Volume XX • Number 6 • November-December 2017 • For Artists and Cultural Workers • ISSN 0119-5948 Strings that bind, Rhythm that defines Official Newsletter of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts ommunities in socio-cultural environments possess an Volume XX, Number 6 November-December 2017 identity based on their language, race, cultural practices, ISSN 0119-5948 religion, social mores, ideology and behavioural conduct. While a country exists with a national image in terms of The agung is a knobbed metal gong of the Philippines used in various communal rituals. heritage and governance, it is made up of different socio-cultural Suspended in the air by rope or metal chains, the musical instrument is also employed by C some indigenous groups as a means to announce community events, and as an indicator communities that enrich its uniqueness, its history and its dynamic of the passage of time. existence. This brief discourse shall focus on the small cultural Agung is published bimonthly by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. communities that provide the deeply rooted distinctions to a national polity in terms of one of the most overt material emblems of their cultures—the musical instruments, their functions both VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO chairman musically and extra-musically, and their distinctions yet relatedness About the cover to the larger Southeast Asian expressive community. RICO S. PABLEO, JR. The different The Philippines is one country where multiculturalism exists. executive director boat-shaped lutes of different ethnic Among its 90-million population, there are more than 170 ethno- MARICHU G. TELLANO groups in Palawan and linguistics groups that are scattered in the 7,100-island archipelago. deputy executive director Mindanao These 170 ethno-linguistics groups can be grouped together into five to six cultural communities that are characterized by topographic Rene Sanchez Napeñas location, religion and historico-cultural affinities. editor-in-chief In the north of Luzon, there are the Cordillera Mountain Leihdee Anne Cabrera Roel Hoang Manipon communities which are quite related to aborigines in Taiwan and May Corre Tuazon managing editor Roezielle Joy Iglesia southwest China. In Mindanao, the upland groups called lumad Christine Sarah Sy Mervin Concepcion comprise another cluster, separate from the Islamic communities Arcie Millare Vergara that may still be divided into those on the island of Borneo as well Harvey James G. Castillo art director Ramil Adrian Fariñas as the Indonesian and Malaysian peoples. The mid-west islands of public affairs and information Marne L. Kilates Palawan and Mindoro have their own distinct culture. And then section staff consultant there are the Christian folk communities as against the urban Faith L. Yangyang residents that comprise the largest population in the entire country. photographer The musical instruments are a distinctive material culture of the traditional communities in that these play an important role in the social life of the people, both in their physical and metaphysical dimensions. The National Commission In Philippine indigenous groups, just like other cultural for Culture and the Arts traditions in Southeast Asia, gongs and bamboo are the predominant materials in the manufacture of the most valued instruments, which As the government arm for culture and the arts, the National are used for different purposes, such as communication with the Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is the overall spirit world, rituals, music making that mark the different life cycle and occupational events, as well as public or personal entertainment. policy-making, coordinating, and grants-giving agency for the The use of gongs is an integral part in the lives of the people in preservation, development and promotion of Philippine arts the Southeast Asian region. In the Philippines, one will find gongs in and culture; and executing agency for the policies it formulates; both the highland as well as the Islamic cultures of the Philippines. and an agency tasked to administer the National Endowment Ownership of the gongs is a sign of prestige and its high value is Fund for Culture and the Arts (NEFCA). The NCCA traces its manifested when it is given as dowry in a marriage contract. In the olden roots to the Presidential Commission for Culture and the Arts times, the gongs were used only for sacred rites and communication (PCCA), which was created when President Corazon Aquino with the spirits. It was also played in order to transmit messages in signed Executive Order No. 118 on January 30, 1987, “mindful far off places. Thus, in the gong culture, gongs are non-tempered and of the fact that there is a need for a national body to articulate pitches are not as important as the sound, power and resonance of the a national policy on culture, to conserve and promote national instruments, since their use is related to the metaphysical nature of heritage, and to guarantee a climate of freedom, support and man, his physical environment and the entire universe. On the other hand, other instruments made of bamboo, wood dissemination for all forms of artistic and cultural expression.” and strings have a different purpose, and that is to communicate On April 3, 1992, President Aquino signed Republic Act No. with fellow human beings. Thus, there are scales and intervals 7356 creating the NCCA and establishing the NEFCA, a result of between tones, which would correspond to linguistic norms in over two years of legislative consultations among government human message transmission. and private sector representatives. The bill was sponsored by In the Cordilleras, all the communities use the flat gong, senators Edgardo J. Angara, Leticia Ramos-Shahani, which during ancient times must have come from China and Heherson T. Alvarez and congressman Carlos Padilla. Vietnam. While the flat gongs are only found in the Cordilleras of The NCCA Secretariat, headed by the executive director and Northern Luzon, the different communities play it in a variety of headquartered at the historic district of Intramuros, provides ways. Among the Kalinga, Bontoc and Tingguian, the flat gongs administrative and technical support to the NCCA are played by six persons in an interlocking manner. There are two and other units, and delivers assistance to the styles of performance, one called toppaya is when the gongs are played with bare hands as they lay on their laps and attached to culture and arts community and the public. Musical Instruments as Emblems in the Socio-Cultural Communities in the Philippines By Dr. Ramon P. Santos NOSE FLUTES OF THE CORDILLERAS: TONGALI and KALELENG The nose flute is a common instrument in the Cordilleras. It is called tongali among the Kalinga; kaleleng among the Bontok; kulasing among the Ibaloi; bali-ing among the Isneg; and ungiyong among the Ifugao. The nose flute from the Cordilleras is a long bamboo tube with three finger holes, and is played by blowing through a small hole with the nose. The tongali is the most favored of the four types of blowing ends and is best cared for by its owner. Its music is played for courting and for entertaining one’s self especially during night time. One can study this music instrument as it is still actively taught in the University of the Philippines’ College of Music /Photos from the exhibit “Philippine Traditional Music Instruments from the Collections of Lucrecia R. Kasilag and Ramon P. Santos, National Artists for Music” of the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. 4 Agung • Number 6 • November-December 2017 their belts, while another style is beating the the main rhythmic mode of the entire group. gongs with sticks, as they are held by the left Among the upland peoples like the hand, and this is called palook. The gongs Bagobo, Blaan and the Manobo, the agung are played either with dancers or the players is a principal melody-drone instrument themselves dance to their playing as in the which is hung from a frame, with a number palook or pattung style. of agung ranging from five to eleven gongs. The Ifugao play at least three flat gongs It is played by at least two people, one in different ways, one is sounded with fists, playing the drone and the other playing the while the two are beaten with sticks. The melody. Sometimes, the players also dance, Ibaloi have only two flat gongs called kalsa exchanging beaters with other musicians. and pinsak and they are played with two The other material used as instruments drums called sulibao and kimbal. is the bamboo. There are different types The gongs in Palawan and Mindanao of bamboo instruments. In the north, are all bossed, but having different sizes. the instruments are mostly made up of The most common bossed instrument is bamboo—various types of flutes and tube the kulintang, five to thirteen, but in most whistles, zithers (polychordal and half- cases eight, gongs that are laid in a row tube), buzzers, scrapers, and other types and serves as the melody bearer in Islamic of idiophones. Among the Kalinga alone, ensembles consisting of deep-rimmed gong there are some nine different instruments called agung, shallow rimmed gongs called that are made of bamboo, such as the tongali gandingan, and medium size gong called (nose flute), paldong (lip-valley flute) kolibit babandir. They are usually reinforced by a (polychordal zither), tambi (parallel zither), drum called dabakan. In the archipelagic tongatong (stomping tube), patang-ug (quil- Islamic communities, there are three large shaped bamboo tube), balingbing (bamboo suspended gongs called bua, tamuk and buzzer), saggeypo (stopped pipe), and kubing pulakan. (jews harp). The eastern part of Mindanao In other cultural groups in the south, Island is the home of different mountain there is the bamboo gabbang (xylophone), communities surrounding the highest peak the gandang (cracked bamboo drum), and in the Philippines, Mount Apo.