Fulgencio, Jayvee P.

STEM 1

Kulintang
Kulintang is a modern term for an
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 centuries in regions of the Eastern Malay
Archipelagothe
Southern Philippines,
Eastern Indonesia,
Eastern Malaysia, Brunei, and Timor. This article focuses on the Philippine
Kulintang traditions of the Maranao and Maguindanao peoples. Kulintang is
believed to have evolved from a simple native signaling tradition, and
developed into its present form with the incorporation of knobbed gongs
from Sunda. Its association with the indigenous cultures that inhabited these
islands prior to the influences of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or the West
make kulintang the most developed tradition of Southeast Asian archaic
gong-ensembles.

Fulgencio, Jayvee P. STEM 1

The main role of kulintang music in

the community is as nonprofessional,
social entertainment at feasts, festive and
harvest gatherings, parades, weddings
and ceremonies marking the return
of pilgrimages to Mecca. Kulintang music
is also played at state functions, and to
accompany
healing
ceremonies,
rituals(pagipat), and animistic religious
ceremonies. It is played informally in the
home for the enjoyment of family
members. Kulintang music was once used
for communicating long distance messages from one village or longhouse to
another. Traditionally, kulintang performers are volunteers whose only
reward is recognition and prestige. Kulintang music is comprised of modes,
with a prescribed rhythm for each of the five instruments in the ensemble,
and compositions are passed down orally without any formal notation.
Improvisation is an essential aspect of kulintang music. The tradition of
kulintang music has been slowly dying as it is replaced with modern forms of
entertainment.
Definition of Kulintang
Technically, kulintang is the Maguindanao, Ternate and Timor term for the
idiophone of metal gong kettles which are laid horizontally upon a rack to
create an entire kulintang set. It is played by striking the bosses of the
gongs with two wooden beaters. Due
to its use across a wide variety of
groups
and
languages,
the
kulintang is also called kolintang by
the
Maranao
and
those
in
Sulawesi, kulintangan by those in
Sabah and the Sulu Archipelago
and totobuang by those in central
Maluku.
By the twentieth century, the term kulintang had also come to denote an
entire Maguindanao ensemble of five to six instruments. Traditionally the
Maguindanao term for the entire ensemble is basalen or palabunibuyan,

Fulgencio, Jayvee P. STEM 1

the latter term meaning an ensemble of loud instruments or musicmaking or in this case music-making using a kulintang.
How does a Kulintang look like?
A Kulintang is a set of eight gongs made of bronze, on a wooden stand in the
shape of a Sarimanok (mythical bird,
divine messenger). Accompanied by
one larger gong (here made of iron, but
usually also made of bronze) and two
drums. The eight small gongs differ in
pitch but the height of the tone is not
fixed and can differ per set. The
number of large gongs can vary from
one to several gongs of different pitch
and size. The small gongs are struck with two sticks of appr. 30 cm. length
and made of a soft kind of wood, probably of the papaya tree. The large
gong is struck with a special beater. The conical drum is struck with a thin
piece of bamboo of appr. 40 c.m. length. The cylindrical drum is struck with
either the hands or two short wooden sticks.