Things that only some people understand/ Cosas que solo algunas personas comprenden

I was a child in a house of prohibitions; fortunately, I was allowed to use the record player. My father had a record called Música de los Andes (Music of the Andes). There were some Andean waltzes or bambucos that I liked very much, especially one called microjoropo.


This is the image of the album cover, I got it from here

The record player was used with long-playing records, LP, acetate or vinyl records. To make them play, they used a special mechanism with a needle that fell into each groove in a precise way. I would pick it up each time and put it back in the specific spot, this required a lot of care, otherwise it could cause damage and scratch the record. Then the music would sound distorted or repeated, and they would say: "that record is scratched". But I don't want to get away from the subject. Although it would be very interesting to reflect on how the way of playing music has changed and the different devices we have known so far.

I want to talk about me and what happened to me every time I stood in front of this tall wooden piece of furniture. Upstairs there was a big radio, in the first drawer there was the picó, then another drawer with a tape recorder that I never knew its use and in the lower part the collection of records in 45, 78 and 33 revolutions per minute that were the ones I was looking for.

Depending on my mood I could select Italian music, classical music or this record of Música de los Andes, sometimes I listened to it all, standing there in front of the cabinet, studied the cover and traveled: music was another way to evade reality; but others, I went alone to listen to the microjoropo, placed the needle in the corresponding groove and listened to it two or three times, then put everything back in its place in the same order. Until I was provoked again to hear it.


Link del video

That childhood music was very much etched in my memory, even with the gritty sound of the record. Life went on and now I have a musician son who has instilled in his children a love for musical notes and has a musical family: his wife and three children sing and play various musical instruments.

I was recently visiting their home, they are six hours from where I live. I listened to my second grandson, who is ten years old, make some arrangements of the song Caballo Viejo by Simón Díaz; he uses a score editor program called Sibelius. He told me that possibly the orchestra, where he plays, will use his arrangement for next year. That made me very excited.

Proud grandmother.
Another time I saw him working with the program and I told him about this song called Microjoropo that I used to listen to in my childhood and he was interested. He told me he wanted to hear it and he made sure I sent it to him.

I looked for it and I got it, thanks to Youtube and his insistence; listening to it again was a kind of balm, it is difficult to describe the amount of feelings that suddenly came to me, all at once: I have always said that there are no words to describe some emotions.

When the boy listened to the audio he sent me a euphoric message that made me happy: he liked it; his fine ear identified different instruments and he told me that it would be very good to make him his score.

It didn't take long for the boy to send me a preview of what he was wearing. His father also sent me a video of Daniel, my grandson, working in front of the computer. Listening to the child's interpretation of this song, which was so special to me in my childhood, stirred my feelings again, a baggage of memories and emotions accumulated in my heart. I wanted to share that joy with everyone.


He is Daniel, he plays maracas, cuatro and since October he has been playing the bandola llanera.

He is doing the score for the song Microjoropo, and rehearses it playing the bandola.

Old age gives us a way of looking with an emotion full of different sensations, a sensitivity that only some people understand.

Thanks for your reading

My content is original
The images have their respective source
The pictures belong to me
I have used the translator DeepL.

Versión en Español

Yo era una niña en una casa de prohibiciones; afortunadamente, el picó o tocador de discos sí me lo dejaban usar. Mi papá tenía un disco que se llamaba Música de los Andes. Eran unos valses o bambucos andinos que a mí me gustaban mucho, especialmente uno que se llamaba microjoropo.


Esta es la imagen de la carátula del disco, la obtuve de aquí

El tocador de discos se usaba con los larga duración, lp, o discos de acetato o vinilo. Para hacerlos sonar se valían de un mecanismo especial provisto de una aguja que caía en cada surco de manera precisa. Yo la levantaba cada vez y volvía a colocarla en el punto específico, esto requería mucho cuidado, porque si no podía ocasionar daño y rayar el disco. Entonces la música sonaría distorsionada o repetida, y dirían: «ese disco está rayado». Pero no me quiero alejar del tema. Aunque sería muy interesante reflexionar en cómo ha cambiado la manera de reproducir la música y los distintos dispositivos que hemos conocido hasta ahora.

Quiero hablar de mí y lo que ocurría conmigo cada vez que me paraba frente a este alto mueble de madera. Arriba había un radio grande, en la primera gaveta estaba metido el picó, luego otra gaveta con un grabador que nunca supe su uso y en la parte inferior la colección de discos en 45, 78 y 33 revoluciones por minuto que era los que yo buscaba.

Según mi estado de ánimo podía seleccionar música italiana, clásica o este disco de Música de los Andes, a veces lo escuchaba todo, allí parada frente al mueble, estudiaba la carátula y viajaba: la música era otra manera de evadir la realidad; pero otras, iba solo a escuchar el microjoropo, colocaba la aguja en el surco correspondiente y lo oía dos o tres veces, luego volvía a colocar todo en su sitio en el mismo orden. Hasta que me volviera a provocar oírlo.


Link del video

Esa música de la infancia quedó muy grabada en mi memoria, hasta con el sonido arenoso del disco. La vida siguió y ahora tengo un hijo músico que ha sembrado en sus hijos el amor a las notas musicales y tiene una familia musical: su esposa y tres hijos cantan y tocan diversos instrumentos musicales.

Recientemente estuve de visita en su casa, están a seis horas de donde vivo. Escuché a mi segundo nieto, de diez años, hacer unos arreglos a la canción Caballo Viejo de Simón Díaz; él utiliza un programa editor de partituras llamado Sibelius. Me dijo que posiblemente la orquesta, donde toca, use su arreglo para el próximo año. Eso me emocionó mucho.


Abuela orgullosa

En otro momento lo vi trabajando con el programa y le comenté de esa canción llamada Microjoropo que solía escuchar en mi infancia y él se interesó. Me dijo que quería escucharla y estuvo pendiente de que se la enviara.

La busqué y la conseguí, gracias a Youtube y a su insistencia; escucharla de nuevo fue una especie de bálsamo, es complicado describir la cantidad de sentimientos que se me vinieron de pronto, todos a la vez: siempre he dicho que no existen las palabras para describir algunas emociones.

Cuando el niño escuchó el audio me envió un eufórico mensaje que me causó alegría: le había gustado; su fino oído identificaba instrumentos diversos y me decía que sería muy bueno hacerle su partitura.

No pasó mucho tiempo para que el niño me enviara un adelanto de lo que llevaba. Su papá me envió además un video de Daniel, mi nieto, trabajando frente a la computadora. Escuchar la interpretación del niño, de esta canción, que era tan especial para mí en mi infancia, me volvió a remover los sentimientos, un bagaje de recuerdos y emociones se acumularon en mi corazón. Quería compartir con todos esa alegría.


El es Daniel, toca maracas, cuatro y desde octubre está ejecutando la bandola llanera.

Él está haciendo la partitura para la canción Microjoropo, y la ensaya tocando la bandola

La vejez nos da una manera de mirar con una emoción repleta de sensaciones diversas, una sensibilidad tal, que solo algunas personas comprenden.

Gracias por tu amable lectura.

Mi contenido es original Las imágenes tienen su respectiva fuente Las fotografías me pertenecen He usado el traductor DeepL.



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Hi @charjaim thanks for entering the #silverprompt this week.

I love vinyl records, I remember collecting different coloured single ones.

What a beautiful instrument the bandola llanera. How fantastic that your grandson Daniel plays the song Microjoropo for you 🎼

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Yes, I am still excited and I think that when I travel again: he, his dad and brother will play this piece with bandola, mandolin and maracas too and it will be a sublime moment for me and I will remember again the little girl standing next to the wooden furniture, traveling in time.

Thank you very much.

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Ah that will be brilliant, and yes I think it will bring out the little girl in you again!

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Thank you for sharing these lovely memories with us @charjaim! It's funny how the vinyl records are now making a comeback, some of the old ones are very valuable as well. I could kick myself for getting rid of my old collection. Yes, they used to get stuck, just like those cassettes that one had to unroll and roll up again when they got stuck. How things have changed!
I wish your grandson a very successful future in music, may all his dreams come true!

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So grateful for your comment. I too got rid of them and now I would love to be able to search for some on YouTube and I have forgotten the name of the song that sometimes its melody alone comes to my mind. Yes, I remember that about the cassettes with a pen returning them and even very carefully repairing with nail polish a damaged part. Those were the days.

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Thank you very much, my grandson is still learning every day with his bandola or singing, I like that they are immersed in music.

A big hug.

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