Kulintang [gulintangan, klentangan, kolintang, kwintangan etc.].

Gong-chime of the Philippines, Indonesia and other parts of South-east Asia. The term is used also for an ensemble of gongs, drums and other percussion instruments in which the kulintang gong-chime is the main constituent. The origins of the kulintang are obscure, but its distribution and musical techniques link it with other ensembles in the area; the engkromong of Sarawak, for example, employs the same instruments and performance technique.

1. The ‘kulintang’ gong-chime.

This consists of a number of bossed bronze gongs laid horizontally in a row in front of the performer, with the largest on the left and the smallest on the right, though sometimes this is reversed. The number of gongs varies: there are from seven to nine in Sabah and Brunei, usually eight among the Magindanao in the Philippines, six in Sumatra and up to 12 among some ethnic groups. The larger gongs measure about 22 cm in diameter, with turned-in rims 7 cm wide and bosses 3 cm high; the smaller gongs are approximately 18 cm in diameter, with rims 7 cm wide and bosses 2·5 cm high. They are manufactured by the lost-wax process. Some gongs are plain, with no designs, but the faces of others are etched with geometrical figures.

The gongs are laid on two parallel strings stretched out in a wooden frame. Some frames are very elaborate, especially among the Maranao people, where motifs with arabesque contours and rich colours (shades of blue, yellow and purple) display traditional craftsmanship in wood and brass sculptures. Simpler frames have no paintings or carvings. Among poorer families, who may not possess a frame, the gongs are sometimes placed on mats, clothes, leaves, sacks or some other surface which does not completely damp the sound. The gongs are played with two soft wooden mallets.

2. The ‘kulintang’ ensemble.

The kulintang gong-chime is the melody instrument of the kulintang ensemble, the other instruments consisting of suspended gongs, drums and other percussion (see illustration). The suspended gongs vary in size, thickness and profile, with faces between about 30 and 60 cm in diameter and turned-in rims from about 10 to 20 cm wide. The gongs may weigh 5 kg or more. Outside the kulintang ensemble they are widely distributed in South-east Asia and used in various ensembles. The bigger instruments are more valuable than the kulintang itself, and are important as heirlooms, bridal gifts and a means of exchange. In performance they are suspended from a beam of a house or the branch of a tree and struck on their bosses with a rubber- or cloth-padded mallet to produce either long vibrations or short sounds damped by the player’s left hand or right knee.

Table 1 shows the instrumentation of some kulintang ensembles as they exist among various cultural groups in insular South-east Asia. The melody instrument (Table 1, col.2) is supported by a drum (3) which provides a rhythm and the basic metre on which kulintang melodies depend. The other percussion timbres (4, 5) colour the rhythm and melody. The special timbres of one gong of the kulintang gong-chime (5) may supply a discreet metallic or rim sound, which in the case of groups D and F may be assisted by special ostinato techniques of the player. The suspended gongs are very varied in both type and musical function. Gongs with a plane face (6), usually played on the rim, provide the metallic sound which in some cases is produced by a gong of the kulintang (5). Other suspended gongs (7) produce muted sounds in counterpoint to each other, and may be played together with a long-sounding gong (9), as among the Sama (F) and the Tausug (1). The gandingan of the Magindanao (D8) is a special group of four gongs, graded in pitch and played by one musician; their long resonances overlay each other and lend a homogeneity to the whole orchestra.

The ensemble of suspended gongs and varied percussion serves to accompany the kulintang melody, but it also has its own internal structure, different from that found in the Javanese Gamelan.

3. Tuning and performing styles.

There is no standard tuning for kulintang, and almost as many scales exist as there are ensembles. There is a general tendency for an eight-gong kulintang to be tuned in narrow and wide steps similar to those of pelog and anhemitonic scales (see Gamelan, §I, 6). However, these gaps have a wide range of measurements; in some old gong-chimes intervals measure less than 20 or even 10 cents, and are accepted by local performers only because there are no other gongs available. Moreover, the distribution of narrow and wide steps within the eight-gong row varies, thus changing the measurements of 5ths and octaves. The scale structure of several kulintang produced by a rural gong factory in Cotabato, Mindanao, is approximately C–D–F–F–G–A–B– (Maceda, 1988, p.9).

Kulintang ensembles are used for feasts, weddings, celebrations and entertainments. Whenever kulintang music is heard an audience usually gathers, listens and participates. In many cultural groups the kulintang players are women, but among the Iban they are usually men. Among the Magdinao of Datu Piang (Dulawan) young men have developed a virtuoso style initiated in the 1950s by Amal Lemuntod, a performer of considerable repute. Pieces take on the character of an informal contest between young players who try to outlast each other in rapid performances.

Two fundamental elements of kulintang music, as of other ensembles in South-east Asia, are the melody and the drone, or ostinato. In the kulintang ensemble the kulintang gong-chime provides the melody, and each of the punctuating instruments (Table 1, cols.3–9) contributes its own ostinato. This produces the unique variety of colours which characterizes kulintang music and sets it apart from that of other gong families.

Among the Yakan people kulintang melodies tend to be stationary; patterns played on a limited number of gongs are repeated at high speed with few note changes. Among the Sama people of Sulu melodic lines may be developmental, using many notes, as in the titik to-ongan, an independent instrumental piece or the tariray, which accompanies a dance performed, especially by elderly women, in ceremonies of possession. Some melodies are cellular, with short phrases repeated many times before changing to another melodic cell; an example is the titik tabawan, used at marriage ceremonies.

A characteristic Magindanao melodic form from the town of Datu Piang, Cotabato, consists of cells played by two, three or four gongs which change in number and pitch as they move up and down the eight-gong register. The musical interest lies in the permutation of the cells, the performer deciding on the combination of gongs, the length of time he will repeat it, when to add some and to suppress others, and when to transfer to another register or to a cell above or below. A closing pattern is a melodic rise and fall, ending on a middle note.

Magindanao kulintang music is clearly based on rhythmic modes. There appear to be similar structures in kulintang music of the Tuaran Dusun of north Borneo, but these are less apparent among the Taosug and absent among the Maranao, Yakan and Sama-Badjao. The three such modes (ex.1) are announced first by the drum and taken up by the other instruments. Two pieces of music are played in each mode to complete one musical rendition.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

and other resources

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JOSÉ MACEDA