Here’s a special treat to music lovers who missed the golden voice of Superstar Nora Aunor playing on the radio! The long wait is over since you can hear her once more via Superstar Yan!, the new radio program that plays exclusively Nora Aunor songs from her first mammoth hit single “Forever Loving You” to her “Greatest Performance Medley.” Nora Aunor’s performance of the said medley as the finale number in the 1991 PMPC Star Awards for movies started the series of standing ovations accorded to her that year and culminated in her “Handog ni Guy” concert in 1991, which holds the record to date as the most attended “paid” concert in Araneta Coliseum with no single vacant seat from front to back and from down and up. Nora Aunor, for the information of the youth, was a Tawag ng Tanghalan (the mother of all singing contests) grand champion. She is the lone Filipina singer with a single (“Pearly Shells) that sold more than one million copies, making her a Diamond Record Awardee. She has more gold record awards than Kuh Ledesma, Regine Velasquez, and Sharon Cuneta combined during the time when a gold record award has to sell at least 40,000 copies, equivalent to today’s Platinum. She hosted the country’s longest musical variety show on primetime TV, Superstar (RPN 9), which run for 22 years. A hard act to follow.
Since the Superstar TV program stopped in 1989, her fans have been missing the golden voice that captured the hearts of tens of millions of Filipinos for decades. Two siblings whose Noranian mother passed away last year thought of producing the Superstar Yan! radio program to fill up the void left by the passing of their mother who used to play Nora Aunor music in their home the whole day. Superstar Yan! airs at DWBL 1242 kHz AM (the AM station of Magic 89.9 and Mellow Touch) every Sunday from 7:30 to 8:30 pm hosted by Gary and Jheng Yan. It is now enjoying very good ratings among Sunday primetime radio programs through word of mouth alone and the power of text messaging and the Internet. Both the show's hosts have Facebook accounts and will soon launch the Superstar Yan! Facebook group. This early their captive audience have been asking for a two- to three-hour extension of the show. A revival of Noramania? Well, sort of.
Whenever Superstar Nora Aunor gains a negative rating from the cynical press herd, it means nothing to her adoring fans. They are always ready to shield their beloved Ate Guy by all means.
Take the case of her enterprising but generous fan Gari “Yan” Gabrinao, who just launched a new radio program, Superstar ‘Yan, in dwBL 1242 khz at 7:30 to 8:30 last Sunday night featuring Nora’s old and new songs, news and piles of her showbiz contributions and achievements.
If responses would be the gauge, the program’s initial airing was a big hit. Gari just couldn’t have enough of the text messages and calls coming from Malabon, Cavite, Metro Manila and other places as far as Talim Island. This early, Gari’s instant captive listeners are asking for a two-or-three-hour extension of the show and some more classic tunes of the Superstar. Call it a revival of Nora’s golden voice or Nora Aunor mania? Well, sort of.
Here goes some of the news from the initial edition of Superstar ‘Yan:
• That the academe-based critics group PASADO handed recently the PinakaPasadong Artista sa Lahat ng Panahon citation to Ate Guy for her world-renowned classic film Himala, which was also awarded with PinakaPasadong Pelikula sa Lahat ng Panahon. Himala’s scriptwriter Ricky Lee accepted the award for Himala and on Nora’s behalf.
• That the 25th Star Awards for Movies on May 28 will also honor Nora with the Global Achievement in Cinematic Excellence and International Recognition as the Lead Actress in Himala. The said movie emerged as CNN-UK Best Asia Pacific Film of All-Time in 2008.
• That Nora’s reported next film outing is a Hollywood movie on the plight of the Filipino migrants in the US. It’s in collaboration with enfant terrible director Celso Ad. Castillo and Miramax International Productions.
• That copies of Nora’s latest all original album, Habang Panahon, composed by husband and wife team Odette Quesada-Bodjie Dasig, recorded entirely in the US, were literally off the US record bars’ shelves — they are sold out! Anyway, the album will have its local launching in June in time for the opening of classes.
• That the launch of the special edition of Ricky Lee’s Si Tatang at Mga Himala ng Ating Panahon, on May 31 at PowerBooks SM Megamall will be capped with the post-celebration of Nora’s birthday by GANAP and the Nora Aunor Federation Fans club.
• That anytime Nora comes home, she will also be feted by the Batangas-Laguna Association of Teachers of Culture and the Arts (Balatca) headed by Metrobank Outstanding Teacher awardee Mrs. Agapita Nery. La Aunor is honored as Balatca’s first “Dakilang Kayumanggi ng Lahi” for films. The second honoree is Ramon Magsaysay awardee Bienvenido Lumbera for literature and the third is sculptor Ed Castrillo for visual arts. This year, Balatca hands its fourth to Lea Salonga for drama and music.
• Pit Maliksi is a college English professor at the PUP Sto. Tomas, Batangas Campus and La Consolacion College, Tanauan City. He is a freelance writer, a graduate of UST and Central Texas College, USA, is a Sto. Tomas Balita editor and Sto. Tomas Batangas Municipal librarian.
****** Noranians are people smitten by a talent extraordinaire: Ms. Nora Aunor, a singer with golden voice, world-class film artist, cultural icon, living legend—the ultimate multimedia Superstar of the Philippine entertainment industry.
Noranians are SUPERSTARstruck.
This is their page to celebrate their identity as Noranians.
****** Noranians may share here their impression of Nora Aunor; any trivia on her music, performances, or other works; their own stories as Noranians. E-mail contributions to superstarstruck@gmail.com.
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