Phenomenal!
In life and in death, Nora Aunor was phenomenal.
Standing 4’11 ½”, Nora Aunor was a giant in the showbiz firmament. She made more than 170 films, recorded 40 English and 13 Tagalog albums and 238 singles, hosted the variety show Superstar for 22 years and packed venues for a string of concerts here and abroad. She even mesmerized SRO crowds when she did three stage plays — Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo, DH and Trojan Women.
In every opportunity to showcase her craft, she did not disappoint God for she used the talents He gave her. She was excellent.
Her fame was her gift to the Filipino people because Nora Aunor, a recipient of the National Artist award, in herself was culture personified. Philippine pop culture would be lackluster without the mention of her name.
Legendary &ÊKayumanggi
She was dusky. It did not bother her. The color of her skin shone bright — so bright she became the country’s one and only Superstar. Even in her death at 71 — with international publications even carrying a headline about her passing on April 16 — the title is reserved for her. She brought it to the afterlife.
Her skin tone defined many a generation that finally broke free from the convention of idolizing only alabaster-skinned stars. The Philippine entertainment scene, aping in large part Hollywood culture, was high on Patrician stars. Those days, to have fair skin was currency and was a seal of superiority.
Until Nora Aunor came into the picture. Her complexion broke the convention and the stereotype. The spotlight was on her kayumangging kutis. The masa rejoiced and exalted her. Here was a poor girl from Iriga, with the color of the masses, and she was inevitably made their goddess. A superstar was born.
It’s easy to reward Nora Aunor with hosannas. Her sterling body of work as a singer, an actor and a thespian will prove that she was the quintessential validation of world-class talent.
That she’s a legend is underlining the obvious. Hers is more than a Cinderella-like tale. As a poor girl from Iriga, Camarines Sur, Nora Cabaltera Villamayor sold bottled water at the train station in the late ‘50s to early ‘60s.
“I would collect empty glass bottles from the neighborhood, clean them and fill them with clean deep-well water. I would sell them to thirsty passengers for five centavos each,” she told me in the vernacular when I interviewed her for PeopleAsia magazine when she was awarded People of the Year in 2014.
“On my way home from selling water, I would pass by a garbage mound and scavenge for tingga (lead). I would sell those, too,” she said. She also collected and sold old newspapers.
Her rise to fame
Lady Luck began to smile on her when she started to join singing contests in her teens. “Everybody in my family could sing. ‘The Way of the Clown’ was the first song I learned, courtesy of my grandmother,” she said. It was, however, “You and the Night and the Music” that would become her signature song in singing contests. She became a force to reckon with in Bicol. With her golden voice as her armament, she slayed all those who came to compete with her for the P20-prize money. Defeat was not an option, not to a girl who vowed to help put food on their table.
In 1967, her eldest brother Ernesto, a soldier, egged her to study in Manila. She left Iriga and in the city her brother fulfilled his promise of providing her an education. She spent her high school at the Centro Escolar University in Paranaque. (Her batchmates must love her because they sent a pink wreath to her wake that read: “Condolences from CEU Batch ’74.”) It was in CEU where she became known as “Guy.”
“To-tomboy tomboy kasi ako noong high school. Nakikipagsuntukan ako kahit sa mga lalaki. I was one of the guys. Kaya ako naging Guy,” she said.
She chose the screenname Nora Aunor in honor of her aunt Mamay Belen Aunor, sister of her mother, who took Nora under her wing when Ernesto could not devote his time for his sister anymore because of the changes in his assignment as a soldier.
Her fate and fame were written in the stars even if she lost to Jose Yap the first time she joined Tawag ng Tanghalan, a national singing competition, where she sang “You and the Night and the Music.”
The second time she joined Tawag ng Tanghalan, she sang “People” by Barbra Streisand in the grand finals. She won. Her popularity rose. In 1968, Carmen Soriano introduced her to Alpha Records. Though popular, Nora said her first two albums did not sell.
“But Alpha took another chance on me and made me record my third album with the carrier single ‘The Music Played’.” And since then, the music had not stopped playing for Nora Aunor. Her album would sell like the proverbial hot cake that she would record a new one almost every two weeks.
“’Yung recording schedule ko ay masyadong hectic. Nakakapagod. Sa sobrang pagod, maraming beses nakakatulog na ako sa ilalim ng piano pagkatapos ng recording,” she said.
Her foray into the movies, she told PeopleAsia, was paved by German Moreno, her late best friend. Her first movie under Sampaguita Pictures was All Over the World in 1967 with Tawag ng Tanghalan archrival Jose Yap.
In 1972, Nora won her first best actress trophy for the movie And God Smiled at Me from the Quezon City Film Festival. Critics began to notice that in the acting arena, Nora was a heavyweight, too, as evidenced by about 200 trophies she received for excellence in her craft as bestowed by local and international award-giving bodies. Her acting style followed no rules.
“I act according to how my heart understands the role. I believe I am rich in experiences. I use them when I tackle a role,” she said.
Nora’s eyes
Her eyes, critics noticed, bore the bravura of her acting range.
Her stare had its own weight. The expressions in her eyes were limitless. If looks could kill, Lolita Rodriguez, another formidable star, must have been slain in their scene in Ina Ka ng Anak Mo. When “Hayop…Hayuuuup!” came out of her mouth in the climax of the film, Nora was a picture of disdain, discomfort, angerand retribution — just by using her eyes.
Her eyes were a repository of clarity in acting; she used them oh-so-well in Himala, Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos, ‘Merika, Banaue, Thy Womb, Naglalayag, The Flor Contemplacion Story, among innumerable others. Her eyes also communicated well her emotions in Bona, where very discreetly she breathed life to the psyche of an obsessed fan with her gaze.
Not a single critic will dismiss the power of Nora’s eyes. Her gaze was a powerhouse, jampacked with feelings, filled to the brim with acting nuances that solely belonged to her. She was so remarkable she could evoke a thousand and one emotions, so to speak, in just 30 seconds — in one frame, in one take.
“Pero kahit masaya na ang director ko sa isang take at ako’y hindi pa, humihiling ako, “Direk, isang take pa’,” she said.
That proves that excellence is the other name of the Superstar. In the acting department she was fearless. She was peerless.
Her silence stirs the screen. Her scenes without dialogues were already a kilometric run of emotions. She scored a homerun all the time. Nora was one of those few actors blessed with a commanding presence even when she was silent. Her silence was already an echo of the truth, a mark of greatness.
From a nondescript girl to a cultural icon — Nora Aunor is, indeed, a phenomenon. Farewell to a legend.
Long live the Superstar! *
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