Do Bicolanas have more fun?

Forget the hype that blondes have more fun. Clairol, the hair-coloring expert, appears to have started it as an advertising strategy to encourage women to buy their hair dyes. In Asia where a blonde crown would look fake on sun-kissed skin, that is a claim that won’t sell. Highlights are OK, though.:-)

But that’s drifting off my intended course.

I was surfing the Net for details on this year’s Magayon Festival, a yearly celebration in Albay to promote its major tourist attraction, the Mayon Volcano. “Magayon” is the local term for beautiful, which was derived from the legend of the volcano.

Magayon has been widely used to describe the women of Bicol, which probably explains why my key search term yielded results related to the Bicolana. Two videos particularly caught my attention for the way they extolled the virtues of the daragang magayon, which could hint at why Bicolanas may, well, have more fun.

The first one is an adaptation of the song, “Beautiful Girl,” by Jose Mari Chan.

 

The other one has rockstar Bon Jovi (!) singing his tribute to the Bicolana—thanks to the wonders of dubbing technology.

In Tagalog, the lyrics roughly translate to:

May kakilala ako doon

Matagal ko nang binabantayan

Maliit pa lang bistado ko nang tunay

Kalaro ko, kaaway ko

Kakurut-kurutan ko noon

Isa siyang magandang Bicolana

Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana.

 

Suplada pero maganda

Malambing pero matampuhin

Matalino, makatwiran, masipag

Huwag mo siyang bibiruin

Lalo pa’t kantiyawan

Dahil sensitibo ang mga Bicolana.

Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana.

 

Kung gusto mong magka-syota

Ng isang babaeng taga-Albay

Kailangan mong daanin sa harana

Dapat ay desidido ka

Ipakitang oragon* ka

Hindi pwede rito ang mahina.

 

Mahihina, hindi pwede

Ang mahina, hindi pwede ang mahihina

Kaya kayong mga binata

Gayahin ninyo si Fernando Poe

Siya ang idolo ng mga Bicolano

Pero kung may asawa ka na

Umpisahan na ang paglalaba

Yan ang nakuha mo sa isang Bicolana

Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana.

 

Kaya dapat mahalin natin

Ang ating mga kasama

Para lagi tayong masaya

Noon pa man hanggang ngayon

Mapabata man o matanda, walang duda

Magaganda ang mga Bicolana

Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana, Bicolana.

(*oragon = awesome, in many different ways)

 

Truth be told, beauty and the other attributes mentioned in the lyrics are not the monopoly of the women of Bicol. They are traits shared by many women in the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

But no doubt, these songs will spread some really good vibes to all Bicolanas out there.