Eric Guillermo

Eric Guillermo – The Lolo Still Rocks

By: Ronnie Reys

“Sa Jingle Magazine, natutong mag gitara. Sinifra ang mga kanta sa casettte at plaka” thus the song Betamax by Sandwich goes, which I thought, were written with the purpose of reminiscing and giving salute to our roots and artists in Pinoy music. But what is Jingle Magazine? I doubt the Millenials could relate. For those of us who were born in the 60's thru the 70's, we all know the depth of gratitude we have for Jingle Magazine.

Gilbert and the Guillermo siblings are the voice and companion to the youth during the martial law years. For many of us, they made our lives and our puberty that much more colorful. You might want to ask what the story behind the magazine’s name? "Pare, dyi-jingle lang ako" or "Nadyi-jingle ako" were often used by groups back then. Sino ba naman ang di nakakaalam sa local slang na ito which means “to urinate”? Even among the young ones today, this colloquial is still widely used.

How did Jingle start? Eric was the culprit. “I was starting to learn to play the guitar back then and I asked my Kuya Gilbert, to buy me songbooks with guitar chords in Manila. He was studying in FEU at that time. I immediately noticed the wrong chords they had and brought it up with him while strumming the guitar and humming the zeroed in song. He said, "Oo nga ano" while nodding his head in approval’, remembers Eric. This started the nearly -30-year JINGLE Chordbook Magazine empire. It was October 1970, when the first issue of JINGLE rolled off the press. JINGLE Mag’s very first issue sold 30,000 copies.  “Nakalimang reprintings nga yun, as far as I can remember. And every re-issue is sold out at 30,000 each re-prints. Kung magpapaimprenta kasi kami ng marami, baka di mabili at itatambak lang sa bodega. Lugi kami agad. Eh di namin alam na magki-click”, chuckles Eric.

It was pegged at Three Pesos at that time. “Ganun kamura that time ang bilihin. Kinse sentimos nga ang pamasahe sa dyip. Nagpapaimprenta pa kasi kami nun sa Manila Chronicle sa Intramuros. Every two months ang labas namin. Fortnightly baga”, reminisced Eric. The magazine featured songs with chords, a spread out poster of whoever was popular at the time of the publishing (Leif Garrett, Juan Dela Cruz Band, Circus band, and on year-ends a calendar with their image model Myra Mendoza), a chord chart and articles of local and international
“I’m the youngest among six siblings who published JINGLE. I vividly remember nung kinakapa pa yung mga pahabol na songs sa bahay namin sa Lope K. Santos St. sa San Juan. Doon kasi kami lumaking magkakapatid. Vinyl records pa at turntable na paulit-ulit inaangat ang needle pabalik-balik para mahuli ang tamang chords. It was a painstaking and thankless job. Yung kapatid na sinundan ko, si Raul, ang naging right hand man ni Kuya Gilbert. Nagpupuyat sila sa office ng Chronicle. Minsan sinasama nila ako. Maaga kaming natutong kumayod kasi namatay agad ang tatay namin. We were very young then”, says Eric.

Note that there were no computers then. The latest in technology available during those times was the electric typewriter. “Yung mga chords nga eh isa-isa naming dinidikit sa ibabaw ng lyrics. Manu-mano. Later on eh IBM invented a modern typesetting machine. Merong medium, bold and italicized letters na iba-iba ang points for your size option. When the lyrics were typed and so were the corresponding chords. Yun nga lang...cut and paste (literally) pa rin ang pagpasok ng corrections. Ganun ang prosesong kinagisnan”, remembers Eric.

Jingle Mag employed a slew of artists, writers and musicians in their almost-30 year reign; Butch Maniego, joined JINGLE in the 80's. He wrote album reviews and articles. He also took care of the mag’s lyrics. His voice was eventually noticed and took him in as a sports anchor for PBA games. Emil Davocol, Boy Royo, Ricky de Ungria, Ricky Santos, Jing Garcia, Tony Maghirang, Myra Mendoza, Pennie Azarcon dela Cruz, Lav Diaz, Rox Lee, Romy Buen, Pocholo Concepcion, Joey Ayala, Ces Rodriguez, Dengcoy Miel, Mike Jamir, Nap Jamir, Menchu Apostol, and many more.

Jingle Mag folded up in the late 90’s. Due to, mainly, the dwindling sales. People lost interest in playing guitar. “The onslaught of Karaoke also was a factor.”, says Eric. But leaving a lasting memory of our childhood, Jingle Mag singlehandedly, carried a teenager’s dream of becoming a musician beamed with a light, is an understatement. Their Jingle Beatles Chordbook, which was re-printed, at least 50 times, is by far the best for me, personally. Although JINGLE halted in chapter # 152, it would have been 50 years old last 2020.

Why not revive the Jingle Mag? “Well, I often and constantly hear that a lot, like everyday almost. You see I’ve created a Facebook Page called Jingle Music Magazine for the sole purpose of reminiscing the old days and for sharing our old magazine’s content to those who have surviving copies of it. And eventually, people of my age, and maybe some younger ones, have managed to stash a copy or two and would eventually post some old pages of the mag in FB. Then immediate after that post, questions would flood-in,  on why we wouldn’t want to revive Jingle Mag. Many couldn’t understand that, we as publishers have nothing else to prove. We have reached the pinnacle of our success in publishing. Second, it would be a headache nowadays to publish song lyrics of artists without permission first, verbal or written. We had the run during the 70’s to the 90’s of this success and we will leave it as is”, explains Eric.

A plan was initially struck up last 2018 by a core group from former Jingle staffs themselves to commemorate the 50^th year anniversary of Jingle last year, 2020,  but the pandemic has affected this plan. The plan was to launch a coffee table book, create a yearly Jingle Art Fair for all the artists, illustrators and painters who ever drew anything for the mag and a major concert to feature any and all the artists and their bands who ever etched out a career from the FREE write ups of the famous chord book magazine. “The closest thing we have that realized, are these video greetings of many recording biggies in the Philippines, congratulating Jingle”, laments Eric. Which is not a bad deal after all.

“I am back with my first love; writing songs and playing the guitar. I am now 62 years old and I professionally own my time. My three children - Gina, Paolo and Jaila - are all grown-up and doing well with their lives and careers. Matthew Levi is my only apo (for now). I am happily married to my long-time partner, Nerissa, who once wrote for us (and was editor, too) in some of our publications back in the days”, marvels Eric.

For all the effort and dedication in teaching us all the right chords and lyrics, feeding us music information, and updating us with latest trends in clothing, with Rene Garcia of Hotdog and Raymund Marasigan of Eraserheads and countless fans and readers, we thank you Eric Guillermo