Noli Aurillo

Noli Aurillo The String Magician
His acoustic fingerstyle playing is uncanny. One thing we are sure of what Noli Aurillo is , he is passionate in his playing.
“I learned the ukulele at the age of 5, the guitar at the age of 6 it was not until the age of 26 that I owned my first guitar”, confesses Noli.
“My passion for playing guitar was borne out of my deprivation from music itself. I grew up in a house where my mother did not allow us to own any cassette tape players or turntables”,adds Noli.
His signature playing pattern which initially starts out by gently replicating  the original practically note for note and then taking it to uncharted musical territory. Noli, which friends and colleauges call him as “Au-Au” is blessed with a gift for magically working out ad libs and improvisations that nothing short of the comparison to classical orchestral overtures and symphonies.
Noli Aurillo has been playing acoustic guitar since 1976.
“It was in a small bar along Katipunan where I still remember how much I was paid. Php 15 pesos for playing 1 set in 1976. Eventually, I became a part of a folk  rock trio called TNJ wiith Tonie Bufete and Joey Montilla”, remembers Noli. Noli also played for a band named Bosyo in the early 90’s. This was Edmund Fortuno’s band after Anak Bayan.
From bars to concert venues. From the studios where Asin laid the tracks to their studio albums to the recording session rooms of Side A, Skarlet, Rannie Raymundo, Lou Bonnevie, Cooky Chua among others.
Along the way, he was accorded the 2002 Awit Awards as ‘Best Musical Arranger’ for his “Dalawang Dekada ng Asin”.
Last 2018, Noli was at it again. Bagging the Aliw Awards as ‘Best  Instrumentalist category’. “Actually nagulat din ako dito..I was just notified by an someone,and told me to be at the awards night as a nominee without telling me that i was already a winner. That's it”, remembers Noli.
Some fans call him a guitar God. “Well, I don’t consider myself a guitar God. There are other guitar players out there who are much better than I am”, says Noli. The UP College of Music rejected me when I applied as a student because I could not read notes. I still don’t read notes nor guitar tabs. I don’t know how to tap. I don’t know how to use a guitar pick. I just use two fingers when I pluck my notes. I also continue to follow and admire a number of guitarists both in the country and abroad.
His practice regimen? “I don’t really have a practice regimen where I would play say, specific exercises over and over again. I get bored easily. I have no definite turnaround time. Roughly, between a few hours to 3 days. When I’m on stage they actually evolve further so much so that no rendition is exactly the same as the previous ones”, says Noli.
Noli furthers…”Every time I play, I see to it that it’s memorable. My goal as a guitar player is always to make it memorable. Noli remembered very vividly when he performed at the Juan Dela Cruz Band reunion a few years back, a member of audience shouting aloud: “Pwede na kong mamatay!”, chuckles Noli. Talk about morbidity. But regardless of how many came to watch him play, Noli makes sure his audience enjoys every minute of it.
Don’t take my word for it, catch Noli  Aurillo live in Tago Jazz Cafe regularly on Fridays and occasionally at Minokaua in Malate and Ikomai Bar in Makati.