By Edwin C. Mercurio
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato – Vying for the distinction of being the most Original Pilipino Music (OPM) is the lumad music of the south Cotabato tribes in Mindanao, Southern Philippines. The melodies emanating from the tribe’s integration with nature and the spirit world have been given that unique distinction by the Santa Cruz Mission Study Centre in a film documentary entitled “Earth Music.”
Tribal Music of the Cotabato lumads (People of the Earth) handed down from countless generations, has only lately been recognized and appreciated. But it had always been with us. Those who are considered experts in their field attribute their inspiration and success to their communion with nature and a rich cultural heritage.
“The spirits guide me in my songs. If I miss a single word, the “D’wata” (Gods) of my ancestors will punish me with death,” says Mendung Bensawan
Mendung believes that the spirits tell her what to sing. Unschooled and does not even know how to read or write, Mendung can surpass any professional musician’s skill in the mastery of her songs, whose verses ooze with poetic style and creativity. Major T’boli feasts are incomplete without her presence.
One of the most outstanding lyrical composition of Mendung tells about the heroic exploits of the legendary T’boli folk hero Tudbulol. Said to be taught to her in a dream by her spirit guide Lintinum, the song describes the hero’s successful war exploits and announces the advent of the Golden Age of civilization – Lemlunay – a mythical place of abundance, justice and harmony.
Eyes fixed at a distance, the outer countenance of Mendung changes as she signs the melody in a trance-like manner, 24 hours during major T’boli celebrations.
Other tribal musicians use songs, movements and musical instruments to convey love, harmony with the spiritual world, conflict or even flirting.
One such musician is a lady named Ganay Dalikan. Known for her charming music and flirtatious eye movements, she was known to have caused her husband to smash her Hegelung, a two stringed musical instrument in a jealous fit of rage.
The tribes’ harmonious relations with their natural world environment is vey evident in their music.
Duhel Temlas, a Manobo who plays the Dewegey, a coconut two-stringed violin imitates the distressed calls of trees cut by logging companies in the ancestral domains of indigenous peoples. In lighter moments, he plays his coconut violin and taps it in sequence to echo the sounds of a lonely and love-sick woodpecker.
The Kumbing, too, a bamboo flute played between the lips imitates the frogs “sexy” courtship calls.
Children, too, have their own brand of musical enjoyment. Anywhere, anytime where children gather, they tap anything in sight made of wood or bamboo rafters with rhythmic beats and there they go-dancing, coupled with festive laughter and wild cheering. Break dance, Gang Nam style or what have we, they have their own brand of all-time tops – Monkey Dancing – complete with twirls, hopping, tumbling, rib scratching and all the things any normal monkey does.
Music not only serves as a form of entertainment for the tribes of South Cotabato. Its uses vary. It can be used to express joy at an abundant harvest or an outlet for the pent-up emotions of a distressed wife.
Take the case of Ye Bon. Unable to lash out at her husband’s wrongdoing, she softly hushes a lullaby which not only puts her child to sleep, but also calms her down after the outpouring. In the T’boli world which smacks of ‘machismo’ women are known to be gentle and obedient. Thus, tribal music has its own variety.
“Earth Music” captured in video form presents a wide variety of T’boli music played in the natural and pristine environment surroundings of Lake Sebu. The film documentary whose theme is similar to that of the “Vanishing Earth” portrays T’boli music in its unique perspective – music inspired from the tribes’ intimate and harmonious relationship with the earth.
Musical instruments, with the exception of the brass gongs, are made from the trees and plants growing in the tropical forest.
“Truly, T’boli music has given a beautiful conscious form and voice to the music of the earth,” remarked those who have seen the film.
Sad to say, both T’boli culture and the natural world is threatened in South Cotabato and other indigenous places in the Philippines by extractive mining, rapacious logging and transnational monocrop plantations.
The “Vanishing Earth” another film documentary portrays the destructive impact of modern industrial technology in agriculture and industry on the T’boli culture and natural world
“Earth Music” calls attention to the changes which will inevitably take place in the T’boli world. It also challenges people who have accepted western values and technology to be more sensitive to the rhythms of the earth.
If we fail to listen to these rhythms and voices, then we are part of the continuing process which are presently leading us towards creating a drab, lifeless, silent and lonely earth. ***