IN a scene from the comedy-drama flick Almost Famous, the young William Miller looked wistfully at his 18-year-old sister as she packed her stuff into a car to finally move out of the house.
She later comes back over to him and whispers, “One day, you’ll be cool… Look under your bed. It’ll set you free.”
The young boy finds a bag of his sister’s LPs, which include albums of Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan, among others. With The Who’s “Sparks” playing and a candle to light his way, the boy—as his sister promised—saw his future.
“Music… true music… it chooses you,” the Lester Bangs character said in the same movie. In some cases, the chosen ones spend a lot of resources—time and money—to find the gems that set their spirit free.
On December 2 the TresKul Records-organized “Kagatan 29” happened for the first time inside Ali Mall. Billed as a quarterly music fair, the event was characterized as “two days of fun diggin’ for vinyl, CDs, tapes and other music memorabilia.” People who trooped to the mall’s activity area got to buy, sell or trade music in the aforementioned formats.
The Ali way
IN some ways, Ali Mall—the mid-70s icon named in honor of the late, great boxer Muhammad Ali—seemed the perfect venue for what was also billed as a “throwback fair.” There happens to be a lot of history in the mall, like every record storage bin set on tables guarded by owners and traders during the event.
Inaugurated by Ali himself in 1976, Ali Mall was the place to be: air-conditioned and highlighted by a Cineplex, a food court (another first) and what was then a popular hangout for the cool kids called Skatetown. It was first to have multi-level parking with access to the mall on every floor. Some here would remember the circular driveway to reach the upper parking levels—it was a thrill for kids in the back of the car because it felt like being on a carnival ride.
Today, though small by current standards, it is undergoing its own rebirth. Just as the records being sold and traded during “Kagatan 29” are now being appreciated not just by hardcore collectors and music connoisseurs but by new converts as well, Ali Mall is also being rediscovered by people who have been enjoying its new wing called ALI X.
An acronym for “arts, lifestyle, interests, and experience[s],” Ali X is a new addition to the mall where young IG fanatics stumble upon picture-perfect sharable moments—thanks to the bright colors and interesting lamp decors calling to mind Moroccan marketplaces.
The younger shoppers find cool hangouts like Happy Music, a ukulele store that also holds lessons, and a new food stop Erin’s Cafe, among others. The older set may be more interested in the antique and curio shops where one can get old books and other items that are not easily found in places with Korean-sounding names.
For musicphiles, this area is also a haven where the notable music/vinyl store TresKul Records has thankfully set up its second shop. “Our first one opened in Mandaluyong [in] 2012,” noted owner DJ Arbie Won.
An avid collector, Won started in this line of business selling online the excess records he got abroad to fund his hobby of, well, buying more records. He also found himself selling those he didn’t listen to anymore so he could buy new picks.
‘Hipster price?’
“KAGATAN 29” itself attracted not just the same buyers and collectors they see in similar events in the past. Some habitués claim the Ali Mall event attracted new faces, which is always a good thing.
“The past year alone, ang daming nagbukas na bagong shops… so hindi lang kami ang sellers,” Won narrated.
Proof is that there were indeed a good number of sellers during the event, with a wide array of stocks from 33s and 45s, rare titles, and even CDs and cassettes—the latter’s resurgence boosted, apparently, by “Guardians of The Galaxy” and Peter Quill’s mixed tape.
“But we try to be unique with our stocks. We try to be diverse so we have [classic] Tagalog, soul and jazz [titles that are rare finds in the Philippines],” Won added.
Writer and avid record collector Rick Olivares (SoundStrip contributor), who also could not resist picking up a few must-haves in “Kagatan 29,” told this writer that OPM records actually sell well in events like this. Case in point: One of the most expensive ones he saw some time ago sold for about P20,000—an album by Juan dela Cruz Band, whose song actually lent its title to this event.
In one of the record bins, a quick dig revealed a first-press of the classic OPM compilation “10 of Another Kind,” a Tommy Tanchangco project (here’s your shout-out!) that put together what would be the ’80s version of underground bands like Under Blue Skies, Violent Playground, the Binky Lampano-led Dean’s December, eventual pop darlings Introvoys, and golden boys Ethnic Faces led by the once-inimitable Jack Sikat.
The still-sealed album was being sold for P5,000, and was snagged within an hour. With friends still FB-messaging me to ask if there was another copy, seller Omeng said he only has a pre-loved reissue he is willing to sell on Day 2 for about half the going price of the first one.
The whole lot of vinyl records being sold ranges from the more mainstream ones like U2 and some new wave acts; to pop records from Lady Gaga and the likes; and older Filipino gems from Apo Hiking Society, Rico J. Puno, and Boy Katindig. Seasonal records were also on-hand like Ray Conniff Christmas collections and many others.
There was a wealth of music there to feed the soul for a very long time. To aid in one’s Hi-Fi journey, or to “feed the beast,” so to speak, there were also turntables for sale, like the handsome Audio Technica DJ turntable that already has a pre-amp and is Bluetooth enabled—a far cry from the stereo consoles in giant wooden cabinets-cum-furniture you can find in late ’70s, early ’80s homes.
While an argument can be made that vinyl’s popularity has spawned newbie fans and would-be collectors, some of whom are dismissed as hipsters by old school collectors, there should be nothing wrong if these youngsters are actually now music fans themselves. No one has singular dibs in music. So what if their buying habits tend to be on the trendy side? We all started out somewhere before we became fans, right?
Looking around the activity area during the Throwback Fair, it seemed to me that those doing the digging were actually doing so because they want to find something worth either adding to their collection or kickstarting it. Music chooses you, so it goes. Now, thankfully, we’ve got events like Kagatan where we can make our own choices, and not be labelled for it.
Image credits: Annie S. Alejo