Music of Palawan

CONCEPT MAP
•Nature
•Interaction
among groups
•Language
Socio-
historical
Context

Socio-historical Context
Lalawigan ng Palawan, is an island province of
the Philippines located in the Region 4. Its capital
is Puerto Princesa City, and it is the largest province in
the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction.

Palawan is composed of the long and
narrow Palawan Island, plus a number of other
smaller islands surrounding the main island.
The Calamianes Group of Islands to the
Northeast consists of
Geography of Palawan

Durangan Island almost touches the
westernmost part of Palawan Island,
while Balabac Island is located off the
southern tip, separated from Borneo by
the Balabac Strait.
Geography of Palawan

In addition, Palawan covers the Cuyo
Islands in the Sulu Sea. The disputed Spratly
Islands, located a few hundred kilometers to
the west, are considered part of Palawan by
the Philippines, and is locally called the
Kalayaan Group of Islands.
Geography of Palawan

Peoples of Palawan
Palawan, the largest province in
the Philippines, is home to
several indigenous ethnolinguistic groups:
1. Batak
- which means "mountain people" in Cuyonon is a group of
indigenous Filipino people that resides in the northeast portion
of Palawan. They live in the rugged interiors of northeastern
Palawan. Living close to nature, they are a peaceful and shy
people. These people believe in nature spirits, with whom they
communicate through a babaylan or medium.

Peoples of Palawan
2. Palaweños
- Native-born lowland dwellers
- They are religious, disciplined and have a highly developed
community spirit
- Language : Cuyonon & Agutaynen
3. Palawano
- also known as Pala'wan, is one of the unique indigenous
peoples of Palawan. They are part of the large Manobo-based
linguistic groups of southern Philippines. They traditionally
hunt using soars and bamboo blowguns.
- The Taaw't Bato means "people of the rock". They are not
actually a separate language or ethnic group, but rather a
small community of traditional southwestern Palawanos .

4. Tagbanwa
Peoples of Palawan
- or "people of the world," are found in central and northern
Palawan. They practice shifting cultivation of upland rice,
which is considered a divine gift, and are known for their rice
wine ritual called pagdiwata. Central Tagbanwas are found in
the western and eastern coastal areas of central Palawan.
They are concentrated in the municipalities of Aborlan,
Quezon, and Puerto Princesa.

•Cultural
Preservation
•Sustainable Eco-
Tourism
•Nature
•Interaction
among groups
•Language
Socio-
historical
Context
Issues
CONCEPT MAP

Issues
The struggle to save Palawan (known as the
Philippines’ Last Frontier) is not only about saving trees and
rare species. It is also about nourishing the Filipino cultural
heritage, so powerfully represented by those indigenous
communities that - after escaping Spanish and American
colonization (while resisting the new ‘mining imperialism’
now) - continue to represent the 'living roots' from which all
Filipinos originate. Therefore, environmental plundering by
mining companies is not only a crime against nature but it is
also a crime against culture, a sort of genocide that
annihilates the most profound roots of the Filipino's history
and ultimately plunders the cultural heritage of the whole
nation!

•Cultural
Preservation
•Sustainable Eco-
Tourism
•Kulial
•Epics
•Instruments
•Nature
•Interaction
among groups
•Language
Socio-
historical
Context
Musical
Forms
Issues
CONCEPT MAP

Musical Forms
1. Bagit,
2. Kulial (Songs),
3. Tultul (Epic chant),
4. Ulit (Shamanic chant)

Bird songs, Kulial songs, Epics (i.e. Kudaman)
The Kudaman epic starts with a long narrated
prelude in a tale pattern (50 typewritten pages)
before the six to seven nights can develop. The
nights repeat the span of seven years that frames
the ritual of commemoration of the Master of Rice,
Tämwäy ät Ampuq ät Paräy.
Musical Forms

• aruding (Jew’s harp),
Musical Forms
• babarak (ring flute),

• suling (banded flute),
• basal (gong),
Musical Forms

• kusyapiq (lute),
Musical Forms
• pagang (bamboo zither)

CONCEPT MAP
•Music in Ritual
•Soundscape
•Creativity
•Cultural
Preservation
•Sustainable Eco-
Tourism
•Kulial
•Epics
•Instruments
•Nature
•Interaction
among groups
•Language
Socio-
historical
Context
Musical
Forms
Musical
Context
Issues

Musical Context
The subtle threads between Mankind and Nature
involve all our senses and more particularly our
auditive sensitivity. Capturing tonalities, rhythms, and
melodies, we can like a bird fly down from the celestial
vault to the Earth, dwelling-place of Highlander-
islanders known as the Palawan who live in the
southern part of the island by the same name. This
aural voyage will take us to the realm of words, poetry,
and music as human creations which the Palawan uses
to communicate in order to live harmoniously in this
world.

Music in Ritual
The shaman sings the difficult experience of the
voyage of his double, kuruduwa, by a specific chant,
the lumbaga, whose melody is in all points assimilable
to any epic melodic line. And it is precisely the ordeals
that the soul of the shaman overcomes in the course
of his voyage—the encounters with the Evil Doers,
Länggam or Säqitan, the discussions, the bargaining
engaged in with the Invisible Beings—that constitute
the shamanic chant.

Music in Ritual
• to sing tultul is to be possessed by a Täw Tultultulän. These
“Epic Heroes” are a type of humanity who live in the median space
and intercede between people on this earth and Ämpuq. They are a
Benevolent Humanity protecting the “Real Men.” The act of
chanting thus doubles with the embodiment, in the very person of
the bard, of these heroic and semi-divine Beings. One can interpret
this relationship as an act of possession in which the bard becomes
a medium.
• Epics are always chanted at night, ending at daybreak; it is
forbidden to sing when the sun shines and during the day. This
prohibition links the epic to the night and a sacred world. Moreover,
one would never chant for amusement in a light joking manner.

In the Central West highlands, is the Palawan
Island. One of the tribes in Palawan are the
TAGBANUAS. The Tagbanuas has retained their
ancient culture. The Calamianes Group of Islands who
elaborate funeral celebrations. Five days after
interment, the relatives goes to the homes of the
deceased to perform funeral rites.
Then the participants chant the Batac, a lengthy
song recounting the significant adventures of a
mythical person named DUMARACOL. The singing
goes on for three successive nights for evening till
dawn.
Music in Ritual

Comparative Glossary of Mindoro
and Palawan Music.
Voice
Mindoro:
Igway / Song
Marayaw / Spirit song
Palawan:
Kulial / Song
Ulit / Spirit song
Instruments
Mindoro:
Subing / Jew's harp
Gitgit / lute
Agung / gong Bangsi / flute
Palawan:
Aruding / Jew's harp
Kusyapiq / lute
Basal / gong
Suling,
Babarak / flute