Sining Kambayoka Ensemble’s Bayok : Connecting Philippines and Canada in Teaching Voice and Performance

Abstract

ABSTRACTHow does one mitigate the misappropriations of bayok in performance projects and voice training? Interweaving various positionalities and praxes of performance pedagogy and creation using the Meranaw bayok, this essay instigates a conversation on a decolonial and ethical appropriation of Indigenous voice style within the Philippines and Canada that seeks to connect various intercultural pedagogic and theatre praxes. By building a discourse on entwining the Philippine bayok in our theatre creation and voice training, the authors deploy a shared positionality and autoethnographic inquiry as critical approach of intersubjectivity, collaboration, and historical contextualization as interventions to misappropriation and other appropriative acts of Indigenous performance forms. In doing such, the authors enmesh three frameworks to cultivate a nascent but ongoing practice of decolonizing cultural appropriation through historical grounding, social-political contextualization, and informed collaboration. In shaping a discourse on ethical appropriation of bayok, the authors engage intercultural methods and predispositions of using bayok in teaching and performing theatrical projects while tackling certain socio-political goals like peace building, climate justice, and other global issues with self-reflexivity and collaboration.KEYWORDS: Bayokvoice genreSining KambayokaPhilippinesCanada AcknowledgmentsWe would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Reagan Maiquez, Dr. Dada Docot, Prof. Bajo Zaldua, Clarissa Mijares, Meranaw culture bearers, and the people of Mindanao for their generosity in helping us better our work towards decolonization. We also wish to thank our peer reviewers and editor for their generous, insightful, and thoughtful comments.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. As the second largest island in the country, it continues to attract migrants and settlers from two other large islands of the Philippines: Luzon and the Visayas.2. In the Philippines, the Indigenous peoples who are first settlers of Mindanao are also known as the lumads.3. In this YouTube video, an elder recites fragments of Darangen. The elder is the uncle of Pepito. This pre-colonial epic has 72,000 lines which narrates the heroic deeds of its characters and evokes the dynamic customary laws of the Meranaw. Check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VzzhNkbjgg.4. The songs that they render in their performances are originally composed by the members like Puso sa Puso, Pag-ibig ko, Pag-ibig mo, Kislap, and Ang Buhay namin sa Sining Kambayoka.5. A sample rendition of a bayok performance included as one of the tracks in Gifts from the Past recorded in 1996 by Ode Record and collected by Philippine Traditional Band. There is a dearth of archives available on bayok performance. It would be great to research on existing onors in Mindanao and learn from their performance practice. Check this link to listen to a sample bayok rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7jOR5aD0kg.6. The video here presents the Maguindaoan bayok as understood and practiced by bayok teacher, Alas Panarigan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCb9FEpOxt4.7. During Dennis’ field work in Mindanao, he was able to have productive conversations with Filipino scholars and artists who are deeply connected with Mindanaoan culture. One of them was Ernesto “Baju” Zaldua who teaches at Mindanao State University Iligan and the artistic director of Octava, a choral group. Zaldua shared with Dennis some passionate thoughts about “bayok” around current debates on Mindanaoan cultural appropriation.8. Pepito’s grandmother, Bae Dayampado Sumayan, was a well-known onor from whom he acquired the knowledge and principles of the craft of performing. She instilled in Pepito the social responsibility of the Meranaw artist in propagating this performance form. Bae Sumayan was niece of a prominent Sultan, Datu Kakai Dagalangit. She was one of the maiden ladies allowed to stay inside a special room (lamin) of the torogan. She earns the royalty title Minithepad. In the Rumayas, Lumba-a-bayabao Lanao del Sur, the house of the cultural masters served as the school for these traditional arts too. One of the most skilled was Bae Sagolaranaothe daughter of Datu, a Panondiongan of Sultanate of Maguing, Lanao del Sur practice of became notable in the 1950's played the musical instrument kulintang with unequaldeftness. Many remember her as a versatile reciter of bayok poems. Her prominence spread through the invitation of sultans from Lanao Province where she toured extensively.9. Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).10. Barangay is a small political unit of Philippine society headed by a barangay leader. From the word, “balangay” meaning vessel.Additional informationNotes on contributorsDennis GupaDennis Gupa is a theatre director and performance maker/scholar. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Theatre and Film University of Winnipeg. He obtained his PhD in Applied Theatre at the University of Victoria as a Vanier scholar. He received his MFA Theatre (Directing) degree at the University of British Columbia and MA Theatre Arts at the University of the Philippines.Pepito SumayanPepito P. Sumayan is an award-winning Moro-Meranaw theatre director of the Mindanao State University’s Sining Kambayoka Ensemble which he leads as an artistic director. He is also a Cultural Affairs Administrator at the same university. He has a certificate and diploma degrees in theatre in education and community development. He recently received his Diploma in Data Linguistics, Anthropology and Archeology, and Genetics at the Uppsala University.Rosa ZerrudoMa Rosalie Abeto Zerrudo is community-based multidisciplinary teaching artist with the heart of a cultural worker. She received her Master degree in Educational Theater for Communities at New York University. She serves as Assistant Professor in Fine Arts Program, University of San Agustin, Iloilo Philippines, and is currently on staff development to undertake her PhD in the Creative Industries Faculty at QUT.