I would like to help our original culture to re-emerge, help people to understand who they are and what they were.
鈥� Datu Waway Saway
Rodelio 鈥淲away鈥� Saway, Talaandig datu, brilliant master artist, musician, educator and current Municipal Councilor of Songco, Lantapan in Bukidnon, arrived November 6 at the 抖阴探探 (抖阴探探) College of Music to fulfill a three-week sojourn till November 24 under the new 抖阴探探 Diliman (抖阴探探D) Culture Bearers-in-Residence Program.
Approved by the 抖阴探探D Office of the Chancellor on February 7, 2023, and envisioned to shine the spotlight on the promotion and protection of the nation鈥檚 indigenous knowledges or katutubong kaalaman and kaalamang bayan, this new program aligns with Republic Act 9500, which seals 抖阴探探鈥檚 mandate, as the country鈥檚 national university, to spearhead exemplary academic standards and innovative practices.
Not new to this, the College of Music since the 1960s has had a string of culture bearers as teachers of Asian music in the Musicology curricula, a significant move initiated by ethnomusicologist-composer and National Artist for Music, Dr. Jose Maceda. Ben Pangosban and Benicio Sokkong taught Kalinga music; Ligaya Amilbangsa taught Sulu pangalay dance; Joey Ayala taught instrumental music of the Davao lumad; Abraham Sakili taught Tausug gabbang and songs; and today, Aga Mayo Butocan and Kanapia Kalanduyan currently teach Magindanaon kulintangan. However, Waway鈥檚 intensive stay-in engagement brought knowledge-learning to a closer degree of apprenticeship: freer, more flexible time for lots of informal kwentuhan, juxtaposed with jamming outside of the formal class setting and curriculum.
The son of Datu Kinulintang, descendant of revered chieftain-peacemakers of Mindanao, Waway is one of 18 siblings, counting tribal leaders, Datu Makapukaw and anthropologist Datu Migketay or Vic (who lobbied for the signing of the Indigenous People鈥檚 Rights Act in 1997), and sociologist-soil-painter Salima among them. His family was instrumental in establishing the Talaandig School for Living Traditions in 1995, which endeavored to keep alive the artistic traditions and cultural values of the community. This became a model system adopted by other indigenous groups, which today has branched out to 14 other barangays by means of a moving school-on-wheels.
Transfixed by the dynamism of the tribal elders in preserving their traditions through teaching, a bunch of multidisciplinal researchers, mostly from 抖阴探探, worked to bring the Talaandig educational exemplar in 1998 to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, as part of the grand Pahiyas Folklife Festival in celebration of the centennial of the Philippine Revolution. There, the Talaandig tent constantly reverberated with excitement, as Waway beat on the massive log drums, or taught the audience how to move to the shimmering bell tones and rhythmic foot stamping of the elegant ceremonial dance Dugso, enveloping those who watched in a hushed, mesmerizingly reverent state.
This was Waway鈥檚 very first foray outside of his barangay, along with two brothers and an aunt. Little did he know that he was destined for global recognition, as he would soon travel the world to share his music at festivals in Europe, Asia and the United States, and perform with noted artists in venues such as the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, and the Lincoln Center in New York. An innovator, he bridged Asia and the West through his bowed katyapi, a two-stringed lute traditionally played by plucking. He developed an adventurous, contemporary sound that keenly projected his ethnicity as it embraced globality, fusing elements of rock and reggae with indigenous melodies and timbres.
Not only in music did Waway make his mark. He pioneered the art of soil painting in the community, a modern form of artistic expression that sourced organic materials from the environment and colored soil (23 myriad hues) from hills and riverbanks. Through the medium of soil, Waway created a visual avenue for expressing Talaandig oral history and daily life: a woman playing the polycordal zither; female dugso dancers; a family on a moonlit walk; a mother with child at her bosom; a storyteller; flowers and butterflies. Young Talaandig soil painters have won the prestigious Philippine Arts Awards and Metrobank Award.
Amiable, unassuming, soft-spoken and radiating with quiet wisdom and positivity, Waway is a revitalizing presence on campus. Billeted at the Balay Kalinaw, he followed an itinerary of multi-disciplinary activities to foster a collaborative spirit. At the College of Music鈥擲ayaw, Hukagtes, Salay (Dance, Flute, Beads)鈥攁 dance and chant workshop (that had our dancers gamely working their vocal cords); bamboo flute-making (which resourcefully used PVC pipes instead of bamboo due to a logistics glitch, but which surprisingly emitted nice, airy tones); and beadwork for crafts (that fired the students鈥� imaginations). And at the College of Fine Arts鈥擝ugta: Embracing Talaandig Ancestral Soil鈥攁n exhibit on Talaandig culture and Waway as Artist, preceded by an Artist鈥檚 Talk, was launched on Nov. 16 at the PAROLA Gallery, co-curated by a team from both colleges, and graced by Chancellor Vistan. Seventeen of Waway鈥檚 own soil paintings are currently on exhibit till November 24, along with his musical instruments, katyapi, pulala (bamboo flute), and kubing (jaw harp made from bamboo), while videos of Waway in musical action unfold on a screen, and a pair of headphones strung on the panel enfolds the listener in the Talaandig soundscape.
Invited as a guest in our classes, and holding lively exchanges with students and faculty, and spirited jam sessions with our groups TUGMA (Tugtugang Musika Asyatika) and Padayon Rondalla, which saw an organic immersion in music juxtaposed with precious kwentuhan, good-natured banter and insights鈥攁ll these became vital components of his stay. With just three more days left of his 抖阴探探 visit, two final events remain on the calendar: the soil-painting workshop on November 23, and a culminating concert on November 24, both at the College of Fine Arts. Dubbed 鈥淢unahu. Datu Waway Saway, the Lightkeeper of Talaandig Culture in a Special Thanksgiving Concert鈥�, this event brings together :prominent ethnic-pop music artists Joey Ayala and Bayang Barrios; Asian Music major and former Up Dharma Down lead singer Armi Millare; our very own Asian Music teachers, Dr. Hiroko Nagai, Tusa Montes and Malou Matute; saxophone artist Mike Guevarra, percussionist Jose Dufourt; our students and performing groups ,TUGMA and Padayon Rondalla, all in one big momentous concert that will be hard to replicate.
Three weeks of unforgettable learnings rooted in indigenous wisdom, art and life while engaging the contemporary zeitgeist. Waway鈥檚 visit was like soft rain on parched earth. He infused a new, vibrant energy into the academic community through his spontaneous sprinkles of aphorism and gentle counsel dispensed between verses of a song, or while carving out a flute or sharing a meal. He made the ordinary extraordinary: 鈥淭ingnan mo ang buwan. . . laging sinasabi na maliwanag ang buwan. . . pagmasdan na di lang maliwanag kundi maganda rin ang buwan.鈥� He showed how effortless it was to be one with nature and the environment: 鈥淣ature was my recording studio. . . the birds, insects, rustling leaves were my back-up musicians.鈥� He explained how organic practices, resilience, resourcefulness and creative sharing should be developed as natural attributes. His songs, Bulalakaw, Sinla Sinla, Gabi sa Unay-House of Gongs Mix, and Riverclouds, are fervent testaments to a snug union of traditional and modern-day aesthetics as they embody the Talaandig imagination, spirituality, and cosmology, as well as daily reality and struggle.
The soil-painting workshop on November 23 returns human respect to this most fundamental material on which rests the Earth鈥檚 systems, through use of soil as art medium. The Talaandig鈥檚 deep love for the earth is passed on to us, through their paintings which bear the community鈥檚 鈥済eographic and geologic imprint鈥�, as Dean San Valentin remarked at the exhibit opening.
Through each graceful turn of the hand on the kubing, each delicate brushstroke of soil paint, each sincere intonation of chant phrase, Waway demonstrated how we can all be better humans for others through art and music. Waway鈥檚 artistic journey led to his mission of 鈥渉elping鈥� his 鈥渙riginal culture鈥� to re-emerge. His brief but eye- and ear-opening stay as 抖阴探探D鈥檚 first Culture Bearer-in-Residence has led us onto a path of re-emergence as well.
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Article written by Dr. Ma. Patricia Brillantes Silvestre, Associate Professor of Historical Musicology, and Chair of the Department of Musicology, 抖阴探探 College of Music.
Prof. Patricia has written on various topics, in which she combines her fluency in the Spanish language, acquired after obtaining a Diploma B谩sico de Espa帽ol como Lengua Extranjera from the Universidad de Salamanca and an MA in Spanish from 抖阴探探, with her interest in Fil-Hispanic culture. She earned her PhD in Philippine Studies from 抖阴探探 Diliman’s TriCollege Program in 2021. Her听research focus is social history of 19th to early 20th Century Manila, thru ideas of being and becoming (in Musicology and Cultural Studies) in the journalism on music in the colonial press.
