Thursday, September 6, 2012

Gramaphone: Stuck like an old Vinyl in an old fashioned record player.



My Grand Dad Kong up in Durin had an Old fashioned record player. He was a headman, and we were so proud to visit him. He was the only person with a player like that. He also had a row of cinema seats that he bought from a cinema that was renovating. Our bums never sat still, we moved up and down, and when we got off, the seat flipped up. We were pretending we were in the movies.

We were watching Joy Luck Club, Sibu version. My mum, her 2 sisters and Grandma performed for us. They were seated the entire weekend at the tiny table playing cards.

If we were good, Grand pa would let  us wind the handle. But he wouldn't let us place the needle on the vinyl. "You got to be very careful, I used to let you kids do it, but after you have gone home, you ruined the needle and it gets stuck. Then the music sound awful"

I remember one song," Lan lan de tien kung, yr pian bai youn."   In the blue sky, there is a white cloud."  Song is in Chinese, sorry my Chinese is not good enough to translate.

小白船
lan lan de tian kong yin he li
蓝 蓝 的 天 空 银 河 里
you zhi xiao bai chuan

有 只 小 白 船
chuan shang you ke gui hua shu

船 上 有 棵 桂 花 树
bai tu zai you wan

白 兔 在 游 玩
jiang er jiang er kan bu jian

桨 儿 桨 儿 看 不 见
chuan shang ye mei fan

船 上 也 没 帆
piao ya piao ya piao xiang xi tian

飘 呀 飘 呀 飘 向 西 天
du guo na tiao yin he shui
渡 过 那 条 银 河 水
zou xiang yun cai guo

走 向 云 彩 国
zou guo na ge yun cai guo

走 过 那 个 云 彩 国
zai xiang na’r qu

再 向 哪儿 去
zai na yao yuan de di fang

在 那 遥 远 的 地 方
shan zhe jin guang

闪 着 金 光
chen xing shi deng ta

晨 星 是 灯 塔
zhao ya zhao de liang

照 呀 照 得 亮
http://www.chinese4kids.net/little-white-boat/




SATURDAY PHOTOHUNT THEMES: 8th * Stuck







8 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Chen Francis I like the row of cinema seats..we had a cinema named Eastern Theatre in Binatang b4, Lily Chan's mother was then the Manager! & 小白船 we used to sing in primary school..

SquirrelQueen said...

What a pretty song, I really enjoyed that video. My grandpa has a record player like that and he would never let us put the needle on either.

Lighthousegal said...

What a neat record player. Nothing like listening to records, even with the clicks and pops and white noise, they are awesome.
I listened to the song and even though I did not understand the words, it was pretty.
Happy Thursday!!

Hootin Anni said...

I liked this very much....especially you sharing your memory of the phonograph player and your grandfather.

Kay L. Davies said...

What a pretty song, Ann. I enjoyed following the lyrics while listening to it, although we never did learn much Chinese when we visited there.
We had a record player like that until I was 10 or 12 years old. We were taught how to place the needle very carefully. I was first to learn, then my brother, then my sister. Dad had lots of 78RPM records and he loved to share the music of the 1940s and early 1950s with us.
K

Magia da Inês said...

彡♡` Olá, amiga!

Lindo dia!
Bom fim de semana!
Beijinhos.
Brasil ♡彡.
¸.•°`♥✿⊱╮

Vicki said...

A lovely memory and a lovely song. We never had one of those record players ever in the family.

My stuck is at http://hindmarsh-island.com/?p=813

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

What a fun memory... you describe exactly the feeling of having that movie seat fold up.
Happy Hunting y'all~