Lesson 1

or o
i n d
o f M
s ic
Mu
Yvhan Gabriel T. Fernando and
Mindoro
is an island which is twenty miles away from the tip of Southern Luzon.
According to Fox and Hory (1974), Mindoro has seven ethnolinguistic
groups.
When the island of Mindoro is mentioned, the first thing that comes to
mind are the Mangyans.
 Father Antoon Postma, has worked among the Mangyans for years.
According to Postma, there are other ethnic minority groups inhabiting the
interior mountains of Mindoro, like the Buhid tribe in the north and the
Alangan tribe in the farther north.
The term Mangyans is often erroneously referred to all the inhabitants of
the interior mountains of Mindoro. This is what the Mangyans living in the
southern parts of Mindoro call themselves as the Hanunoo Mangyans,
meaning real. Hanunoo is not a tribal name as they themselves claim.
 Cruising on
The ambahan is the “alphabet” of the Hanunoo Mangyans.
It is engraved on a luka (bamboo tube) in the Indio-derived script of the
Mangyans and directly under each line of script appears its transcription
into Latinized syllables.
 Kudling
 Is another Mangyan
chordophone. It is a
bamboo zither which has
parallel strings that run
along the body’s entire
length. The body acts as the
resonator and comes in a
variety of sizes and shapes.
Suling
 is a bamboo flute. It is
an aerophone with an
air column which the
player activates by
blowing against the
sharp edge of the
opening of the
instrument.
Kinaban
 Is a bamboo jaws harp. It is made of
bamboo or metal, with a thin and
flexible tongue made to vibrate by
plucking. The tip of the instrument or
by pulling a string attached to its
tapered end.
Batiwtiw
 Is an idiophone. It is musical split bamboo
wand. It is played by grasping the hands with
one hand and striking the sntrument’s
tongue against the lower palm of the
opposite hand. Two slits on opposite sides of
the tubular handle allow the tongue to
vibrate with the thumb.
 Lesson Review
 Mindoro has seven ethno-linguistic groups.
The Buhid tribe is in the north and the Alangan tribe is in the farther north.
 Hanunoo Mangyans is the name the Mangyans living in the southern parts of
Mindoro called themselves.
The Ambahan is engraved on a luka (bamboo tube) in the Indio-derived script
of the Mangyans.
The lullaby (iyayi), ritual chanting (ngayung) and song poems (ambalam) are
prominent among the vocal music type of the Mangyans.
The gitgit,kudling, kinaban and batiwtiw are Mangyan instruments.