As a child, I was exposed to the so-called Nora Aunor phenomenon, when the Superstar saturated the airwaves and the print media. My mother, a Nora Aunor fanatic, enjoyed the music of Nora Aunor so much. She always played Nora’s 45 rpm records, especially “The Love Story.” She played that song almost every day that it also became one of my favorites of all time.
I was in grade school when my lola and my nanay took me to the showing of Winter Holiday (1972), a Guy and Pip starrer, in one of those movie houses on Avenida. The theater had a jam-packed crowd, but luckily we were able to secure seats. Dito ko nakita kung paano magsiksikan ang mga tao. Wala silang pakialam kung anong klaseng amoy meron ang katabi nila. Ang importante mapanood nila si Nora.
I noticed that majority of the women crowd wore bakya or wooden sandals. Whenever Guy and Pip had kilig moments, they will raise their wooden sandals to create noise. Noon lang ako nakakita ng ganoong ka-wild na audience. Nagsisigawan sabay pukpok ng bakya. It was really riotous.
At that time, hindi pa nagsi-sink in sa akin ang tinatawag na bakya crowd dahil sa mga panahong iyon, marami talaga ang nakabakya. Yes, majority of Nora’s fans belonged to the so-called masa, but a good number of silent Nora Aunor admirers were colegialas, professionals, academicians, and members of the elite.
Noon ko rin nakita kung paano magiba ang gates ng sinehan pag may personal appearances si Nora. Nothing compares to the hysteria Nora evoked during the height of her popularity. I never saw anything like it again.
The bakya crowd is now just a bit of history, but looking back, I felt privileged to have actually witnessed those days.
Carmelo resides in Daly City, California.
Si Nora Aunor sa mga Noranian
Nestor De Guzman, Editor
(Milflores Publishing Inc., 2005)
Kumpisal ng mga Panatiko ng Superstar
Rebyu ni Cathy C. Yamsuan
Ala-ala ng isang tagahanga, “parang nagbabasbas ang Santo Papa” tuwing kumakaway si Nora Aunor sa fans noong dekada ’60.
Giit naman ng isa: “Tadtarin man ako nang pinong-pino, si Nora Aunor ang makikitang nananalaytay sa aking mga ugat.”
Dalawa ang nagsabing mahal nila si Nora pangalawa sa Diyos. May iba ngang mas pinili si Nora kaysa kanilang mga kasintahan.
Merong nagtiis ng pambubugbog ng ama, may naglayas ng bahay, may walang magawa kundi lunukin ang pang-aalipusta ng mga kaklase. Lahat dahil kay Nora Aunor.
Sa totoo lang, wala pang nakapapantay sa phenomenon ng paghanga ng tao kay Nora Aunor, ang original na Superstar.
Bago pa magkaroon ng mga Star For All Seasons, Megastar at Diamond Star, si Ate Guy lang ang may titulong kaloob na tumbas ng Hollywood royalty sa Pilipinas.
Talagang makikipagpatayan ang kanyang mga tagahanga para kay Nora. Pinatototohanan nga ito ng isang tagahanga sa antolohiyang Si Nora Aunor sa mga Noranian. Sabunot, sipa at tadyak ang regalo sa sinumang manlalait.
Pero hindi naman puro ganito ang kuwento sa 49 sanaysay na kaloob sa libro mula sa iba’t ibang klaseng Noranians. Cross section of society talaga ang selection dito.
Kung akala ng marami’y puro bakyang tao lang ang Noranians, excuse me pero may Atenista, La Sallista at mga propesor na nagpaliwanag ng kanilang paghanga kay La Aunor.
Hindi lamang ang kanyang pagiging premyadong aktres at mahusay na singer ang tinalakay dito. Kasama sa pagpapaliwanang ang pagiging Diyosa at Mortal ni Nora sa mata ng mga tagahanga.
Although makare-relate sa mga istorya ang mga Noranian, tingin ko mas maa-appreciate ang libro ng mga hindi Noranians dahil mamumulat sila sa isang realidad na hindi nila masyadong pinag-iisipan o dinededma kaya nang pasadya.
Bukod sa magaling na aktres si Nora, hindi maitatanggi ang impluwensiya niya sa buhay ng mga Noranian.
Dalawa sa mga nagsulat ang nagsabing kayang magpagaling ni Nora ng karamdaman. May nagsabing nakatapos sila ng pag-aaral dahil inspirado sila kay Nora. Maraming nag-alay ng kanilang tagumpay sa kanya.
Romantic ang dating ng maraming essays hindi dahil crush nila si Nora, kundi sinasabuhay nila ang mga pinagdadaanan makita lamang ng personal o mapanood sa pelikula si Nora.
Nakasaad din ang maraming fans club, kasama na ang intrigahan at inggitan. Pero sa huli, pinapaliwanag sa antolohiya kung paano nagawang magbuklod ng maraming tao dahil sa paghanga sa Superstar.
Inquirer Libre, August 29, 2005, 14
Above the Crowd by Lorna Kalaw-Tirol (Anvil, 2000 edition)
The personalities featured in this volume are definitely “above the crowd.” But this book is not only about showbiz personalities, but the cultural artists who have enriched the Filipino culture with the originality of their vision, the uniqueness of their talents, and the passion of their commitment. …
(For more information about the book, click link to Anvil Publishing website: http://www.anvilpublishing.com.)
Superstarstruck says: Well, the book's cover design says it all—Nora Aunor stood tall above them all. A collectible item for Noranians.
Unang mga taon ng dekada ’70, ito ang panahon na bawat piraso ng suot ni Nora ay magiging mabentang paninda sa merkado.
Bawat kabataang babae ay bibili ng tali ng buhok tulad ng kay Nora. Kukulektahin nila ang iba’t ibang kulay nito. Kung paano hinati ni Nora ang buhok, gayon din ang gagawin nila.
Magiging mabili ang telang katulad ng sa bestida ni Nora. Dadami ang tanggap na tahi ng mga modista sa mga magpapagaya sa disenyo ng damit ni Nora.
Teternuhan nila ito ng sapatos, tulad ng nasayaran ng talampakan ng Superstar.
Sino nga ba ang mag-aakalang ang hinaharot na “Negrang Bulilit” ay kokoronahan bilang Lakambini ng Sampaguita Family Club, ang samahan ng makikinang na bituin ng Sampaguita Pictures? Kabilang sa mga dating naging muse ng naturang kapisanan ang mga movie queen na sina Gloria Romero at Susan Roces.
Sino ang mag-aakalang si Itimi Yuro ay magiging isa sa mga guro ng palatuntunan sa Miss Republic of the Philippines Coronation Night (Rizal Memorial Basketball Coliseum, October 2, 1970)? (Likha ni Ramon Valera ang isinuot ni Nora sa okasyon.)
Sino ang mag-aakalang si Tomboy Nora ay mahihirang na isa sa Ten Best Dressed Actresses of 1971? Di ba eksklusibo ang karangalan ito sa mga miyembro ng alta sosyedad? Isinabay ang parangal sa koronasyon nina Nora at Tirso bilang Box-Office Queen and King of Philippine Movies (November 1, 1971, Delta Theater). Dalawang beauty queen lang naman ang nagputong ng korona sa Superstar: si Ms. Universe Gloria Diaz at si Ms. International Aurora Pijuan.
Sino ang mag-aakalang si Drakulita ay magiging ramp model? Ito ay sa fashion show ng world-class couturier na si Aureo Alonzo—ang “Piccola Festa” (Top of the Hilton, November 26, 1971).
Sipat Kultura: Tungo sa Mapagpalayang Pagbabasa, Pag-aaral at Pagtuturo ng Panitikan
ni Rolando B. Tolentino
Sipat Kultura: Tungo sa Mapagpalayang Pagbabasa, Pag-aaral at Pagtuturo ng Panitikan ay pag-asinta sa historikal, panlipunan, at modernong tranformasyon ng panitikang Filipino. Mula epiko hanggang postmodernong panulaan at panitikang diaspora, naglalahad ang libro ng mapanipat na kritikal na perspektiba sa pag-unawa ng panitikan at lipunang Filipino.
Binibigyan-ugnay at relasyon ng libro ang tila hindi magkakaugnay na bagay: ang epikong bayani at OCW (overseas contract worker), panitikang oral at urban legend, romantisismo at himagsikan, diaspora at pighati, at iba pa. Makabuluhang karagdagang babasahin ang libro sa anumang textbuk at akdang pampanitikan para komprehensibong maunawaan ang panitikang Filipino tungo sa malaya at mapagpalayang pagbasa, pagtuturo at pananaliksik.
Si ROLANDO B. TOLENTINO ay Professor ng University of the Philippines Film Institute at Associate for Fiction ng UP Institute for Creative Writing. Awtor siya ng Ang Pagkatuto at Pagtatanghal ng Kulturang Popular, Kulturang Popular Series, Bida sa Pelikula Bilang Kultural Texto, editor ng Brigido Batungbakal, Pula ang Kulay ng Dugo, at iba pang kuwento, ko-editor siya ng Kontra-Gahum: Academics Againts Political Killings, at Ang Dagling Tagalog, 1903-1936 (Ateneo Press, 2007). Siya ay kasapi ng Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND)
copyright 2007. 6x9 inches. 299 pages
Note by Superstarstruck: There's no specific chapter on Nora Aunor in the book. Perhaps the author thought the sociocultural figure, that is, Nora Aunor, best represents the book's subject matter. The back cover has a bit of information on Nora Aunor.
Sa Iyo Pa Rin
ni Ellen Alejano
Ginintuan mong tinig ay pumailanlang
Mula noon ikaw ay naging tampulan
Payak daw ang iyong anyo at may kaliitan
Kulay mo ay lupa, kayumangging kaligatan
Walang pagbabadya ang iyong kasikatan
Buong sambayanan ay naalimpungatan
Namumukod-tangi ang angking kaibahan
Akala ng karamihan ay panandalian lang
Sa puting tabing ikaw ay nanggising
Inilarawan mo ay buhay namin na magiting
Pasang-krus na ang bigat ay pasalin-salin
May kurot sa puso kung aming dadamhin
Buhay mo ay isang bukas na aklat
Bawat pahina ay kaabang-abang
Masaya at malungkot ang mga kabanata
Ang unos ay tila walang katapusan
Nadadapa ngunit muli’t muling bumabangon
May pulot na aral ang bawat pagkakamali
Sa kahinaan ay umuusbong ang bagong lakas
Tuwina’y bukas ang pag-asa na may laang ngiti
Aming Inang bayan huwag kalimutan
Tunay na sining mula sa iyo ay pasalamatan
Kamkamin at pagyamanin sapagkat ito’y kayamanan
Kasama ng iyong alamat na nakaguhit na sa kasaysayan
Maraming kahapon na ang lumipas
May mga bukas pa na haharapin
Ngunit hindi mawawala
Hindi rin magbabago
Paghanga at pagmamahal namin
Ay sa iyo pa rin . . .
Mahal naming Nora Aunor
Sa iyo ang huling halakhak
Sa iyo ang walang katapusang palakpak
Natatangi at ubod-ningning na bituin
Ikaw pa rin . . .
Sa iyo pa rin . . .
Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III at a press conference
for Sampaguita Pictures' Young Love, December 1969
Her name is Carmen Moncada. And she is the single reason why I am a Nora Aunor fan. Carmen or Mameng is the kind of fan upon whom a movie star’s career is firmly anchored. She lives and breathes only for her idol.
Mameng is my yaya and I became a Nora Aunor fan the old-fashioned way: through osmosis.
One of my earliest childhood memories is spending hot afternoons lying on a heap of freshly laundered clothes while listening to the Dambuhalang DJ Ike Lozada deliver Nora-related news through his radio program Balitang Artista. It would be followed by what seemed like hours of Nora Aunor songs. The only sound that punctuated the music from the transistor radio was the soft sssss-sssss of hot plancha over lavacara-dampened clothes as Mameng silently ironed. Like Mameng, I surrendered myself to the golden voice of Nora. I was four years old.
Because I spent most of my time with Mameng I became immersed in the vagaries of fandom. One of them is Fans’ Day. Being Waray, she pronounced it as pans-dee. Fans’ Day, I learned, is a sacred time when a fan communes with her idol. Never mind that “communing” only lasts half a second—and from two hundred feet away. I was not to throw a tantrum whenever she left for these pans-dees. Instead I must play quietly and not give my grandmother, Mama, any trouble. In the evening, she would regale my Mama and me with stories of Nora Aunor.
Like any fan, Mameng actively involved herself in everything Nora, including her causes. I remember one in particular, Mamera Para Kay Nora, called on fans to donate mamera, which would be used for charity. A “mamera” is a one-centavo coin, which apparently still had some value during the early ’70s. I shared Mameng’s excitement as her plastic Cheez Curls jar slowly began to fill. I helped by collecting stray mamera from my Mama’s room.
Since I was too young to see her movies, I only saw her through Superstar. It was how I passed my Sunday evenings—watching Nora Aunor on our old Zenith TV with Mameng and Mama.
When I was seven I was taken to live with my mother and stepfather. Superstar or any local show was heavily discouraged in their house. But it was too late. I was a fan and like a peroxide blonde, my roots eventually showed.
As the eldest grandchild I invariably had to bathe a younger sister or cousin and whenever I did, some force always compelled me to sing “Tiny Bubbles” while blowing soap bubbles in the air—reverting to a corny game Mameng and I shared so many bath times ago. I still play it today with my goddaughter Bea.
Recently I caught an old Nora Aunor film on cable. She played a maid (what else) who was in love with Tirso Cruz III’s señorito/matinee idol character. While doing laundry she suddenly launches into song and it was, of course, “Tiny Bubbles.” And, yes, Nora blew soap bubbles while singing. It was an epiphany for me. I had a huge “Oh so that’s why …” thought bubble during the remainder of the movie. Mameng you are truly great.
The funny thing is, I never really went to the theaters to see her films. Most of them I just saw on TV. When I was old and had money enough to see them, it was already the Nora-Tirso Reunion period of her career which, honestly wasn’t such a great period anyway. But the ones I’ve seen blew me away. Put simply, Nora Aunor is the only local actress whose performances move me. So I don’t care what other people say about her substance abuse problem or her unprofessionalism or her sordid lovelife or even that she’s already laos—a has-been. Nora Aunor will always be a great actress and I will always be her fan.
But more than anything, Ate Guy will always be special to me because she represents everything good about my childhood: Mameng, my dear Mama and our house in Kamuning.
So here’s to the one and only Superstar! I love you Ate Guy!
From http://pusangbilog.blog.friendster.com/2006/10/why-ate-guy-is-my-guy/
I seldom watched TV nowadays, but yesterday, for some strange reason, I had the urge to turn it on to watch some news. The news wasn’t great; it’s like old news really. Then, I flicked to TFC. Not great either so I thought perhaps a nice movie will do. Flicked to Cinema One and saw not just a nice movie but THE GREAT CLASSIC HIMALA instead.
Never mind that there’s only about half an hour to go till the end credits. I caught the scene of Orly (the documentarist) and Elsa by the hillock (sa may buról). Orly was telling Elsa how brave of her to go up there again after all that happened. It was a very telling, honest conversation. Not many words but it said a lot, especially this bit when Elsa said:
“Kung wala na ang lahat, kung kalansay na lang tayo, ang matitira na lang ay ang sinasabi mong sining.”
How those words ring true to this day with Himala chosen by CNN International as one of Asia’s Best Films of All Time. Such a huge Philippine honor and pride for Himala to be in the same list as all those other great Asian films.
Everyone involved in the making of this film created a legacy that will be remembered long after “all” is gone. Much appreciation and gratitude are in order, most especially to the three genius art masters: the late Ishmael Bernal, Ricky Lee, and our dear Nora Aunor. Mr. Bernal was so right to insist that Nora Aunor play Elsa dahil tunay nga na kung hindi si Nora ang gumanap na Elsa, walang Himala.
(Ms. Ellen Alejano resides in Sydney, Australia.)
Ever since I saw Nora Aunor in Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos I’ve been convinced that she’s peerless in the country’s thespic firmament. A national treasure, she is. Yes, she can hold a candle to the world’s greatest actresses like Meryl Streep, Judi Dench, and Fernanda Montenegro. No doubt about that.
Among her other performances, my favorites are those in Ikaw ay Akin, Ina Ka ng Anak Mo, Bona, Himala, T-Bird at Ako, ’Merika, Bulaklak sa City Jail, and Bakit May Kahapon Pa. Complex roles, those. But how she pulled them off with her genius that deserves no less than a genuflection. Her triumphs in filmfests at Cairo, Penang, and Brussels are just icing on the cake. So much so that I’ve been visualizing her making the country proud by winning Best Actress in Cannes, Venice, and Berlin (she almost made it in 1983 for Himala, remember?)
That’s not a tall order given her titanic talent, right?I wish she’d work with directors who can squeeze the best out of her like Mario O’ Hara as well as those who have yet to direct her like Mike de Leon, Jeffrey Jeturian, Lav Diaz, and Chito Roño. There are movies in my mind in which Nora Aunor portrays these roles:
a) A wacky fortune-teller in Quiapo
b) A former mental patient who returns only to discover that she’s been forsaken by her family and society at large
c) A feisty Aeta matriarch coping with family tragedy in the wake of their tribe’s diaspora due to the Pinatubo eruption
d) A witch or a babaylan in an ancient time
e) A progressive nun who went underground, witnessed the bloody purges within the rebel’s ranks and grappled with her faith
f) A blind pianist
g) An NBI agent dealing with machismo in her milieu
h) Twins--one a journalist, the other a socialite--who happen to be best friends
i) A doctor-abortionist who happens to be a loving mother
j) A freak in a carnival show
k) A recruiter/song trainer of Japayukis who’s dying of cancer
l) A former prostitute-turned-pimp
m) A New York-based playwright grappling with midlife crisis and her magnum opus about racial identity and the plight of Fil-Ams
n) The nurse Ediborah Yap
Lastly, I wish Aunor would go back to the theater and do Edith Piaf in a Repertory production. Or, how about playing Paula/Candida at the same time for another version of Nick Joaquin’s Portrait of an Artist as a Filipino? Indeed, the possibilities are fabulously endless for Aunor’s marvelous talents.
From the Original Nora Aunor Yahoogroup
Ito ang dream roles ko para kay Ate Guy. Gusto ko siyang gumanap na:
1) isang progressive visual artist, iyong nag-a-angst angst about her art.
2) isang dating sikat na journalist na nawalan ng ningning dahil sa politika—tapos she's going to redeem herself in another battle against no less than the Philippine president to be played by, of course, Vilma Santos.
3) ina ng isang young transvestite—isang baklang taga-probinsiya—si nora ang magpu-push sa kanyang weak na anak na lumuwas ng Maynila para sumali sa isang hairstyling contest
4) hardened warden sa koreksiyonal, iyong bawat buka ng bibig ay palaging may kasamang mura ngunit sa loob niya'y naghahanap siya ng pagmamahal
5) isang manipulative matriarch sa isang Filipino version ng Sopranos—tapos siya ang nagpapatakbo ng mga sugalan, prostitution dens, drug cartel, etc.
6) gumagawa ng mga fake documents sa Recto; tapos in a sudden twist of fate, na-involve siya sa buhay ng isang batang yagit (mala-Central Station) at kailangan nilang mag-travel (road movie siyempre) to find the truth.
7) isang surgeon o kaya diplomat o kaya chef (basta gusto ko horror movie ang isang ito).
From the Original Nora Aunor Yahoogroup
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