of melodies that likewise will steer their imagination and appetite for music.

Their kinds of songs are irreplaceable and theres no amount of conscious substitution that could equal the way they have delivered their renditions in their own styles. Some new and young singers may cover some of their songs but still their re-make renditions are a far cry from those of the originals.

Putting their songs in the shelves of oblivion is an utter waste of talents and resources that the world of music and sounds would be devoid of music variation.

There were so many Cebuano songs that I was hearing and listening to when I was in the elementary and in high school in Ozamis City, which to these days have gone away from our airwaves. Other songs that we have not heard anymore on the airlanes,whether some of these bands members were already dead or still alive were the songs of the Hermans Hermites,Dave Clark Five, The Searchers, The Animals, The Monkees, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, The Cascades, The Turtles, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Gerry and the Peacemakers, Celia Black, Dusty Springfield,Lulu,Patsy Cline, Bobby Vinton, Fabulous Echoes, The Hollies, The Ghost Squad, Shamrock and the pharoahs,TheLettermen,Petula Clark, Brenda Lee, Connie Francis,Timi Yuro,Patti Page,Niel Sedaka,Paul Anka,Andy Williams, among other popular singers of yesteryears.

Where are the original English songs of Nora Aunor,Pelita Corrales, Julie Andrews,Merci Molina, Linda Alcid,Diomedes Maturan,Taks Huguete dubbed as Cebus crystal voice and Celia Black? Aside from having nice voices, the quality of their original songs or even those that they have covered are worthy to be played on the airwaves for the listening pleasure and entertainment of all AM/FM listeners as some sort of varieties.

Disc Jockeys of various radio stations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao need to consider the songs of the abovementioned popular bands and other singers to be played on their respective musical programmings.They themselves can listen to their songs during their breaks. Listening it for the sake of variety if they are indeed red-blooded music lovers. If they are, they will likewise appreciate their songs that are worth listening to.

Recording companies of the past years that are still existing may have kept some files(records\albums)of these popular singers and bands. Some of them can also be search in the internet for downloading and mass-producing their songs on CDs and make it available in all music stores and record bars nationwide.

These songs can then be played side by side with the new songs and current hits to provide variety for the thousands of listeners of radio stations, either AMs or FMs.

Red-blooded music lovers who are now in their 40s 50s,60s and even those in their 70s would be happy to see on boxstands,cabinets,record shelves and display tables the past songs on CDs.They would be catering and even savoring to buy these songs from our popular singers of yesteryears either the soloists or the bands.

Im sure that the new generations of music lovers who are red-blooded will also like the songs of the aforementioned bands and soloists, if only they will care to listen to it.

One time at the boarding house, I played a cassette tape containing the songs of the Hermans Hermits. One visiting college student who heard the songs asked me if the songs were new. Instead of answering him right away I asked him to try to guess who the band was.He said that he could not distinguish who the band was. Then I told him that he was listening to the songs of the Hermans Hermits who was one of the poplar bands in the 1960s,70s and 80s.

I admonished him to listen to other songs of other popular bands of yesteryears. I gave him the list of other contemporary bands of the Hermans Hermits, like those I have mentioned earlier in this article. I included also in the list some soloists of the past, both males and females.

As I have stated earlier, red-blooded music lovers both young and old want to listen to a wide variety of tunes and a wide variety of music and sounds. They are not contented listening to just limited arrays of songs on record trays, but a wide range of its genres.

As you see and perceive, the label like old or new songs are only superficial distinction and not the reality of its existence. If songs were pleasant and pleasing to hear in the past, its pleasantness and pleasingness will not fade but will remain like a fresh and newly-released songs to new listeners.

Songs that were composed in the past years and those that are today have both existed in the minds of composers and musicians. The only time and place that they burst into maturity is when its composers and lyricists will start writing their words in harmony with its melodies.

In other words, songs are ageless no matter how time has traveled through decades .Only man will aged. On the same vein, the songs of dead singers regardless of their nationalities, races or colors, are their only living legacies to the living and their loves ones. And that their variety of song renditions are worthy of sharing and keeping among music consumers to provide them with continual availability of unceasing music for their full entertainment, satisfaction and pleasure. (Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)

P.S. Very important announcement. Calling all Maasin City dwellers including those in the citys 70 barangays. Please practice regularly the habit of frequent segregation in all your garbage before putting it outside your households during the designated days of scheduled collectionsMondays,Wednesdays and Fridays. Do not mix two kinds of wastes/garbage.Only one of its kind.Plastics for plastic wastes, biodegradables for biodegradables,steel or iron for kind of hard materials,broken glasses for glasses,etc. Mixing two kinds of wastes on either of its kind is now strictly prohibited for good purpose. Mixing biodegradables with non-biodegradables or anything hard will damage the teeth of the grinders during the grinding time for biodegradables.The grinded biodegradables from the wastes materials gathered during collections are made into organic fertilizers

for the plants which is much cheaper price for the farmers and planters. Please cooperate. From concerned citizens of the city in favor of the City Government.

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