MANILA, Philippines?Decades ago, a US agency donated the money for a Listening Center in the University of the Philippines library. It was meant to expose students to the best in literature, music and theater via recordings that were the only way to document live performances then.

After a slow start, students flocked to the center to listen to classical music played by world-renowned orchestras under the baton of famous conductors, or operas sung by Caruso, Pons, Peerce and Melba. Recordings of Shakespearean and other well-known plays were regularly played, so we soon became familiar with the voices and styles of Olivier, Guilgud, Redgrave and Richardson.

Meeting place

We heard Agnes Morehead?s bravura performance in ?Sorry, Wrong Number,? as well as Judith Anderson?s unforgettable portrayal as ?Medea.? There were also recordings of poets like Dylan Thomas reading their creations. I sometimes missed classes to finish a play or an opera. So did other aficionados of good music and literature.

Poet Virginia Moreno was in charge of the center. This was before cassettes, CDs, DVDs, iPods and MP4s were created.

Imagination

Records were merely aural, so you had to imagine what the music and sound effects inferred. You weren?t just a passive listener, you were ?involved? in the experience, because you were creating images with your imagination.

After a while, the Listening Center group became some kind of gang?we knew each other well. The center?s aficionados included the likes of Joma Sison, Pete Daroy, Ninotchka Rosca, Ishmael Bernal, Lino Brocka, Joonee Gamboa, Pinky Rigor, and Bobbie Malay.