Abstract: Improvisation is a central feature of the Philippine bossed gongs and drum ensemble known as kulintang, yet challenges emerge as its transmission increasingly occurs within institutional learning contexts. Drawing on applied ethnomusicology, music analysis, and multicultural music education, this article investigates how institutional pedagogical norms shape transmission processes and may constrain improvisatory vitality. Using kulintang as a case study, the article critically reviews earlier analytical literature while clarifying the distinct scholarly purposes for which such studies were produced. It proposes a complementary theoretical–analytical approach oriented toward improvisatory process rather than fixed musical products, framing authenticity as a processual orientation grounded in stylistic integrity, improvisatory agency, and continuity of creative practice.
Abstract: Gong-chime music ensembles from the southern Philippines have been conflated as one monolithic genre of “Muslim Filipino music.” Several academic publications—dissertations, master’s theses, and articles—exist primarily for Maguindanao and Maranao traditions from Mindanao. Sama kulintangan music from the Sulu Archipelago remains understudied, however. In this article, I analyze the unique musical features of Sama kulintangan , in contradistinction to Maguindanao kulintang music. Using empirical data, I argue that Sama kulintangan music values communal partaking over individual virtuosity. This comparative study broadens scholarship on maritime Southeast Asian gong ensemble music by highlighting a lesser-known region of the Philippines.
Abstract: This study explores the evolving journey of Maranao kolintang music as both heritage and dynamic cultural expression. Grounded in “music performance as a cultural expression,” it examines kolintang ’s transition from ritual contexts into schools, competitions, theater, festivals, and global stages. Using ethnomusicological methods, 12 ensembles and troupes were analyzed to show how kolintang is preserved, adapted, and reimagined. Findings reveal that traditional groups safeguard authenticity, academic ensembles institutionalize knowledge, and contemporary groups experiment with fusion, digital media, and advocacy. Kolintang emerges as a living tradition that embodies continuity and change, sustains resilience, enriches heritage, and fosters intercultural dialogue.
Abstract: In , ethnomusicologist Usopay Cadar wrote about the burgeoning interest in kulintang in the United States, his hope for its growth, and his disappointments with Filipino American artists, arts groups, and community members. Since 1996 much has changed. My article foregrounds the maturation of kulintang arts in the United States by highlighting the significant and positive roles that cofounding members who are active in the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble (PKE) play as practitioners, bearers, and co-owners of kulintang arts traditions in the United States; these cofounding members also exemplify what I call kulintang arts autochthonousity.
Abstract: Following a brief summary of how kulintang music performance was introduced to the United States in the 1960s and 1970s through academic networks by master musicians Usopay Cadar and Danongan Kalanduyan, the author posits sociopolitical and symbolic meanings undergirding its enthusiastic embrace by Filipino Americans over the next two decades. After Kalanduyan’s passing in 2016, North American kulintang practitioners realized linkages through shared artistic lineages. A 2017 festival playfully named Gongster’s Paradise gave equal attention to performance of “traditional” repertoires and cross-genre innovations. As kulintang-inspired creativity increased exponentially, Ron and Lydia Querian developed programs under the auspices of House of Gongs to help diasporic Gongsters navigate ethical issues that can arise in nonnative performance of Indigenous practices.
