Kulintang

Kulintang
Other namesCalculintang, Gulingtangan, Kolintang, Kulintangan, Totobuang
Classification
Related instruments
bonang, kenong, canang, keromong, kromong, kethuk, trompong/terompong, rejong, talempong, chalempung, caklempong/caklempung, khong wong yai/khong wong lek, khong toch/ khong thom, khong vong, krewaing/krewong

Kulintang (Indonesian: kolintang, Malay: kulintangan) is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music played for centuries in regions of Southern Philippines, Eastern Malaysia, Eastern Indonesia, Brunei and Timor-Leste, composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums.

Kulintang from Mindanao.

Description

The instrument called the “kulintang” (or its other derivative terms) consists of a row/set of 5 to 9 graduated pot gongs, horizontally laid upon a frame arranged in order of pitch with the lowest gong found on the player’s left.

The gongs are laid in the instrument face side up atop two cords/strings running parallel to the entire length of the frame, with bamboo/wooden sticks/bars resting perpendicular across the frame, creating an entire kulintang set called a "pasangan".

The different sized brass kulintang gongs.
The light beaters used to strike the gong bosses.

Instrument specifications

The gongs weigh roughly from two pounds to three pounds each, and have dimensions of 6 to 10 inches for their diameters and 3 to 5 inches for their height. Traditionally they were made from bronze but due to the disruption and loss of trade routes between the islands of Borneo and Mindanao during World War II, resulting in loss of access to necessary metal ores, and the subsequent post-war use of scrap metal, brass gongs with shorter decaying tones became commonplace.

Resonator

The kulintang frame is known as an "antangan" by the Maguindanao and "langkonga" by the Maranao, both which mean, “to arrange”. The frame could be crude, made from simple bamboo/wooden poles, or it may be richly decorated with traditional motifs or arabesque designs. The frame is a necessary part of the instrument, and functions as a resonator. It is considered improper to step over or cross over the frame while the kulintang gongs are placed on it.

Individual names for each kulintang gong

Culture

Kulintang evolved from a simple native signaling tradition, and developed into its present form with the incorporation of knobbed gongs from Sundanese people in Java Island, Indonesia.

Kulintang is the Maguindanaon term for the idiophone of metal gong kettles which are laid horizontally upon a rack to create an entire kulintang set. It is played by striking the bosses of the gongs with two wooden beaters. It is called similarly in Lumad, Ternate, Moluccas, and Timor.

By the twentieth century, the term kulintang had come to denote an entire Maguindanao ensemble of five to six instruments. Traditionally the Maguindanao term for the entire ensemble is basalen or palabunibunyan, the latter term meaning “an ensemble of loud instruments” or “music-making” or in this case “music-making using a kulintang.”

Southeast Asia

Due to its use across a wide variety groups and languages, the kulintang is also called kolintang by the people of Maranao and Sulawesi, kulintango by Mongondow, totobuang by those in central Maluku, kulintangan and gulintangan by those in Brunei, Sabah, North Kalimantan and the Sulu Archipelago. Gulintangan or gulingtangan literally means rolling hands in Brunei, Sabah and Sulu.

References

  1. ↑ Frame, Edward M.. "The Musical Instruments of Sabah, Malaysia." Ethnomusicology 26(1982):
  2. 1 2 Matusky, Patricia. "An Introduction to the Major Instruments and Forms of Traditional Malay Music." Asian Music Vol 16. No. 2. (Spring-Summer 1985), pp. 121–182.
  3. ↑ Maceda, Jose. Gongs and Bamboo: A Panorama of Philippine Music Instruments. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1998.
  4. 1 2 Cadar, Usopay Hamdag (1971). The Maranao Kolintang Music: An Analysis of the Instruments, Musical Organization, Ethmologies, and Historical Documents. Seattle, WA: University of Washington.
  5. ↑ Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc, 1940.
  6. ↑ Kunst, Jaap. Music in Java. 2. Netherlands: The Hague, 1949.
  7. ↑ "Kolintang". Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2025-03-02. kolintang /ko·lin.tang/ n Mus alat musik pukul yang terdiri atas bilah-bilah kayu yang disusun berderet dan dipasang di atas sebuah bak kayu (seperti gambang), terutama terdapat di Sulawesi Utara
  8. ↑ Matusky, Patricia (2015). "Kulintangan". Oxford Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.L2281450. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Gong chime of Sabah, Malaysia. Found throughout Sabah, but especially in the coastal communities, the kulintangan is a set of small, brass, pot-shaped bossed gongs placed horizontally (with boss upward) in a single row in a wooden frame. Along the west coast seven to nine gongs constitute a set, and on the east coast a set can have five to seven or more gongs. Sometimes the gongs are decorated with embossed geometric patterns. The player sits on the floor before the frame and plays the gongs with a pair of wooden beaters{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  9. ↑ Philippine Music Instruments | National Commission For Culture And The Arts, archived from the original on 2006-01-17, retrieved 2025-03-02{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ↑ Kulintang and the Maguindanaos | Aga Mayo Butocan, archived from the original on 2008-01-18, retrieved 2025-03-02{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ↑ Kalanduyan, Danongan S. "Maguindanaon Kulintang Music: Instruments, Repertoire, Performance, Contexts, and Social Functions." Asian Music XXVII.2 (1996): 3–18.
  12. ↑ Danongan Kalanduyan | KQED – Arts and Culture
  13. ↑ Benitez, Kristina. The Maguindanaon Kulintang: Musical Innovation, Transformation and the Concept of Binalig. Ann Harbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2005.
  14. ↑ Cadar, Usopay Hamdag. "Maranao Kolintang Music and Its Journey in America." Asian Music 27(1996): 131–146.
  15. ↑ Maguindanao Kulintang | Tao Music, archived from the original on 2007-07-05, retrieved 2025-03-02
  16. ↑ Prasetyadi, Kristian Oka (2021-12-11). "Menabuh Kulintango, Menyelamatkan Bintauna". kompas.id (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  17. ↑ Cadar, Usopay H.. "The Role of Kolintang Music in Maranao Society." Asian Music Vol. 27, No. 2. (Spring – Summer, 1996), pp. 80–103.
  18. ↑ "Silat martial ritual initiation in Brunei Darussalam" (PDF).