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| Manta Gowani at the Knox Center The Mindanao Kulintang Ensemble will perform at the Knox Center for Performing Arts, San Pablo Friday, September 29, 2006. For over a thousand years, the gong musical ensemble of the Kulintang has flourished in the southern Filipino island of Mindanao. The music of Mindanao has distinguished itself from the larger complex of Filipino culture, for it reflects both Malay and Muslim influences from the lands to the southwest, including Malaysia and Indonesia. A distant cousin of the Indonesian gamelan, the ensemble includes the kulintang itself--a melody-bearing array of tuned bronze kettles suspended in an ornate wooden rack. The kulintang is accompanied by a pair of large suspended gongs, known as agong, which are played in interlocking rhythmic patterns. Also accompanying the kulintang are other suspended gongs called gandingan, a drum known as dabakan, and a single timekeeper bossed gong called babandir or babandil. Capable of extraordinary rhythmic and melodic development, this percussion ensemble often accompanies dance and vocal performances. In the Mindanao Kulintang Ensemble, we will have the opportunity to hear this music performed by an indigenous master from the Maranao culture. Usopay Cadar first came to the United States in 1968, on the invitation of Ethnomusicologist Robert Garfias at the University of Washington. Cadar earned a doctorate in music and fostered a love and knowledge for kulintang music both in universities and in Filipino-American communities across the United States. Performing with him are the group's members Yoshitaka Terada, Patrick Tamayo, Lizae Reyes, Scott Scholz and Daniel Giray, together with other guest artists. The theme of the performance is Manta Gowani, a Maranao word for "Once upon a time." The Mindanao Kulintang Ensemble will concertize on the theme of a Maranao folk legend about lunar and solar eclipses. In the lore, a mythical lion like dragon named Arimaonga is believed to have tried to devour the moon during an eclipse. It was thought that doomsday would follow if he were to have succeeded. Traditionally, the Maranao would create a great noise to ward off Arimaonga. The lore has a good touch of levity, as young people, particularly the maidens and bachelors, are the loudest in their bewailing and bellowing. According to a folk song with the dragon as its namesake, the prospect of dying before they taste the pleasure of life greatly terrifies young people. Here is a syllabic translation of a pertinent verse: O awesome Arimaonga! Be kind; do not devour the moon, Give it second thought and be considerate To those who have unfulfilled dreams If only you will allow them to taste The sweet fruit of their ambitions. Indeed, despite all past eclipses, the world has not ended. Every eclipse had a good ending, bringing with it relief, and a reason to celebrate. The metaphor of the eclipse appears very timely. History of Kulintang--This music was originally a village-based tradition, arising out of what Cadar terms "pocket cultures" of some fourteen distinct cultural groups in Mindanao, of which two principal groups are the Maranao and the Maguindanao. Kulintang music was readily adopted as court music after the emergence of Islam and the sultanate system of political organization in Mindanao during the 1300's. Two centuries later the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan arrived, and claimed (and renamed) the Philippines for Spain. During the colonial period, the Spanish named the Muslims in the south moros, after the North African Moors they had expelled from Spain in 1492. But the Filipino moros firmly resisted Spanish rule for over 350 years, and even today retain a political and cultural distance from the Spanish and American cultural influences that have transformed the north of the archipelago. Popular culture often associates kulintang music with romanticized notions of the sultans' courts; while Filipino dance companies adopt a simplified form of kulintang music for stylized representations in what has become known as "Moro suites." In contrast to its stereotype, the music of kulintang is far more complex and subtle in its form and practice. Cadar describes the music as follows: "In the West, conventional orchestral music can be looked at in terms such as scales (major or minor), keys, or harmonic chords. The Southern Philippine gong music is constructed along different reasoning. The Maguindanaoan Kulintang music is built on the concept known as, for lack of more precise terms, 'rhythmic mode.' Usually, the instrument that opens the piece, the rhythm playing 'babandil', defines the mode. Limitless number of pieces or compositions can be played under one 'rhythmic mode'. In the Maranao, Kulintang music is classified largely into 'melody types'. Pieces or compositions are recognized as something belonging to a certain type of melody instead of rhythm. There are many melody types. In either case, no two sets of Kulintang have the same tuning, an attribute that increases the variations in interpreting a piece. Every Kulintang player has a distinctly different manner of interpreting a given piece, which further multiplies the number of interpretations through which apiece, or composition can be brought into life. When variables such as the dynamics of the accompanying instruments, family style, clan style, village or regional styles are factored in, the possibilities become astronomical." write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |