The boat lutes of the Philippines

Abstract

Aside from the gong ensembles of northern Luzon using the flat gongs gangsa, and those of the southern islands Mindanao and Sulu using the bossed kulintang and agung, boat lutes are the most important traditional musical instruments of the Philippines. They show a broad range of construction features and differ from one ethnic group to the other. There are 23 different types of boat lutes used among 37 indigenous peoples on the islands of Mindanao and Palawan. They are usually referred to as “kudyapi, " as a generic term, but the names actually differ, depending on the place of origin and type of lute, e. g. kutiyapi, kusiyapi, kotapi, piyapi, faglung, fuglung, hegelung, kudlung, or kuglung. This article provides an overview of the most important aspects of Philippine boat lute traditions, presenting sections on the structure of the instruments, their construction, the origins of Southeast Asian boat lutes in general, indigenous terminology, distribution, a preliminary typological classification of the Philippine boat lutes in particular, symbolic meanings, playing techniques, and performance practices. The available data clearly show that boat lutes in the Philippines serve as “cultural identifiers” indicating the individual ethnic groups’ identity and uniqueness, and in the national Philippine context, their unity in diversity.