00:00:00
[Music]
00:00:14
in a world and time when so much is
00:00:17
changing there is still so much of our
00:00:19
culture that has to be documented and
00:00:22
kept alive who are the bearers of these
00:00:25
precious living
00:00:28
cultures How do they pass on a knowledge
00:00:31
transmitted through the
00:00:34
ages what they represent has survived
00:00:39
colonization
00:00:41
conflict
00:00:43
marginalization and yet they
00:00:46
[Music]
00:00:48
persist the living vessels that store da
00:00:52
or knowledge our pride
00:01:02
welcome to the fourth season of Dao in
00:01:05
the past three seasons we have explored
00:01:07
the fast Vanishing natural world of our
00:01:10
indigenous people we've seen how these
00:01:13
environments have helped shape not just
00:01:16
their survival but the very cultures
00:01:19
which allow them to declare and be proud
00:01:21
of their identities we've discovered how
00:01:25
they use the materials and resources
00:01:28
which may help build and unify a nation
00:01:32
in the season of Dao we meet the culture
00:01:35
bearers men and women who have devoted
00:01:38
their entire lives to preserving what is
00:01:41
vital and important to their cultures
00:01:44
our culture their life work may seem so
00:01:47
far removed from some of our concerns
00:01:50
yet they push on in the face of so much
00:01:53
indifference that is why they remain
00:01:56
relevant to this day and that is why
00:01:59
they a achievements must be
00:02:02
[Music]
00:02:08
recognized the gaad bay or the national
00:02:12
Living Treasures award is a distinction
00:02:14
accorded by the Philippine government to
00:02:16
the finest traditional artists of the
00:02:19
[Music]
00:02:21
land the search is conducted by the
00:02:24
national commission for culture and the
00:02:26
Arts in an ad hoc panel of experts the
00:02:30
distinction was institutionalized
00:02:32
through Republic act
00:02:34
7355 in April of 1992 since its
00:02:38
Inception the award has been bestowed on
00:02:41
13 traditional
00:02:43
[Music]
00:02:50
artists we have a very rich uh tradition
00:02:54
of uh people's art and um this is really
00:02:59
a source of of identity for the
00:03:01
Filipinos our traditional artists
00:03:04
sometimes called craft people are the
00:03:07
keepers of our soul or the bearers of
00:03:09
Filipino soul and it's important to
00:03:12
preserve their work because otherwise we
00:03:15
will have nothing to be proud of to the
00:03:17
rest of the world the intention of the
00:03:19
NCCA in the initial search was to look
00:03:23
for the um most accomplished
00:03:28
Weavers uh art
00:03:30
makers um storytellers and other kinds
00:03:34
of traditional artist to Showcase uh the
00:03:38
creative Spirit of the Filipino and
00:03:40
that's why we really look for those uh
00:03:44
people uh our Treasures that have been
00:03:47
able to preserve our tradition from the
00:03:50
earliest time to the present
00:03:52
unadulterated by
00:03:54
commercial um well trappings or some um
00:03:58
modernizing influence that may not blend
00:04:01
with our
00:04:02
Traditions that was really the intention
00:04:05
from the very beginning until now
00:04:08
Professor Elena Mirano an educator
00:04:11
researcher scholar
00:04:14
musicologist was elected head of the
00:04:16
gamaba committee by its members where
00:04:18
she served until
00:04:21
2015 the gamaba has been a very sincere
00:04:24
effort to recognize the fact that we
00:04:27
have a living culture that it's it's not
00:04:30
just a western culture that we have uh
00:04:33
many uh we have embedded in us this
00:04:38
cultural well actually it's a Bedrock of
00:04:40
culture that continues to exist until
00:04:43
the present day many times unnoticed or
00:04:46
unrecognized but there is a need to
00:04:49
recognize Because unless we answer that
00:04:52
question then we won't know who we are
00:04:54
we'll only know some layer but the
00:04:57
really deepest layer comes from the
00:05:00
tradition and so in that sense gamaba is
00:05:04
a questioning of the self also who are
00:05:08
we why are we here how do we structure
00:05:11
our space our time our visual
00:05:14
images and in choosing what we think is
00:05:17
the best and it has to be the best so we
00:05:19
honor the
00:05:27
best the
00:05:29
has reaped a Rich Harvest of indigenous
00:05:32
Filipinos who have exemplified the very
00:05:35
highest standards of their cultures
00:05:38
unfortunately many of the awardees from
00:05:40
the first batch of Gaba winners have
00:05:43
passed On and Here precious footage
00:05:47
recording of their voices their thoughts
00:05:49
aspirations of Past Masters musicians
00:05:53
Weavers
00:05:54
chanters all were artists whose gift to
00:05:57
this nation live on
00:06:00
even in
00:06:02
[Music]
00:06:19
death all who heard him play on the two
00:06:22
string kyya knew that they were in the
00:06:24
presence of a great artist
00:06:31
the instrument that he chose to express
00:06:33
this virtuosity was the most technically
00:06:37
difficult of the two string loots
00:06:39
popular among both the Islamic and
00:06:42
animous people of mindo of its two
00:06:45
strings one provided the rhythmic drone
00:06:49
while the other has movable threets that
00:06:51
allow Melodies to be played in two sets
00:06:54
of pentatonic scales Scholars have
00:06:58
described the music of the magao kapi as
00:07:01
mystical delicate celebrative but all
00:07:05
words pale when one listens to existing
00:07:08
footage of samon
00:07:11
[Music]
00:07:13
suan no explanations no academic notes
00:07:17
can quite explain the hypnotic and
00:07:20
sensual quality of his music the late
00:07:23
great s suan a fantastic performer I was
00:07:27
told by uh one
00:07:30
Magano uh who's from a different part of
00:07:33
uh of cotabato that when San plays he
00:07:38
speaks and you can hear what he's saying
00:07:41
and it's so beautiful he was really a
00:07:44
wonderful artist on the kapi he really
00:07:48
emed you Spirit of being Filipino cuz
00:07:52
for him it was not just his community
00:07:54
although he lived in his community he
00:07:55
worked
00:07:56
there when when there were other EV in
00:08:00
other parts of the Philippines invol
00:08:02
involving Gaba he would go he went as
00:08:05
far as
00:08:06
Kalinga the idea of artist in our in our
00:08:11
culture in our traditional culture is
00:08:13
not a narrow specialist who does only
00:08:16
art and does nothing else saman San is
00:08:19
different because he was not just an
00:08:21
artist in now he was a complete person
00:08:24
he being an artist he being a c
00:08:26
performer did not prevent him from
00:08:28
cultivating his other levels of being in
00:08:31
fact he was a good father he was a
00:08:34
farmer he was an Imam now a Muslim
00:08:37
priest at the same time he was the
00:08:39
favorite barber in his town in our
00:08:42
traditional culture we have we have a
00:08:44
holistic notion of being holistic notion
00:08:47
of a person you could invite him
00:08:49
anywhere he would appear and he will be
00:08:51
honoring you with his presence in
00:08:53
whatever occasion until now I canot
00:08:55
understand how they tell how they how
00:08:58
they
00:09:00
especially could tell stories using this
00:09:03
instrument
00:09:05
[Music]
00:09:32
San suan was not just a musician or
00:09:36
soloist he was a virtuoso a man whose
00:09:39
gift of interpretation elevated his
00:09:42
musicianship to a realm where both
00:09:44
tradition and self-expression meet to
00:09:47
create art I think the same can be said
00:09:50
of the other deceased gamaba awardees
00:09:52
whatever their fields
00:09:55
[Music]
00:10:13
a chanter of epics and Storyteller from
00:10:16
The maaga Valley in Palawan masino Inay
00:10:19
was also a poet and musician in 1993
00:10:24
just as he was about to be declared
00:10:26
among the first recipients of the gamaba
00:10:28
distinction
00:10:30
he was recorded in the forest of Brooks
00:10:32
point where he chanted a portion of a
00:10:35
Palawan epic he also demonstrated his
00:10:38
skill at reciting the lyrical poem
00:10:45
Kul as well as a bagit verse inspired by
00:10:49
the images and animals of his Forest
00:10:52
home then together with his friends he
00:10:55
played on the basil and Su a mix of
00:10:58
large and small aong accompanied by the
00:11:02
gimbal or tubar drum to the joy of the
00:11:06
villagers complimenting the music was a
00:11:09
dancing of the women their feet beating
00:11:12
out complimentary Rhythms on the bamboo
00:11:14
floor of The Community
00:11:18
House maso inaray of Brooks Point who
00:11:22
was a Storyteller and musician he was
00:11:26
able to uh Preserve the very important
00:11:30
additions the T to a storytelling the um
00:11:35
sanang and some musical em and uh
00:11:39
unfortunately he passed away uh around 5
00:11:42
years ago but uh his children are
00:11:45
continuing the tradition in books point
00:11:49
in our search for the Exotic and
00:11:51
colorful other we often Overlook the
00:11:54
true Gifts of a people in the case of
00:11:57
maso inaray his gift mirrors the
00:12:00
traditional Palawan knowledge of the
00:12:03
forests the stars and the cosmos A
00:12:07
Universe he was at home with a cosmos
00:12:10
that was home to his
00:12:12
people creative memory endurance Clarity
00:12:16
of intellect and spiritual purpose for
00:12:19
these most valuable of possessions
00:12:22
masino Inay was found worthy
00:12:29
[Music]
00:12:34
[Music]
00:12:42
[Music]
00:13:00
we prioritize those uh Traditions that
00:13:04
are very important in establishing that
00:13:06
we have a very high degree of culture
00:13:09
from the very beginning even before the
00:13:10
Spaniards came that's why we prioritize
00:13:13
those uh Crafts People artists like G
00:13:18
belog who was a
00:13:21
Manan that really devoted his own life
00:13:26
to preserve as much as possible the
00:13:27
ambahan tradition in Oriental M using
00:13:30
the Surat Manan or what we call bayin no
00:13:35
and so this is is
00:13:37
really um a tradition worth preserving
00:13:41
simply because in many other parts of
00:13:43
the country this or by is no longer
00:13:50
used from orial mindoro grew up still
00:13:54
hearing the ambahan Poetry used by his
00:13:58
community to express
00:13:59
love traditional wisdom Sage advice
00:14:03
common courtesies and humor the seven
00:14:06
syllable lines conveyed messages through
00:14:09
the use of metaphor and Creative
00:14:12
[Music]
00:14:18
Images he also grew up using the Surat
00:14:21
Manan the precolonial syllabary that
00:14:24
links the Mangan to other Southeast
00:14:26
Asian cultures his Mastery of this
00:14:30
difficult form and his desire to revive
00:14:33
and popularize it among the young Manan
00:14:36
made him worthy of the Gaba distinction
00:14:40
today the Heritage that gin belog helped
00:14:43
revive is carried on by his family his
00:14:46
children who were his most Ardent
00:14:49
students
00:14:55
[Music]
00:15:02
it doesn't seem surprising that the
00:15:04
first batch of female gamaba aies were
00:15:07
Weavers weaving is after all an art
00:15:10
associated with women the skill of these
00:15:13
gamaba winners covered difficult
00:15:15
techniques such as weaving in abaka Ikat
00:15:18
silk or even natural fibers
00:15:32
[Music]
00:15:44
[Music]
00:15:51
even today among the tiboli of Lake sebu
00:15:55
the name of Lang dulai is spoken off in
00:15:58
awe and
00:16:00
admiration her Legacy is the first ever
00:16:03
tiboli Weaver to be awarded the gaad bay
00:16:08
extends far beyond her skill at weaving
00:16:10
abaca fibers into tinala
00:16:14
[Music]
00:16:17
cloth her Mastery of the process of
00:16:20
dying the threads and producing both
00:16:22
traditional as well as contemporary
00:16:25
adaptations of these designs gained her
00:16:28
many students and
00:16:35
followers without any paper without any
00:16:38
thing to copy long just ties Tes design
00:16:42
makes designs and when uh this is uh
00:16:48
dyed and woven the designs come out uh
00:16:53
the is a Marvel of design intuitively
00:16:57
done by the designer uh Lang dulai Andis
00:17:02
are very very proud of having her uh in
00:17:06
fact they were so surprised during her
00:17:08
funeral well some kind of U celebrity
00:17:11
more than what the have witnessed uh
00:17:15
when it comes to burying their High
00:17:17
political officials other words even the
00:17:19
high political officials were not buried
00:17:21
in the same Grand
00:17:23
manner uh as lulai especially during the
00:17:26
necrological services we not but her
00:17:29
Legacy will always remain simply because
00:17:32
uh she made the tiolis much prouder
00:17:35
because of her Creations what I do
00:17:37
remember about Lula the legendary Lula
00:17:41
is the fact that she had not only uh
00:17:45
weaving virtuosity but she was also a
00:17:49
leader she was a leader her school was a
00:17:52
big school and she had many followers
00:17:54
and she was able to train many of them
00:17:57
and I uh heard her once talking about
00:18:01
what she had learned from the Gaba and
00:18:03
about uh the other the other
00:18:06
international events that she had been
00:18:08
brought to and she she said something
00:18:10
like you know I learned the value of
00:18:12
education education is so
00:18:15
important and so she was talking to the
00:18:18
younger people in her relation she was
00:18:20
saying so if I were you that's what I
00:18:23
would invest in that's why her school
00:18:26
was one of the most successful of all
00:18:29
the Gaba
00:18:33
[Music]
00:18:36
schools
00:18:39
[Music]
00:18:45
fore foree
00:18:51
[Music]
00:18:59
wel
00:19:02
[Music]
00:19:10
[Music]
00:19:30
tamon is a from Del just like
00:19:35
langai she was able to preserve the
00:19:39
identity of the Bobo of dour through her
00:19:43
very intricate and very colorful weaves
00:19:47
she left a very very good uh legacy to
00:19:50
her children although in a BAL the abaka
00:19:55
eat produced by the Bobo is not as
00:19:58
visually stunning as a tinala of the
00:20:01
tiboli the Dual tinali patterns are more
00:20:05
minute and difficult to execute salent
00:20:09
Monon a tabwa bobo Weaver from bansalan
00:20:12
davo Del Sur specialized in the complex
00:20:16
small scale eut technique salent Monon
00:20:20
became the fast friend of uh lulai they
00:20:24
were best friends they had a chance to
00:20:28
meet each other father when they came to
00:20:29
Manila for the awarding of the Gaba so
00:20:32
when Lang opened her school Sinta was
00:20:35
there she was a quieter person and I
00:20:38
think very introspective cuz what I
00:20:41
remember about her is she wouldn't let
00:20:44
people come near her house she had a
00:20:46
weaving house for of her own she would
00:20:49
be alone before she wo and so all the
00:20:54
time she would be
00:20:57
weaving very
00:20:59
[Music]
00:21:00
perspective
00:21:02
[Music]
00:21:26
Sal two other Weavers were also given
00:21:29
the Gaba distinction while Lang dulai
00:21:32
and selin tonon wo in abaka fiber the
00:21:35
next two gawad Sam Bayan award spent
00:21:38
their lives mastering different
00:21:41
[Music]
00:21:54
fibers ha
00:21:56
am uh from t
00:21:59
uh is a very humble person this is one
00:22:01
thing that you will see with you will uh
00:22:03
realize when you look at all all without
00:22:06
exception all they're very humble they
00:22:09
don't have a concept of uh themselves as
00:22:12
the source of power because the concept
00:22:16
of their the source of the creative
00:22:18
power is from the above from higher
00:22:20
source God or the the great uh Divine
00:22:26
spirit and they are just a CH pel of
00:22:30
this creative spirit so this is what you
00:22:32
notice in Amina appi a very humble
00:22:35
person but she's very good in using her
00:22:41
intuition to create from just two or
00:22:44
three strand very beautiful
00:22:47
mats the mat or banig produced by the
00:22:50
Weavers of unus Matata in tawi tawi are
00:22:54
renowned for their dizzying and complex
00:22:57
geometric designs the high density and
00:23:00
surface Sheen of the woven surface as
00:23:03
well as the amazing often surprising
00:23:05
color
00:23:08
combinations haja Amina appi's body of
00:23:11
work was honored by the Gaba committee
00:23:15
for the finer details often overlooked
00:23:18
by other
00:23:19
Weavers they cited the straightness of
00:23:22
her edging and the Mastery of such
00:23:24
complicated designs as the Sasa and
00:23:28
kimak Kaa she was also an expert at all
00:23:31
the stages of matte weaving from the
00:23:34
processing of the wild pandan leaves to
00:23:37
the use of natural and Commercial dyes
00:23:40
her exuberant sense of color was also
00:23:43
much admired
00:23:44
[Music]
00:23:59
silk the production of its threads and
00:24:02
the weaving of these threads into
00:24:04
garments and wraps both for men and
00:24:07
women was a highlight on the weaving
00:24:09
tradition of Islamic
00:24:12
Filipinos among the tou the pabit was a
00:24:16
square textile prized for the intricacy
00:24:20
of its design as well as the suppleness
00:24:23
of the silk Fred the tradition of silk
00:24:26
weaving has long died out and is only
00:24:29
recently being revived but in the work
00:24:32
of darata saabi the colorful and complex
00:24:36
design aesthetic of the taug pabit lived
00:24:40
on in cotton and Commercial threads
00:24:50
[Music]
00:25:00
darata saabi of bangai parang in Holo
00:25:03
was perhaps the last master of this
00:25:05
Jewel of Philippine
00:25:08
textile never married she managed to
00:25:11
attain Financial Independence through
00:25:13
the weaving of
00:25:15
pabit a woven Square 39x 40 in took 3
00:25:21
months to
00:25:22
weave for her Masterworks she charged
00:25:25
only 2,000 pesos a piece this is the
00:25:29
quander that many of our traditional
00:25:31
artists
00:25:34
face saabi was a master of this pie
00:25:37
haveit he really marel the intricacy of
00:25:40
the design very finely detailed um very
00:25:43
colorful are hoping that we will find
00:25:46
somebody who is as good as her we
00:25:48
because we know that she was not the
00:25:50
only one uh in her town or in her
00:25:54
Province to really practice the
00:25:57
tradition and I really really one of the
00:26:01
admirers of this tradition and that
00:26:03
hatas saab's Legacy should really
00:26:06
[Music]
00:26:18
continue if not for the efforts of the
00:26:20
national commission for culture and the
00:26:22
Arts and the late Susan Koo Medina we
00:26:25
would have almost no documentation of
00:26:28
this first set of gaad manang Bayan
00:26:32
awardees sadly all of them have passed
00:26:35
on but their gifts to the nation are
00:26:38
Immortal and must be
00:26:57
acknowledged it's very important that
00:26:59
they be recognized as important in a
00:27:02
society where we only look at sometimes
00:27:06
materialistic things as uh par
00:27:08
indicators of
00:27:10
success but you can see how how
00:27:15
Spirit artists they come through but
00:27:19
they're quiet mostly so you have to
00:27:21
honor that quietness they have a sense
00:27:24
of self they know who they are and
00:27:28
because they have mastered certain
00:27:30
things vision is very
00:27:33
[Music]
00:27:36
clear why do we need to know about the
00:27:39
deceased Gaba winners we have featured
00:27:42
here and the one still living who will
00:27:44
make up season 4 of daal there are many
00:27:48
answers to that question but the one I
00:27:51
want to ask you now is this has this
00:27:54
brief encounter with the work of these
00:27:57
Filipino left you
00:28:00
enriched inspired perhaps even saddened
00:28:04
at their demise they affect us in ways
00:28:07
more profound than you can ever imagine
00:28:10
the sound of a kapi a powerful chant a
00:28:16
poem The gradually unfolding design of a
00:28:21
textile in this fragmented world we live
00:28:24
in what are these but frail Freds that
00:28:27
link us to a deeper appreciation of who
00:28:31
we are and what we may be losing in our
00:28:33
culture this manik Bayan Masters may be
00:28:37
gone but it is our duty never to forget
00:28:41
them the nation may have given them an
00:28:43
outstanding honor but in the end it is
00:28:47
their work that honors the idea of a
00:28:50
diverse yet inclusive Nation a nation
00:28:53
that hopefully will come to Value da our
00:28:58
knowledge our pride
00:29:03
[Applause]
00:29:03
[Music]
00:29:12
[Music]