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The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel, the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments, diatonic in many western children's instruments, or chromatic for orchestral use.
Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan is an island province of the Philippines in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago. It is just off the southern coast of the geographic Zamboanga Peninsula.
Kulintang is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. As part of the larger gong-chime culture of Southeast Asia, kulintang music ensembles have been playing for many centuries in regions of the Eastern Indonesia, Southern Philippines, Eastern Malaysia, Brunei and Timor, Kulintang evolved from a simple native signaling tradition, and developed into its present form with the incorporation of knobbed gongs from Sundanese people in Java Island, Indonesia. Its importance stems from its association with the indigenous cultures that inhabited these islands prior to the influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity or the West, making Kulintang the most developed tradition of Southeast Asian archaic gong-chime ensembles.
A suling or Seruling is a Southeast Asian bamboo ring flute especially in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. It is used in gamelan ensembles.
A slit drum or slit gong is a hollow percussion instrument. In spite of the name, it is not a true drum but an idiophone, usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit, though two and three slits occur. If the resultant tongues are different width or thicknesses, the drum will produce two different pitches. It is used throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. In Africa such drums, strategically situated for optimal acoustic transmission, have been used for long-distance communication.
The agung is a set of two wide-rimmed, vertically suspended gongs used by the Maguindanao, Maranao, Sama-Bajau and Tausug people of the Philippines as a supportive instrument in kulintang ensembles. The agung is also ubiquitous among other groups found in Palawan, Panay, Mindoro, Mindanao, Sabah, Sulawesi, Sarawak and Kalimantan as an integral part of the agung orchestra.
The babandil is a single, narrow-rimmed Philippine gong used primarily as the “timekeeper” of the Maguindanao kulintang ensemble.
The kulintang a kayo is a Philippine xylophone of the Maguindanaon people with eight tuned slabs strung horizontally atop a padded wooden antangan (rack). Made of hand-carved soft wood such as bayug or more likely tamnag, the kulintang a kayo is rarely found except in Maguindanaon households which have a strong kulintang musical heritage. Traditionally, this homemade instrument was used for self-entertainment purposes inside the house, so that beginning musicians could practice kulintang pieces before performing them on the full-sized metal kulintang sets. Only recently have these instruments been used as part of a wooden kulintang ensemble. This ancient instrument is considered to have existed in the Philippines before the importation of metal gongs from China and therefore is considered a precursor to the present-day kulintang.
The kubing is a type of Philippine jaw harp from bamboo found among the Maguindanaon and other Muslim and non-Muslim tribes in the Philippines and Indonesia. It is also called kobing (Maranao), kolibau (Tingguian), aru-ding (Tagbanwa), aroding (Palawan), kulaing (Yakan), karombi (Toraja), yori (Kailinese) or Kulibaw. Ones made of sugar palm-leaf are called karinta (Munanese), ore-ore mbondu or ore Ngkale (Butonese).
The palendag, also called Pulalu, Palandag (Bagobo), Pulala (Bukidnon) and Lumundeg (Banuwaen) is a type of Philippine bamboo flute, the largest one used by the Maguindanaon, a smaller type of this instrument is called the Hulakteb (Bukidnon). A lip-valley flute, it is considered the toughest of the three bamboo flutes to use because of the way one must shape one's lips against its tip to make a sound. The construction of the mouthpiece is such that the lower end is cut diagonally to accommodate the lower lip and the second diagonal cut is make for the blowing edge. Among the Bukidnon, a similar instrument with the same construction except that it is three-fourths the length of the palendag, is called the hulakteb
The kutiyapi, or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is the only stringed instrument among the Palawano people, and one of several among other groups such as the Maranao and Manobo. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree.
The Yakan people are among the major indigenous Filipino ethnolinguistic groups in the Sulu Archipelago. Also known as dream weaver having a significant number of followers of Islam, it is considered as one of the 13 Moro groups in the Philippines. The Yakans mainly reside in Basilan but are also in Zamboanga City. They speak a language known as Bissa Yakan, which has characteristics of both Sama-Bajau Sinama and Tausug. It is written in the Malayan Arabic script, with adaptations to sounds not present in Arabic.
The Culture of Basilan are derived from the three main cultural ethnolinguistic nations, the Yakan, Suluanon Tausug and the Zamboangueño in the southern Philippines. Both Yakans and Tausugs are predominantly Muslim, joined by their kin from the Sama, Badjao, Maranao, and other Muslim ethnolinguistic groups of Mindanao, while the Zamboangueños are primarily Christian, joined by the predominantly Christian ethnolinguistic groups; the Cebuano, Ilocano, Tagalog and others. These three main groups, however, represent Basilan's tri-people or tri-ethnic group community.
Bamboo's natural hollow form makes it an obvious choice for many musical instruments.
The Kagan people, are the ethnic group of the southeastern part of the Philippines known as Davao Region. They are one of the Muslim minority groups in Mindanao and belong to the 13 Muslim Moro tribes of the Bangsamoro family. They are thought to be one of the various groups of lowland Filipinos who came to the islands from Asia's southwestern mainland several thousand years ago.
The National Living Treasures Award, alternatively known as the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan is conferred to a person or group of artists recognized by the Government of the Philippines for their contributions to the country's intangible cultural heritage. A recipient of the award, a National Living Treasure or Manlilikha ng Bayan is "a Filipino citizen or group of Filipino citizens engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino, whose distinctive skills have reached such a high level of technical and artistic excellence and have been passed on to and widely practiced by the present generations in their community with the same degree of technical and artistic competence."
Gabbang, also known as bamboo xylophone, is a musical instrument made of bamboo widely used in the southern Philippines. Among the Tausug and Sama, it is commonly played to accompany songs and dances as a solo instrument or accompanied by biola.
Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) includes traditions and living expressions that are passed down from generation to generation within a particular community.
Uwang Ahadas is a Filipino folk musician of the Yakan people who is a recipient of the National Living Treasures Award.
References
- ↑ Mercurio, Philip Dominguez (2006). "Traditional Music of the Southern Philippines". PnoyAndTheCity: A center for Kulintang - A home for Pasikings. Retrieved June 12, 2006.
- ↑ de la Paz, Salve (2006). "Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan - 2000 Awardee - UWANG AHADAS - Creating a Legacy of Music". National Commission For Culture and the Arts. 2002. National Commission For Culture and the Arts. Retrieved June 12, 2006.
