Nosi Nosi Balasi: A Tadbalik Chorus

There's an already familiar noise that has significantly been a part of my every day while I am on my usual work-from-home setup. Sitting on my spot by the window, while my eyes are fixated at the screen, I could imagine the afternoon face of our neighborhood just by consciously reaching its cacophonies:

Kids shrilling while the sound of their chasing echoes with their bodies.

Engines puffing their breaths roughly on the road.

The heavy sound of trains.

Scattered voices— some fading in the background, while others resonate its way across our street, trying to win subconsciously one another.

With this commotion, seems there's one noise that has completely been bothering me more than it pampers me. Just before the daylight patiently fades away from the view, there's a loud music that being played pretentiously almost every day—  punching its beats against the speaker almost unbearable to listen to. At those times, how I wish they would play much often music that lulls the soft seduction of gloaming twilight to soothe the atmosphere. But instead, they rather put on songs banging awkwardly in the middle of our bustling neighborhood. I would be fine if they would not turn up the volume to its extent but they would do the exact thing without thinking that they are somewhat responsible on how their music will do to people.

Just like last Friday.

I got to listen to another queue of songs which made me sigh with frustrations. How could they just not let themselves resist their impatience and just let each song be played until their last melody? I could still feel how tiring it was just by listening and how I wanted to lift myself up and burst my annoyance for it. All I wanted at those sorts of time was to help me push away my sleepy thoughts so I could set my concentration back to my work.

But luckily and weirdly enough, I was not on my usual stormy temperament on that day. I was slightly at ease since I was already taking my time until my last shift that's why I guess I was singing along with their playlist in my head.

Until, there came a loud Nosi Balasi that went beyond my ears.

Nosi Balasi was that song in my childhood which I often sang in our karaoke. This song has actually made me ambitious for falsely convincing me that I was angsty just by particularly singing its chorus part with such conviction. Then, when I had to finally pause for a moment to gather much air to breathe a strong Nosi Nosi Balasi that's when I felt like I was so strong for my age. That's what this songs evoked while I was growing up. Perhaps, that could contribute to the reason why I was not paying much attention to its lyrics since all that matters when I was in that moment was how a particular song could make me feel. With this song, I could still feel how strangely tasteful it still is when articulating each syllable of Nosi Nosi Balasi like it was kind of a foreign incantation.

And all my life, I almost thought that that line were like a Latin phrase because of its bewitching pronunciation not until some time in high school days when I paid then a careful attention to its lyrical meaning. That lyrics are just plainly inversed and I did not notice that until that time it dawned on me randomly.

Nosi = Sino/ Balasi = Ba Sila

So, it was just simple like that. And I just had that same thought occupying in my head yesterday. While I was already on my last quota on my work, I was thinking about what could possibly be the reason why they had to inverse the line Sino Ba Sila. This then led me to broaden my running thoughts while I was crazily tapping my keyboard and my eyes were glued at my laptop.

Why Filipinos are always actively invested with such kind of slang?

Nosi Balasi is one of the many examples of what we called Tadbalik which is the reverse form of the Tagalog word baliktad. This kind of Pinoy slang is apparently started way before the said song was even release. This habit of reversing words had been actually used by the Filipino revolutionaries to hide their real identities. This could be traced with the use of pseudonymity in writing of our Filipino writers and poets. One easy example is Marcelo H. Del Pilar, who used Plaridel as his pseudonym, which is just the jumbled-up version of his surname.

Even myself could not believe that Tadbalik has already been used as early as the 19th century. And if we will dig deeper on the deliberate usage of this slang in the song Nosi Balasi, perhaps it is not merely for the fact of making an impact phonetically but whether it is consciously or not, there could be a subconscious push why they chose to reverse the words in the chorus part.

Nosi Balasi

By SAMPAGUITA

'Wag mong pansinin ang naninira sa 'yo

Basta't alam mo lang tama ang ginagawa mo

'Wag mong isipin 'wag mong dibdibin

Kung papatulan mo'y lalo ka lang aasarin

Nosi, nosi ba lasi

Sino, sino ba sila

Nosi, nosi ba lasi

Sino, sino ba sila

Ituloy mo lang gawin ang gusto mo

Walang mangyayari kung sila'y papansinin mo

Talagang ganyan 'wag mo lang patulan

Wala lang magawa kaya sila'y nagkakaganyan

Nosi, nosi ba lasi

Sino, sino ba sila

Nosi, nosi ba lasi

Sino, sino ba sila

 

This song was release on 1989 and yet it is and still standing the test of time. Its long-standing domination in every Filipino household is already enough validation that this is one of the best song that could still breathe despite the surge of new generations. I tried to research and find even just one supporting information for the background of this song however unfortunately I could not find anything online.

The first verse goes like this:

'Wag mong pansinin ang naninira sa 'yo

Basta't alam mo lang tama ang ginagawa mo

'Wag mong isipin 'wag mong dibdibin

Kung papatulan mo'y lalo ka lang aasarin

To translate, this part says that don't mind people who are trying to tear you down as long as you know you're doing the right thing. Don't think about it nor brood about it. If you'll retaliate you will just be picked on more.

This part leads to the awaited chorus part where the Tagalog slang of Sino Ba Sila is repeated twice alternately with its original form. Since this word reversion is used as a disguise for someone's identity, in this song it was used for a different effect.

To disguise means to give oneself an alteration on their appearance in order to conceal their identity. This could also mean that they wanted to be anonymous since it appears that there's an effort of removing anything outstanding or familiar to them for the pursuit of being unknown. In this generation, anonymity has been widely used in many social media platforms especially when somebody wants to voice out but still being pulled by their fear of cancellation. However, this condition has unfortunately gone beyond its kind purpose and has been overused and misused by the people to target one person. Since it is hard to locate someone's real identity, people rather become brave to attack people through their posts which is ironically very coward of them. But if we look at it on a different light, since these people are anonymous they don't have identity in that area that's why they are not important. While those people that follows you and you followed have their names flashed in your screen and they have their pictures displayed which relieve you that there's still people you know who are not coward to hide their real self and they are the people that might seem not important to you but they are.

So, I guess, Nosi Nosi Balasi is reversed to imply that those people whom we question their existence with Sino Ba Sila (Who are they?) are not important. The act of asking who they are is enough already that we don't know them because probably they are hiding their true identity. The fact that this act of disguise is used for attacking one's reputation rather than for creative and revolutionized method just like what our heroes did is so disrespectful for them. Our history is fascinating so does our language, and to use it with a purpose means to carry it with such responsibility. Our language is continuously evolving so it means we have to keep up and go along with its change.

There's no harm in change. Just like what the song says, as long as you know you are right then forget their existence because nothing will happen if you keep turning your attention to their direction. And whenever you want to fight back, just think backward and perhaps you might want to consider asking them this in slang: Nosi Nosi Balasi?