Vendors of Guitars and coconut ukulele, 1937
Guitar Vendor, 1918-1930, note the long banjo for sale among all the guitars.
I was scanning a book with old photo's of Cebu and it just so happened to pass by a page where there is an old photos of guitar vendors in Opon which is known as Lapu-Lapu City, according to some locals in Lapu-Lapu City "OPON" or "OPONG" is Lapu-Lapu's nickname. Opon is known for guitar making and if you happen to pass by in a place here in Lapu-Lapu City called Pajac upon entering the barangay you will be greeted by a big guitar as a sign of welcome. The guitar-making industry in Lapu-Lapu City started when the Spanish friars assigned in Cebu needed to repair the guitars they were using. Instead of waiting for the guitars to arrive from Mexico, they commissioned the townspeople of Opon to make new guitars and repair the existing guitars they had, thus began the guitar industry in Cebu. Vendors of Guitars and coconut ukulele, 1937 Guitar Vendor, 1918-1930, note the long banjo for sale among all the guitars.
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It was the 25th of February of 2012 when I got this Kamagong Stick, a work mate of mine named Lemuel Fuentes gave me this kamagong stick he said it was his father's stick who also practiced eskrima, no one is practicing eskrima in their family anymore and his father was already gone. I've met him when I was still working as their team leader in the assembly line at Sawo Finland at MEPZ2, I was assigned by the manager to interview and pick additional men in my area and going through those papers whom they hired was an experienced carpenter/assembly man, so I looked for him, I was surprised to see him in the machinery area carrying a trash bin, I told the manager that I need this guy, he had enough experience based on his previous job description in his resume, as I approached him I told him if he want to join my team, and he agreed and joyfully join our team. Days passed by and one of my team Eduard Maglasang who was into karatedo joined me in one of our training in Eskrima we would had a chat on breaktime about eskrima, Lemuel Fuentes heard about it and joined the conversation and said that his father was also into eskrima, that was the time he told me that he would give me his father's stick and on the 25th of February 2012 he went to our house and gave it to me, it is made of Kamagong (scientific name: Diospyros blancoi) a plant of the genus of ebony trees and persimmons which is a wood that is typically used as an impact weapon in the Filipino Martial Arts, the stick is 28" long , with a diameter of an inch, and had several chips at the center part of the stick maybe due to some impacts on trainings, and the bottom of the stick was shaped manually, its color was black and had a few strips of brown. I use this stick whenever I want to do and perform the basic routine that I usually practice, a round of the amaras and the basic defense and strike form in a slow and correct form for the stick is quite heavy compared to the usual rattan that I am comfortable with . The last time I visited him in his house he told me that a student of his father who is based at Palawan came to his house and was looking for his father and he told him that his father passed away, the guy then gave him a kamagong stick and said he brought the stick for his father. How I wish I would have known his father but then I'm still happy to have met his son.
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