I wanted to start this blog off with my earliest recordings. Among about 40 cassette tapes I had to search through, I came across a tape of uncertain origin, marked “Robbie” on one side. But the tape was broken. Through the little window I could see that there was tape inside the cassette, but at the bottom of the cassette where it would normally connect with the head of a tape player, there was no tape. It was sucked up inside the cassette.

Cassette tapes aren’t too difficult to gently crack open in a way that they can still be put back together. I did this once to make a tape loop (which was my first attempt at primitive sampling—more about that in a future post).

I cracked open the cassette and confirmed the tape had split at one point. I repaired it with scotch tape, then closed the cassette back up—honestly not an easy task to get some tiny loose pieces back in place. A delicate and precise job I’m rather proud of.

So what was on the tape? Side One was mostly people speaking in a Filipino language—probably Ilocano, which is the language of my mother’s family. Apparently, this was a tape recorded letter of sorts from family in the Philippines sent to one of my grandparents. There’s a mix of spoken words, singing, and even some recorded television audio. While I didn’t recognize most of the voices, at one point I was moved to tears when I recognized the voice of my grandmother singing.

I don’t know anything about this song or what the lyrics mean, but I’m happy and proud that the first recording I have to present in a blog about my own music, is a recording of the beautiful singing voice of my grandmother, Rufina Pascual Batara.

 

If that was not enough of a treasure to discover on this tape; after listening to all of Side One I flipped it over for Side Two. I pressed Play and heard the distant mumble of a child—a little boy, along with that of an adult man. A bit too hard to discern, but then I heard the man’s voice begin strong and clear, “Ladies and gentleman, Robbie Kranzke is going to entertain us with a nice song.” This was the voice of my beloved “Tata Puri”, my step-grandfather, and the only grandfather I knew in my life. This was his tape, and he had recorded me.

 

And there’s one more, Top of the World by The Carpenters.

 

Sesame Street and The Carpenters. I stand by them as the solid foundation of my musical taste. But this was before the beginning of my musical hobby. I wouldn’t paint myself as being any more musical than most children, but what I think is significant here, and what I believe stuck with me from this very early age, was that tape recorders were fun and cool.