DIPOLOG CITY, Feb. 20 (PIA)
- - The local government of Dipolog City in collaboration with the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) launched the exhibit for Tunogtugan:
First International Gongs and Bamboo Music Festival on February 18 at Dipolog Sports Complex.
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| Photo courtesy by: Ruel D. Tabada |
Dr. Ramon
P. Santos, festival director noted that in music, bamboo instruments not only
provide cultural and geographic identity to its practitioners, but also define
distinct aesthetic qualities to their expressions, partly to their natural
substance and partly through their acoustical technology as demanded by the
performance itself.
Background
The power to create sounds
is the power to create culture. This serves as a memento that the ingenuity of
the human race supplicates to the sensitivity of the living world in a
contemporary society and proffers to the struggle of communities for the
assertion to configure their particular landscapes.
The main objective of the
exhibit is to explore the dynamic practice of gongs and bamboo in the context
of musical experience. There is a cultural knot around the Asian region with
respect to the sounds produced by gongs and bamboo instruments.
The gathering of data for
the exhibit was a collaborative effort of the cultural stakeholders of
Zamboanga del Norte. Aurea Brigino Lopez was the head researcher with Asst.
Researcher Loen M. Vitto and other field researchers Mapee D.Z. Singson; Sunnie
Noel; Evelyn A. Luna; Nellie R. Saberon; Cora Paz C. Gako; Leila Amatong; Jasmin
Ybañez; Christie Angel Alensub; Ma. Luz Fredesvienda Gumela; and Archival
Researcher Amado Reyes. The group conducted a thorough research of the Subanen
community in Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte
which represents 98% of the population.
Members of the curatorial
team included Cecilia S. De La Paz, Ph. D.; Patrick D. Flores, Ph. D. and;
Mapee D.Z. Singson.
Dr. De La Paz while giving
the background of the exhibit lauded Dipolog City through the sterling leadership of Mayor
Evelyn T. Uy for hosting the festival saying that of all the places they have
travelled, Dipolog City is the best. The hospitality of the people,
accommodations, venue, and other preparations made are worth mentioning.
The team is looking
forward to people being enthused and encouraged with the cultural ties we have
with other Asian countries through the soundscape of various music traditions.
The
Exhibit
In the exhibit, you will
be amazed with the display of different instruments made of bamboo and brass.
Some of these instruments are the clapper; patangguk; patatag; slit drum;
lip-valley flute; parallel-string tube zither; scraper; matraca; flat gongs;
xylophone; stamping tubes; panpipe; and buzzers.
People will be able to
appreciate the rich culture of Subanens
and how gongs and bamboo music instruments affect their daily lives
especially during festivities like the buklog,
a ritual gathering that celebrates their way of life and beliefs.
You will also be
entertained while sitting on a bamboo chair watching the culture and rituals of
the Subanens. (PIA9)