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To the Ibaloi Spirits we "Play": A Descriptive and Socio-Cultural Analysis of

Ibaloi Death Ritual, Music and Performance with Emphasis on the Symbolic
Context and Representation

Thesis · October 2008

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A Descriptive and Socio-Cultural Analysis of
Ibaloi Death Ritual, Music and Performance
with Emphasis on the Symbolic Context and
Representation

A Thesis Presented
To the Faculty of the
College of Social Sciences
University of the Philippines Baguio

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts in Social Science

Anacin, Carl Johnson G.

October 2008-2009

1
I. Introduction

Overview of the Study

Much has been said about the culture and way of life of the Cordillera people. Some of

the general aspects discussed by many studies include social system, political organization,

material culture, history, human geography, religion, and arts, as part of Philippine material

and social culture. These elements of culture are bound in a discourse wherein life ways of

different people are commonly articulated in the social sciences. In all of these, the aspect of

art is the less studied, especially the concept of music. Hypothetically this may be because of

its declining popularity and emergence, resulting from acculturation and incursion of outside

and mainstream forms of art and other factors in society such as political, social, and cultural

aspects of life.

Music is generally defined as “the art of sound in time” (Kerman, et al, 2000: 2) and by

Merriam (1964: 27) as “that one of the fine arts which is concerned with the combination of

sounds with a view to beauty of form and expression of thought or feeling.” This particular

definition of music as form of beauty defines art in terms of its humanistic element. On the side

of the social sciences, and for the purpose of this study, music is studied in terms of its social

connections and the cultural meanings attached and integrated into the structure and system of

music by those people creating and re-creating it. “Music is a uniquely human phenomenon

which exists only in terms of social interaction…it is made by people for other people, and it is

learned behavior…music cannot be defined as a phenomenon of sound alone, for it involves

the behavior of individuals, and its particular organization demands the social concurrence of

people who decide what it can and cannot be” (Ibid, 1964: 27). But due to expanding studies

2
on ethnomusicology, it became clear that the definition of music is relative to one’s own

understanding and application of different elements present in any sonic-related phenomena.

Since cultures differ on their conceptualizations of music or non-music, it is then important for

us to study music and performance in terms of its socio-cultural connections.

As can be seen in different literature concerning the humanities, only a few tackle the

social, cultural, historical, and anthropological aspects of music. The area of study called

ethnomusicology looks at music from the perspective of social anthropology, which is the

branch of knowledge that is concerned with non-Western music. Non-Western music and arts

often includes those from indigenous or “ethnic” groups of the different parts of the world.

In the Philippines, different types of music are presently played and listened to for it is

a fact that music is one of the most evident expressions of our culture since its early

beginnings. In ethnomusicology, music is considered to play an important role in every

indigenous group’s culture and activities. Some studies were conducted about the music of

Philippine indigenous groups such as the Subanen in Zamboanga Del Sur (Georsua, 1987),

Hanunoo Mangyans of Visayas (Conklin-Maceda, 1955), Muranao in Mindanao (Usopay

Hamdag Cadar, 1985), the T’boli of Cebu (Mora, 2005) and the Nabaloi of Cordillera (Moss &

Kroeber. 1919) among others. The conducted researches discussed different but related aspects

of music and the socio-cultural aspect of these groups’ lives. Topics included in these studies

are “the study of Muranao vocal Music in terms of itself and within the context of Muranao

society” (Usopay Hamdag Cadar, 1985), performance practice, ‘concepts of certain vocal

elements and how these concepts interfunction’, instruments and singing, the Mangyans’

concept of song poems or what they call “ambahan” (Postma, 1974), the mimesis, myth, and

magic as related to the musical culture of the T’boli (Mora, 2005) among others. In

3
understanding a particular society, it is important to note the function and uses of music as a

significant part of shaping, strengthening, and guiding different behaviors such as political,

social, economic, religious, linguistic, and others, hence should be considered in line with the

importance of other aspects of every society’s culture (Merriam, 1964).

Rituals on the other hand are essential elements of indigenous societies, not only in the

Philippines, but all over the world. Rituals are “…the product not of unified congregations but

of ‘competing constituencies’, that they not only ‘celebrate the perpetuation of social values

and self-knowledge’ but equally speak of aspirations towards cultural change…” It is also in

rituals that the people or the community’s particular beliefs, values, character of social

relationships, knowledge and rules are passed on and expressed thru socio-cultural traditions

and actions (Stein & Stein, 2005: 84). Rituals usually involve processes and the performance of

music and dances which characterizes the type of ceremony being conducted as well as

distinctions of different indigenous groups performing them.

This study will look at the structure and symbolisms of death ritual and the music

characteristics and performance involved as part of the culture of the Ibaloi being one of the

known ethno-linguistic groups in Cordillera. This would include a study of the death ritual

itself and at the same time the music and performance involved in such events. Music as part of

every community serves different functions which could show history and socio-cultural

representations of the society. The universality of music is thus seen in a broad sense of its

context in different indigenous groups around the world, though relative in one’s own

perceptions, the aspect of music resides in every culture’s activities and way of life.

4
 Problem

Indigenous artistic ideas are considered treasures of the society, for these social aspects

play their functions as manifestation of culture and past ways of life. In order to find out the

relevance and connection of rituals, music and performance to the Ibaloi culture, general

questions were addressed in this research.

This study on the Ibaloi ritual and ceremonial music and performance in its socio-

cultural context attempted to answer questions as follows. How are rituals and death rituals

performed in Ibaloi societies? What are the meanings people attach to their music and

symbolisms in the Ibaloi community as prompted by their culture and history? This has to do

with representation or symbolism of the ritual and music in itself and the performance,

additionally the material aspects, and how these interrelate with the Ibaloi culture. What are the

context and characteristics of music taken in Ibaloi rituals and performance compared to other

musical performances executed by other Cordillera indigenous groups? The characteristics of

ritual processes and music were presented through descriptive accounts, as the system in which

different aspects such as musical instruments, manner of playing, role of the music, social

setting of the performance and creation of the music, among others are organized in such a way

that they create a musical expression. And lastly, what would be the outlook of the people

about the changes and preservation of the whole culture.

Objectives of the Study

By extracting the general questions at hand, it was possible to locate interrelations

between the music characteristics and performance and the death ritual in itself as presented in

5
a socio-cultural and ethnographic context. To ensure a smooth flow of the study throughout the

process of this research, specific objectives were carried out, which include:

 To understand the death rituals, music and performance of the Ibalois through a

descriptive examination of the musical characteristics such as processes of the ritual, people

involved, musical instruments, manner of playing, musical distinctions, actions, social settings,

and the symbolisms they carry manifesting the group’s culture and way of life and how they

give meanings to it.

 To examine material representations of Ibaloi culture in the conduct of

performances and rituals. This includes the analysis of performance and representation and the

materials presented during the ceremony, such as offerings and foods.

 To describe and analyze the social role of music in the culture of the Ibalois by

focusing on music and performance as a system, including the ways in which music of this

kind is composed. The musical instruments and other tools typically used in death rituals were

also studied as to how they were acquired, the history, and symbolic meanings attached to

them.

 To find out and describe the significant and distinct characteristics of Ibaloi

death ritual, music and performance compared to other music performed by other Cordillera

indigenous groups. Different perspectives from text sources and information from key-

informants were gathered in order to carry out these objectives and create an informative

structural, observatory and descriptive analysis with regards to the socio-cultural context of the

symbolic context of the death ritual music and performance of the Ibaloi people.

 To conceptualize an outlook of the death ritual music and performance of the

Ibaloi community based in insiders’ views, this includes their views on the preservation and

6
diffusion or transmission in other parts of the region; as well as the development and changes it

experienced through time.

 To show and describe every detail as comprehensible as possible for the non-

specialists of music and social anthropology, to minimize complexities of the subject, and

contribute to general knowledge. For further understanding, visual materials are included to

show the processes and different characteristics of the death rituals and musical performances.

Guided by these objectives, this research was possible by refocusing its scope

and limitations and coming up with the most feasible and possible observation and

understanding of the Ibaloi culture. Original objectives, scope and limitations were modified in

such a way that it would fit all the characteristics and aspects of study covered along the

process of this research.

Significance of the Study

Music plays an immense part of everyone’s existence due to its universality and the

function it presents. Being part of the researcher’s way of life for almost 20 years, music has

been considered as one of the most significant components of his life, for it functions in

different ways at different times. Despite technicalities of terms and components and the

complexity of its structure, music or arts should be given equal importance as the other aspects

of culture such as politics, history, religion, and others.

By closely studying the death ritual, music and performance of the Ibaloi people of the

Southern Cordillera, we would be able to trace back origins and the future of a single, specific

type of ritual or ceremonial music performance. This study could also be regarded as a

significant contribution to knowledge in the field of Social Anthropology and

7
Ethnomusicology, for it contains an essential sociological character interconnected within the

subject of the Cordillera cultural studies. It could also be a starting point to study other aspects

such as dance, art and other traditions in the country.

This research could also be a relevant literature for the future studies on Cordillera and

Philippine art and performance as part of the indigenous socio-cultural life, which could lead to

a deeper understanding on the socio-cultural ways of life of different ethnolinguistic groups in

the Philippines rooted in musical and ritual traditions.

Scope and Limitation

This research was limited to studying death ritual, music characteristic and performance

of the Ibaloi people as manifested by their socio-cultural way of life and vice versa, by means

of description of the observed and participated ceremonies and instances, ideas and

instruments, as well as manner of presentation, and the role of music and performance in

specific death rituals.

Because of the distributed presence of Ibalois around the Cordillera region, this

research conducted its data gathering processes in a known community of Ibaloi indigenous

group in Loakan, Baguio City. Despite the fact that this community has diverse population of

Cordillerans, other indigenous and non-indigenous groups, this study tried to limit its

informants belonging to Ibaloi group in this area.

This research involves the study of the ritual and music characteristics and

performance of the Ibalois, with emphasis on the symbolic context and representations in terms

of their socio-cultural relevance and meanings. This means that musical contexts and

characteristics such as processes, actions, rhythms, musical instruments, manner of playing and

8
performance, musical distinctions, social settings, and the symbolisms were observed,

described, studied, comprehended, and analyzed on its socio-cultural sense. The musical

instruments used were also studied in-depth on the aspect of its symbolic meanings and socio-

cultural relevance.

Furthermore, because of time constraints, this study was limited to the discussion of

three death rituals, or ceremonies that have something to do with death and deceased ancestors

and spirits, in a span of one month. Particular functions and processes of these rituals and

music as an essential component of death ritual and socio-cultural aspect among the Ibaloi

were included in the study. Lastly, the description of the events and processes were based on

the translations given by the informants, and the researcher was restricted by his limited

knowledge on the native Ibaloi language as a form of conversation. And because of this,

transcription and translation were conducted with the help of people knowledgeable about this

particular language and culture, and interviews and conversation were generally carried out in

Ilokano.

9
II. Review of Related Literature

Music

Music, generally, in its western and aesthetic definitions, is “the art of sound in time”

(Kerman, et al, 2000: 2). Anthropological definitions of art and/or music do not actually, or

supposedly, have a universal representation; it is because of the fact that “categories of art and

music may not at all exist in societies whose structures are not related to any form of religious

or political institutions that are incorporeally exalted by similar forms and categories of art and

music” (Santos, 2005: 96). Furthermore, He noted that any attempt to construct a universal

definition of all existing sound-related expressions as music is not only misleading

but…alienating and marginalizing, if not confusingly patronizing”. Due to the western

definition of music as art being the theoretical and aesthetic factors, the relative value of music

as a socio-cultural phenomenon is also marginalized and “has resulted in interpretations

ranging from patronization to apologetics, always ending up in misrepresentation or even

further perpetuating notions of inequality, rather than difference, between western and non-

western cultures”. This could also further complicate the “cultural distinctions that

anthropological and ethnomusicological inquiry is expected to discover and articulate in the

first place”.

In the same contention, Seeger (1999: 695) uttered that we can talk about music in such

situations,

“…as long as we are clear that the terms ‘music’ and ‘dance’ are our own ways of
generalizing about types of human action that do not have the same meanings for different
groups of people…Rather than trying to arrive at a universally suitable definition, it is more
important to recognize that all human societies have various forms of speaking, various styles of
movement, and various ways of creating and structuring non-vocal sounds. The specific ways in
which they divide speaking, movement, and sound-making into meaningful units vary widely
from place to place. The details of their performance vary, as does their significance.”

10
 Durkheim and Mauss (1969 [1903]) argue that categories and ways of classification of

things, (with regards to arts), are social fabrications, reflective or expressive of the social

conditions of that particular society or specific social group within it (Inglis and Hughson,

2005: 14). Furthermore, sociologists contend that “ ‘art’ is always part of wider social life, and

cannot be treated as if it were a realm wholly cut off from all sorts of social influences, both

manifest and latent (Inglis and Hughson, 2005: 15).” Becker (1984), as quoted by Inglis and

Hughson (2005) presupposed this by stating that “’no object has intrinsically ‘artistic’ qualities,

instead, sociologists tend to see the ‘artistic nature of an ‘artwork’ not as an intrinsic and

inalienable property of the object, but rather as a label put onto it by certain interested parties,

members of social groups whose interests are augmented by the object being defined as ‘art’ ”.

Music as Culture

The problem in studying music and culture in a single sense is that they are branched

out concepts from two different disciplines, namely the humanities and social anthropology.

Discussing music in its humanistic sense pertains to the structure and aesthetics of the subject,

while studying it in its anthropological sense makes it culturally laden neglecting the point of

the humanistic approach. This problem is addressed by ethnomusicology which, as termed by

scholars, is “the anthropology of music”, where the aspect of music as part of culture is studied

by looking at both its structure, and its implications on human behavior and life ways. This has

been pointed out by McAllester as quoted by Merriam (1960:468), with regards to the

conception of music presented in its two different sides:

“…the bifurcation of the concept of culture. We can think of culture in the

anthropological sense of the total way of life of a people, but we also think of culture in the
sense of “cultivated”, with a particular emphasis on art forms and art for art’s sake. The result of
this cultural trait of ours has been a separation of art from culture as a whole…

11
 Similarly, in music, we are very prone to a consideration of music qua music outside
its cultural context. We are most likely to discuss a song as an art form, as pretty or ugly and
why, and in many other ways outside its principal cultural function.”

Further, as said earlier, another problematic part of this study is coming up of the

definition of music based on the cultural aspect. To reiterate, Seeger (1999: 695) addressed

these problems and noted that we can deal this situations,

“…as long as we are clear that the terms ‘music’ and ‘dance’ are our own ways of
generalizing about types of human action that do not have the same meanings for different
groups of people…Rather than trying to arrive at a universally suitable definition, it is more
important to recognize that all human societies have various forms of speaking, various styles of
movement, and various ways of creating and structuring non-vocal sounds. The specific ways in
which they divide speaking, movement, and sound-making into meaningful units vary widely
from place to place. The details of their performance vary, as does their significance.”

One of the earliest attempt in studying art in relation to culture or in its social context

was done by the theorizing of Giambattista Vico (1744), wherein he viewed that “every

particular culture has its own style, a particular unifying principle, such that all of the parts of

the culture, no matter how apparently diverse – its language, religious beliefs, everyday habits

and its art – are all informed by the same underlying ideas and attitudes” (Berlin, 1976 in Inglis

and Hughson, 2005: 19). “For Vico…the culture is like the ‘soul’ of the society, its animating

spirit, and the art of a society is highly expressive of that soul (Inglis and Hughson, 2005: 19).”

Later on many sociologists, studied art the way Vico did and applied it specifically to forms

such as music, novels, paintings, etc., like Heinrich Wolfflin who looked at “the works of

particular artists as the expression of stylistic patterns that were themselves products of wider

cultural forces (Hauser, 1985 [1958]: 120, 124, in Inglis and Hughson, 2005: 20).” These views

were some of the pioneer works in relating art in relation to its cultural context which is the

general idea of this research.

12
 Merriam, an ethnomusicologist, said that music should be seen as a phenomenon with

three sides: “music sound itself”, behavioral, and conception of ideas (Nettl, et al., 2001).

These three analytical levels are interrelated, which means that one cannot be assumed without

being supported by the other. The sound of the music itself as a structure cannot exist on its

own without being regarded as a product of human behavior. It is produced through physical,

social, or verbal behavior. These three variables on the behavioral side of the analysis is

working in a way that music is created which involves the actual and physical production of

sound, posture, and physical response to the sound – that is the physical behavior; the social

behavior of both the musician and the audience, being part of the human context; and lastly the

verbal constructs of the music as it is produced, which is referred by the verbal behavior

(Merriam, 1964). On the third level of this approach, Merriam talks about the

conceptualizations of music as part of the conceptualization of ideas, this includes music and

noise distinction. Basically, this talks about what music is and what it should be. This point

completed the interrelation wherein without these concepts of music, such human behavior

would not be present, and without this behavior, music sound won’t be produced (Ibid, 1964).

By understanding the concepts and elements of music as interrelated with behavioral aspect of

analysis, the music sound is produced in its cultural analytic form.

Song texts or lyrics are also manifestations of culture as shown in the expression of

general cultural values within which it could be carried out to study a particular society’s

psychological set or what thinkers coin as “ethos (Merriam, 1964).”

13
 Functions of music

In relation to culture and society, music plays many different roles and functions in

shaping the lives of people. Merriam suggested ten major functions of music such as the

following – emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, communication,

symbolic representation, physical response, enforcing conformity to social norms, validation of

social institutions and religious rituals, contribution to the continuity and stability of culture,

and the contribution to the integration of society (Ibid, 1964).

Attached to the functions and roles of music as depicted here is the meanings attached

to them. These meanings could be used in determining the significance of music in the

individual perspective as well as the societal manifestations and interpretation of the elements

of music and the sound produced. In the Ibaloi community, some ceremonies include the

playing of the gong and drums as well as other instruments. This are played in different

occasions such as weddings, harvest, birth, or curing of illnesses.

Ibaloi people and culture

Culture has always been regarded as an important part of a group’s social life, and

perhaps the notion that culture is embedded in a group’s “language, values, material objects

and symbolic meanings” (Brinkerhoff & White, 1988), as well as beliefs and customs, being

transmitted from one generation to another, has been the most essential elements in defining

the term. Generally defined, it is said that culture is a “system of shared beliefs, values,

customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the member of a society use to cope with their world and

14
with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning

(Bates, 1990: 7)”, thus, it is the total lifeways of the people or the community.

The Ibaloi group of people in the Cordillera mostly lives in the southern part of

Benguet. There are also scattered clusters of Ibaloi people living in other parts of the Northern

Luzon such as in Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, and other parts of Benguet. Ibaloi also call

themselves Ibiloi or Inibiloi, and their language is called Nabaloi, which is also a term used to

call their group (Moss, 1920: 211). It is important to note that during the early times,

indigenous groups in the Cordillera are classified according to their geographical location as

well as the ethnolinguistic traits they manifest. But this point of geographical representation is

now outdated because of the mixed culture and diversified genealogical associations of the

whole Igorot indigenous subgroups.

Some cultural traits can be distinguished as distinctively dominant among the Ibaloi

people from other Igorot groups: this is the power of rich men among their group. There exists

a social class based on wealth, honor and prestige. There exists two social classes in a Nabaloi

society as discussed by Moss (1920), the baknang or wealthy and the abitug or poor. The

baknang possessed power and authority that extends even in other towns where he owned rice

fields, cattle, houses, etc. At present, it is known that the financial status or wealth of a person

or family determines the quality of the ceremony to be executed, or the quantity of animals to

be butchered and offered.

Ibaloi rituals

One of the most evident effects of rituals in society is social coherence which is tied to

the rituals in a given society. This usually aids in transmission of culture to younger

15
generations and serves as communication, as well as presentation of identity and unity among

the group. As Durkheim said, “rituals bind society”.

Based on his study of the London suburb of Southall, Gerard Baumann as quoted by de

Coppet (1992: 8) questions idea that ritual is ‘an act internal to the category or group that

celebrates itself through it’. “He demonstrates…that rituals are the product not of unified

congregations but of ‘competing constituencies’; further, that they not only ‘celebrate the

perpetuation of social values and self-knowledge’ but equally speak of aspirations towards

cultural change…” Levi-Strauss on the other hand notes that ritual is a paralanguage, and in his

own words, he said that “the value of ritual as meaning seems to reside in instruments and

gestures… (Parkin in de Coppet, 1992: 11) ”

Ritual activities, on its public character, often involve the whole community, which

could symbolize this community’s particular beliefs and values. Rituals serve as a way wherein

basic ideas, such as character of social relationships, are passed on to the group. Nevertheless,

there is much more to rituals than the transmission of knowledge and rules. Participation in

ritual indicates acceptance of such values (Stein & Stein, 2005: 84).

During the early 1900’s, Moss (1920) made an investigation on the culture of Ibaloi

which includes territory, dialect, culture distinctions (personal traits, conduct, and beliefs),

music and dances, and rituals. During this period, the general ethnolingistic group of

Cordillerans was called Igorots and it is subdivided based on the geographical location of these

groups like the Nabaloi of the southern part of Benguet and Kankanay on the northern part.

In his book, Nabaloi Law and Ritual (Ibid: 289), he noted that “The Nabaloi practice

about forty different rituals…” Most of these play roles in curing specific illnesses or disease

of any kind caused by a particular class of spirits. Other rituals and ceremonies include war and

16
peace, birth and death, witchcraft, and rice agriculture or harvest. In doing these ceremonies,

they tend to invoke souls of the dead, spirits, and gods, whom they pray and give recognition

to. Sacrifices, dances and songs, and ceremonies are performed during these rituals. The host

will also be considering the duration and cost of the rite before delivering these kinds of

ceremonials. These ceremonies require specific and a step-by-step process in performing their

chosen rite.

During this period, Moss descriptively documented the 42 rituals and ceremonies of the

Nabaloi including the processes, their functions, and the people involved. One of the known

death ceremony of the Ibaloi community is the Siling, which is generally applied to all

ceremonies from the time a person dies until after his body has been put in a coffin (Ibid: 329).

The process includes the washing of the body by the relatives as soon as the person has died;

while others make the death chair or asal. This is where the deceased is placed within two

hours after death. After this, the mambunong or priest and two jars of tapuy or rice wine are

secured whereby the relatives by blood will drink it, from eldest to youngest, except for the

wife or husband of the dead. A hog is killed and the meat is cooked as the mambunong prays

the sabosab. This ritual often last for 5 days, but sometimes the rich people tend to extend it for

weeks or months. The body is put into the coffin just before the siling closes. He is placed on

his back with his legs bent at his knees. During this process, the mambunong prays the same

prayer he recited during the first killing of pig (Moss, 1920: 329-31). During the time of this

writing, the manner of burial in Kabayan caves, which includes mummification, was still

prevalent among the Ibalois.

Other death rituals such as Okat, is prepared two days after the burial. This is often

done through opening of the coffin, killing a hog, and the praying of sabosab by the

17
mambunong, eating and drinking tapuy for the rest of the day. Another death ritual commonly

carried out by the Ibaloi is the Tabwak, which is done when the soul of the dead person refuses

to go away because the sacrifice during the okat is not enough. This is seen in dreams wherein

the deceased tells that it needs clothing or food. This dissatisfaction of the dead is often felt in

the presence of sickness among relatives or its appearance in dreams. The ceremony will again

include killing of hog, and serving of tapuy, and blankets or clothings are put into the coffin as

the mambunong prays the sabosab. This will be ended by asking the dead to eat and drink with

the people, not to cause sickness but to cure the illness he already caused (Ibid: 331-2).

Later, a study on Ibaloi death ritual was studied by a native Ibaloi herself. Afable

(1969: 107-8) stated that,

“Religious rituals, the stereotyped sequences of behavior which are directed towards
supernaturals, are for the Ibaluy divided into those which are performed specifically for the
benefit of living persons (shilus ni mabiday) and those for the benefit of the dead (shilus ni
minatay). A ritual ceremony contains at least one of a number of named rites, alternatively
called shilus, 'idaga (from daga 'to make, to do’) or 'ikesheng (from kesheng 'to finish, to
complete'), whose defining characteristics are a.) the occurrence of an offering performance, in
the course of which food or drink is presented to a spirit or deity; b.) a beneficiary, in whose
interest the rite is performed; and c.) a sponsoring household, whose members are responsible
for assembling the provisions for the rite.
The conceptual distinction between "life rituals" and "death rituals" is replicated
symbolically in a number of ways. There are 'numbers for the living’, bilang ni mabiday, which
consist of the set 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18. . . ; and 'numbers for the dead,' bilang ni
minatay, which include all other numbers (i.e., 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17...). If a shilus ni mabiday
lasts more than one day, another performance of offerings may take place only on the 'third' day,
counting the day when the first offerings were made as 'first.' In contrast, anything which
involves a sacrifice whose beneficiary is a dead person may be offered only on the second,
fourth or seventh, etc., day following the death, counting the day of death as the 'first' day.”

She also presented the ritual called kedut, which is derived from kedut which means ‘to

roast’, “Obligatorily, kedut involves an officiating priest, at least one sacrificial pig, rice beer,

sweet potato, taro and rice offerings; gong and drum music and the singing of a type of

extemporaneous composition, called ba-diw… (Afable, 1969: 9).” This traditional ritual

pattern that is called onto play at the death of an old person is basically the same throughout

18
Ibaloi communities in Western Benguet. The major exception is the chanting of the du-jeng

song as reported by Leano (1958: 395) as also quoted by Afable for the Trinidad area. This

song is not known in the Tuel-Tublay-Ambungdulan area… (Ibid, 1969: 21).”

Ibaloi music and performance

During rituals, songs are sung by a single individual or by a group, sometimes

accompanied by dance. “As a rule, they must be sung by a certain number of people and at a

certain stage of proceedings.” Sacred songs and dances performed in a ritual are never

presented at other times. Dance is also an essential part of ceremonies in connection with

music. As Moss (1920: 287) stated in his early literature, “Dancing is regarded as a form of

worship”. This often involves moving the feet and swaying the body and hands in accordance

with the music being played.

According to Moss and Kroeber (1919: 195), in comparison to American Indian songs,

Nabaloi songs “… are simpler in rhythm and structure…and at least in transcription, at once

give the impression of being nearer our own music in their own melodies. Several of them

follow the same melodic pattern so consistently as to suggest a fairly definite Nabaloi scale. In

the difficult matter of determining the scales of primitive music, the commonest source of error

is likely to be a mishearing and misrecording of the act…”

It was found out that the rhythm of Ibaloi songs and their structure are very simple and

conducted in regular beats, in that they are composed of “unvarying and perhaps indefinite

repetition of a snatch of melody never more than eight or ten measures long” (Ibid: 199).

Furthermore, the relationship of stanza, verse, or lyrics, with the structure was seen by Moss by

analyzing Nabaloi songs he recorded and translated in 1915, he stated that Nabaloi songs

19
presented “elaboration of the theme into the stanza…by its repetition two, three, or

occasionally four times, sometimes without change, sometimes with only a lowering of pitch,

sometimes with change in both rhythm and pitch, but never with considerable

alteration…Identical repetition of the stanza or air, as many times as the world demand, to

form the song” (Moss and Kroeber, 1919:203).

Isabel Leaño (1965) as cited by Pfeiffer (1976) presented in her article, “The Ibaloy

Sing for the Dead”, three types of songs usually sung in death rituals, the ba-diw, du-dyang,

and ta-ta-miya. The ba-diw is a “sung poetry performed in leader-chorus style. It is a form of

poetic exhortation or allegory, containing ancient lore and wisdom inherited from dead

ancestors or sayings and witticism in the context of ritual” (Santos, 2005: 99). In the context of

death rituals, it functions as a form of expressing grief, and for singing “an idea into the minds

of others”. The form of the language and texts of the ba-diw is literal for the young and implied

or symbolic for the old, but these are not similar from ordinary Ibaloi conversational (Pfeiffer,

1970: 15-6).

Du-dyang on the other hand “…is restricted solely sung in the presence of death is
controlled by rigid tradition which prescribes the participants and demands that the singing must
be accurate and that it shall be performed in the proper attitude and with appropriate conduct of
the assembled listeners, lest the spirit of the deceased be offended. Tradition dictates that during
the singing of du-dyang there shall be no drinking, no eating, no laughing or joking, no sitting
on the singers’ bench, no distracting or interrupting of the singers – all these taboos relating to
du-dyang performance must be strictly observed so as not to rouse the anger of the spirit
relatives… Du-dyang is intended as entertainment for the spirit-relatives, and also for the former
du-dyang singers who are present as members of the funeral assemblage and as official critics of
the performance… the song is an essential component of the death ritual, and as such it must be
sung to avoid dire consequences which might result from giving offence to the spirit of the
deceased. Failure to sing it might require even the exhumation of the body and repetition (with
du-dyang) of the funeral rite (Ibid, 1970: 16-7).”

Last is the ta-ta-miya, which is sung during the ‘journey’ of the dead to the spirit-world,

preceding the final burial. It is “an expression of pain over the loss of the body which will

never be seen again.” It is usually sung by everyone present (Ibid, 1970: 17).

20
 The lyrics or text of the songs are commonly associated or derived from the people’s

day to day activities but they are usually created with regards to a particular occasion or

ceremony being celebrated. Some cultures interpret musical sounds as sounds of the

supernatural.

Music composition and transmission are often done by observation of the teachers or

musicians of the group or directly taught to individuals in the group. Few literatures show how

these music and text are transmitted and preserved for little was known about these aspects of

the Ibaloi ritual music. One example of which is the concept of mimesis or imitation and the

learning through dreams as described by Mora (2005) in her book “Myth, Mimesis and Magic:

in the Music of the T’boli, Philippines.”

As was said by C.R. Moss about ritual lyrics, “It was especially difficult to obtain the

material…which treats of ritual. Since the formulas and prayers are whispered during the

ceremonies, they cannot be understood, and the priests regard it as sacrilegious to relate them

at other times (Moss, 1920: 209).”

Musical Instruments

Symbolic meanings are also attached to musical instruments used in a ritual in different

societies. Musical instruments could reflect the natural environment and resources of the group

and the aspects concerning the production of the instrument. Symbolic meanings attached to

musical instruments are relative within societies, and dependent upon people’s representations

and meaning attachments. Shelemay (2001:13), presented an example of symbolic meanings

attached to musical instruments and stated that, “…flutes, trumpets, and other wind instruments

are often ascribed a phallic significance and in many cultures are played mainly by men”.

21
 “Some gongs and drums are used to announce the beginning of festivities, or a change

from one ritual to another. Sounds of instruments are described in metaphorical terms. They

have a power to stop an earthquake, bring rain, tame animals or lure them (Maceda, 1981: 55-

6).” “In wine drinking ceremony among the Tagbanwa of Palawan, the belief is that gong

sounds hasten the fermentation of wine; they also serve as an accompaniment to the dance of

the medium or (babaylan) and her assistants, and to wine drinking songs… (Ibid: 51).”

Indigenous musical instruments in the Philippines usually include bamboo instruments,

drums, and gongs. These are either distinctly made in a particular society or acquired from

other societies. Maceda (2001) identified two types of Philippine bamboo instruments: those

with indefinite and others with definite pitches. The most distinctive characteristics of those

with are the nuance and timbre of their sounds as inferred by their names - buzzers, clappers,

scrapers, percussion tubes, stamping tubes, xylophone staves, paired-string zithers, slit drums,

and jaw haps. On the other hand, there are fewer bamboo instruments with definite pitches.

Flutes, pipes and zithers are some of the examples of which wherein they demand a system of

measure. These systems differ and serve as historical markers, as to the fashioning of pitches

which depends on a consciousness of intervals; these vary in cultures and which seem to have

stages of development (Maceda, 2001: 55).

“Both flutes and polycordial zithers are cultural identifiers of an idea of scales based

on proportions. The music they play refer to love and courting and some with verses…music of

scrapers, clappers and stamping tubes with indefinite pitches relate to spirits and rituals,

marking a different social usage from a music with definite pitches” (Ibid, 2001: 55).

In Cordillera, flat gongs are considered as historical and cultural identifier, same as the

embossed gongs of Mindanao. In his research on Cordillera music, Maceda saw the music

22
played as close in organization and manner of performance to flat gongs of music played in the

central highlands of Vietnam among the Ede, Sedong, Bahnar, Jarai, Ge, Mnong, and Mua

Boloo, from where the Cordillera gongs may have come (Ibid : 56).

Along with this remarks, he further showed resemblance of the music of Cordillera flat

gongs, based on its characteristics, with the ones in the neighboring Asian region. He explained

that “in the case of flat gongs there is a certain consciousness of definite pitch. When gongs are

played with sticks, an alternation of strong and weak beats on the one hand and on the other,

the bright tinkling nuances constitutes the main musical feature. In general, flat gongs produce

music of colors and ringing tones. Along with a music of flat gongs is circular dancing, a

cultural trait followed not only by the highlanders of Luzon and Vietnam, but also by the

inland Aborigines of Taiwan, with possible cultural links to circular dancing in the Pacific

(Ibid : 56).”

The usual and distinct feature of The Ibaloi music and instrumentation is the way they

combine two drums with two gongs and a pair of iron clappers, which is also known as the

sulibao ensemble. “The drums…are thin and narrow, shaped somewhat like a cylinder with a

bulging body and narrow heads. The lead drum, sulibao, has a pitch slightly higher than the

other drum, kimbal, of the same shape. One gong pinsak plays a repeating rhythmic phrase

while another gong, kalsa, with clear penetrating tones plays improvisatory beats, the fifth

instrument palas is a pair of iron clappers with a continuous clacking rhythm. The two drums

complement each other, while the gongs bring an opposition of free resonant tones to a steady

beat of quiet dampened strokes (Maceda, 2001: 56).

23
Theoretical Framework

Geertz and Symbolic Anthropology

This study on death ritual, music, performance and symbolisms requires a musical

perspective as well as anthropological and sociological perspectives, since it tries to explain an

artistic and cultural element as an essential part of a society based on symbols and processes

presented in each performance of ceremony and music and its characteristics. This research

considers it important to view this from the perspective of symbolic anthropology as proposed

by Clifford Geertz and other anthropologists. Levi-Strauss’ structuralism was also included in

the theoretical framework of this study. A non-western perspective as shown by the

“rhythmological” approach which is discussed below is also a good way to look at the music

and culture of a society interconnecting as a phenomenon. The rhythmological approach was

used in a study of the music and culture of the Kurds of West Asia. In addition, the concept of

rituals as drama was included as a form of analysis on ritual and musical performances. And

lastly, Weber’s notion of social system and social change were included to illustrate the

processes and theoretical grounds of socio-cultural transformations specifically used in Ibaloi

practices, beliefs, attitudes, customs, and traditions.

Symbolic Anthropology is a field of inquiry which deals with “studying the process by

which people give meaning to their world, and how this world is expressed in cultural symbols

(McGee & Warms, 1996: 432).” This posits that interpretation of events and the things around

individuals prompt culture to exist (Ibid, 1996:430). It is important to reflect on the insider’s

views as the origin for observation and analysis in studying symbols as well as their meanings.

24
 The field of study that analyzes symbols in its deep sense is called semiotics. This is

used in interpretation of signs and symbols in the study of art or society and culture, and Geertz

noted that it “must move beyond the consideration of signs as means of communication, code

to be deciphered, to a consideration of them as modes of thought, idiom to be interpreted” to

make it more effective in serving its purpose (Geertz, 1983: 120).

Geertz (1983: 108-9), in his article ‘Art as a Cultural System’, compared art and culture

as part of human experience, he stated that:

“The capacity, variable among peoples as it is among individuals, to perceive meaning

in pictures (or poems, melodies, buildings, pots, dramas, statues) is, like all other fully human
capacities, a product of collective experience which far transcends it, as is the far rarer capacity
to put it therein the first place. It is out of participation in the general system of symbolic forms
we call culture that participation in the particular we call art, which is in fact but a sector of it, is
possible. A theory of art is thus at the same time a theory of culture, not an autonomous
enterprise. And if it is a semiotic theory of art it must trace the life of signs in society, not in an
invented world of dualities, transformations, parallels, and equivalences.”

We engage in a kind of natural history of signs and symbols, or what Geertz identifies

as ‘ethnography of the vehicles of meaning’ by establishing a semiotics of art. These vehicles

of meaning, take part in the society, which presents them life. It is here that we see the notion

that meaning is use, or more cautiously, arises from use, and it is by tracing out such uses as

exhaustively as we are accustomed to for irrigation techniques or marriage customs that we are

going to be able to find out anything general about them (Ibid: 118).

Symbols and Meanings

Symbols represent something that links its existence and discourse to culture, wherein it

could manifest a group’s culture and way of life. This depends on the interpretation of the

people and how they give meanings to these symbols and structures.

25
 In general, Geertz explains that “…symbols are means of transmitting meaning”. Victor

Turner on the other side analyzed…symbols as “operators in the social process, things that,

when put together in certain arrangements in certain contexts (especially rituals) produce

essentially social transformation (McGee & Warms, 1996: 430-431).” When Geertz showed in

his Interpretation of Cultures (1973), aspects of contemporary Balinese constructions of

‘person, time, and conduct’, he concluded that ‘Balinese social life…takes place in a

motionless present, a vectorless now’. However, the interpretations he generated always

revolve around context and that is what his concept of ‘thick description’ is all about

(Silverman in Tilley, 1990: 144).

Geertz characterizes cultural symbols as ‘models of and models for social reality’. By

this notion, he refuses the idea that ‘symbolic meanings are fluid, polysemic constructions’.

Meaning, for him, as well as the autonomous symbolic forms or texts in which meaning is

fixed, shows specific cultural ideals and a single public reality (Silverman, in Tilley, 1990:

126).

In particular, a symbol is: ‘any object, act, event, quality or relation which serves as a

vehicle for a conception – the conception is the symbol’s “meaning”… [symbols] are tangible

formulations of notions, abstractions from experience fixed in perceptible forms, concrete

embodiments of ideas, attitudes, judgments, longings, or beliefs…they are as public as

marriage and as observable as agriculture’ (Ibid: 125). He also showed that “symbols

strengthen convictions about how an individual should act, given the world as it is: symbols

provide a more abstract unity for conflicting factions in a highly diversified society (Hammel

& Simmons, 1970: 324).

26
 In Geertz’s work, Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (1973), he concluded

that, the cockfight is not performed as manifestation of winning or losing; ‘it is a simulation of

the social interactions between various groups in the community’, which gave him the idea that

this is why the matches are so “deep” to the Balinese culture. For Geertz, the cockfight is

considered a symbolic key to personality of Balinese because it is the ritual of articulation of

Balinese values. He uses the expression “the migration of the Balinese status hierarchy into the

body of the cockfight” to define the idea that one can observe the ‘stratification of Balinese

society in the organization of people within and around the cockfight area’ (McGee & Warms:

1996, 469).

As cited by Afable (1975: 110-11), Geertz' (1966: 9) noted that ritual obligations are

classified as, “‘contemporaries’, sharing with humans a community of symbolically formulated

assumptions about each other's typical mode of behavior.” She then said in her study on the

“Mortuary Ritual Among the Ibaluy” (1975), specifically on ritual obligations during rituals for

the dead, that the “concern therefore, with according an adult member of one's household with

the proper and also the most elaborate rites possible at his death is in large part to insure his

comfort in the afterlife, and consequently to lessen the chances of his molesting his survivors

with illness, poverty or untimely death.”

Culture and Art

“Geertz analyzes socio-cultural change and discontinuity in terms of the division

between culture as the system of meanings, and society (social structure) as the patterning of

interaction. Society, being more malleable, often alters at a faster pace than culture. Upon

analyzing a Javanese funeral that he witnessed during his fieldwork in 1945, Geertz concluded

27
that there was ‘an incongruity due to the persistence in an urban environment of a religious

symbol system adjusted to peasant social structure’” as stated in his Interpretation of Cultures

(Silverman, in Tilley, 1990: 146).

Geertz’s conceptions of cultures are “fundamentally, if not always coherently,

interconnected through ultimately logical, localized patterns of meanings and symbols’.

According to him, ‘culture whether expressed through religion, ideology, common sense, or

art, is a system, a term deliberately repeatedly chosen, and one which connotes a particular

image when placed in the history of anthropolog (Ibid: 149).”

By focusing on people’s perceptions, thoughts, and ideas, the idea of culture is known

to consist of symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts (Miller, 1999: 15). Generally defined,

it is said that culture is a “system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts

that the member of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are

transmitted from generation to generation through learning (Bates, 1990: 7).”

We can see operation of symbols, including the combination of symbols of very

different origins during rituals (Ibid: 407). Geertz contends that symbols are ‘representational,

public, and contain durable meaning’ (Silverman, in Tilley, 1990: 128). This makes symbolic

representations in a given society or culture, able to show ways of life as well as people’s

thoughts and ideas, as reflected in their religious rituals.

In his article, Art as a Cultural System, Geertz gave his concluding statements by

affirming the extent to which art is embedded in culture of man as seen in their socio-cultural

life aspects, and how art is considered as culture on the other hand “The variety that

anthropologists have come to expect in the spirit beliefs, the classification systems, or the

kinship structures of different peoples, and not just in their immediate shapes but in the way of

28
being-in-the-world they promote and exemplify, extends well to their drummings, carvings,

chants, and dances (Geertz, 1983: 97).”

In this study, what I would like to see is the role of death rituals, music, and

performances of such as part of Ibaloi culture and its distinction from other indigenous groups,

in terms of its characteristics, processes, instruments, symbolisms and meanings they carry as

part of the whole Ibaloi society. The art of music is one of the most evident ways to see culture

in a different side which is either changed or unchanged over time.

Levi-Strauss, in his theory of culture stated that “the underlying logical process that

structure all human thought operate within different cultural contexts. Consequently, cultural

phenomena are not identical, but they are products of underlying pattern of thought (McGee &

Warms, 1996:310).” Furthermore, Levi-Strauss’ aim in looking at culture as a structure in his

conception of Structuralism is to look for patterns of elements, which could show ways

wherein cultural elements relate to each other to form a system of structure, which is embedded

on culture which he characterized as a “collection of arbitrary symbols (Levi-Strauss, 1963:

208 in McGee & Warms, 1996:310).” If we relate this theory by Levi-Strauss, music and

language are to be considered as important elements of culture, for they form a pattern of

elements which forms a structure and value system. We can extract these aspects in its

contextual structure, wherein meanings produced by interpreting these arbitrary symbols draw

some way of conceptualizing culture as a system and as a structure, as represented in the Ibaloi

music of the Ibaloi people in relation to symbolic approach.

29
 The “Rhythmological” Approach

In general, this study attempts to link the aesthetic and anthropological approaches and

ideas to each other and synthesize it in a single thought, where music and culture could be seen

as interrelated aspects of society. The rhythmological approach as postulated by Tatsumura

(1980) and the group Second Scientific Research in Ethnomusicology in Iran and Turkey does

not only pertain to the concept of musical rhythm but the conceptualization of Plato in his ‘The

Laws’ as “the order of movements” (Tatsumura in Fujii, 1980). This approach was used in

studying the music and culture of the Kurds of West Asia. This study attempts to apply this

approach in the context of Ibaloi culture, a major ethnolinguistic group in Cordillera region.

This theory claims that in every culture there exists three rhythms, considered as the

‘order of movements’ or things in a society. The “natural rhythm” which is based on seasonal

changes in natural environment; the “social rhythm”, which is the order of various movements

in society such as the organization of economy, society, politics, religion, and language.

Tatsumura highlights language as an important element of a social rhythm because it is

essentially connected with the musical sense of rhythm. And lastly, “the sense of artistic

rhythm” which is defined as the sense which makes up an order of music from mere sounds, or

the sense which orders visual elements to create a work of art. This sense has developed on the

basis of the natural and social rhythms.

“This sense of artistic rhythm…is not merely a subordinate to the natural and the social

rhythms; but expression depends on a creative individual’s attitude towards his society, such as

the lifestyle, the manner in which he undertakes an artistic activity, or his way of thinking. It

should also be pointed out that the sense changes according to the changes in other rhythms.

Historical change or the lack of it in social rhythm is an important element in the formation of

30
the sense of artistic rhythm in a culture. But once a particular sense of artistic rhythm has been

attained by a society, it hardly ever changes regardless of change in the natural or social

rhythms (Tatsumura in Fujii,, 1980).”

Subject

Artistic rhythm

obstruction Social rhythm

Natural rhythm

Object

Figure 1. Tatsumura’s rhythmological model. From Fujii, Tomoaki, ed. (1980) “Music Culture in West Asia”, National Museum of

Ethnology: Japan.

As a connection to this approach and this research, the study on “the special character

of the rhythmic sense of a people which penetrates the whole culture, together with the study

on historical changes of that sense” (Ibid) makes the primary connection in looking at the

socio-cultural role of the music.

Lastly, by considering Weber’s concept of the social system which includes the

interrelationship of culture as manifested in cultural values and beliefs, patterns of social action

as seen in the social structure, and the psychological states which are manifested in

psychological orientations of actions, we can work on some explanations on the concept of

socio-cultural change as can be seen in the context of the Ibaloi society, ritual practices.

According to him, one significant change in the elements of social system could greatly affect

31
the whole social structure. An example of such change would be the change in psychological

orientations such as in ideology or religion, the social schema of the Ibaloi death ritual

becomes reoriented and divested away from the traditional indigenous beliefs and actions

which also affects the way people behave, the values, and their customs as such. This then

leads to the disorientation of the pattern of social actions such as the death ritual practices, and

the underlying processes which includes the musical and other performances.

Cultural values and

beliefs

Social structure Psychological

orientations of actors

Figure 2. Weber’s model of the social system as appeared in Turner J., et al (1995). The Emergence of Sociological Theory 3 rd ed.

Conceptual Framework

In general, the paradigm of symbolic anthropology is the main approach to be applied

in this research, since it talks about sociocultural representations of symbols and structures as

well as processes and functions of ritual, music and performance, and the changes the culture

and music experienced, and the factors affecting these changes, existence and distinction in

general.

32
 Ibaloi Culture
Tayaw,
Ba’diw, Musical
instruments,

“Social Death Ritual,

Rhythm” Music, Performance
economy, Composition,
society, Creation and
Ceremony
religion, Re-creation
Processes,
politics, Elements, Food, Etc.
language

Symbols & Meanings

Representations

Time
Figure 3. Relations of death rituals, music, and performances with the Ibaloi culture.

In this illustrated framework, every variable or aspect of music is related to and

contained in the whole realm of Ibaloi culture. This means that the characteristics and sound of

the music, the text, the performance, musical instruments, forms of expression, the death ritual

itself and the process inside it, should be studied within its socio-cultural context. Culture is

generally defined as “system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the

member of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted

from generation to generation through learning (Bates, 1990: 7).” Geertz in his Interpretation

of Cultures (1973) analyzed socio-cultural change and discontinuity in terms of the division

between culture as the system of meanings and society (social structure) as the patterning of

interaction. By focusing on people’s perceptions, thoughts, and ideas, the idea of culture is

known to consist of symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts (Miller, 1999: 15). By further

understanding the death ritual practice and music associated, we can examine the connection

33
and significance of these cultural aspect and the distinction of the Ibaloi culture among other

ethnolinguistic groups of Cordillera.

The death ritual, the music and performance, with emphasis on the processes and

analysis of symbolic contexts and representations, is the core of this study, which in the part of

the death ritual includes the purposes of the ceremonies; spread of the practice in the

community as well as the changes over time; the preparation and processes; materials used and

the representations; the participants; the names of food, and other significant aspects of socio-

cultural representations of the way of life of the Ibalois.

In the music and performance part, the role of the music, the different kinds of music,

the manner and process of performances, which include the relationship of the musicians,

materials used, distinctions of performances and music from other Cordillera indigenous

groups are included in the conduct of this research among others. Such general variables

includes the musical form, if there is any notion, either vocal or instrumental, or both, and the

musical instruments. These studied based on the idea of symbolic anthropology that ‘elements

and structures in a society carry symbolic representations and meanings, wherein these

meanings are given by the people who either experienced it or inherited the idea through

generations.’ By focusing on these aspects, the descriptive presentation of the musical and

performance characteristic could show its interplay with the Ibaloi culture and the distinction

with other music or non-music in the Cordillera or the Philippines in general.

To cite Santos (2005), in his study on the ba’ diw of the Ibaloi, he said that “the ba’ diw

is not to be defined as a genre or form of vocal expression but must be regarded as an

individual creation, only to be understood according to the meaning of what is being

expressed”. Prior to his arrival of this contention, he said that “the ba’ diw is something beyond

34
the realm of music as “sound” or music as “song”, or music as “composition” and

“performance”. Its closest connection to the concept of music is in the element of

communication, in a larger environment which even transcends the physical world of human

sensitivity and understanding.” This shows that as an example, Ba’diw as a form of musical

culture of the Ibaloi community reflects the other socio-cultural aspects connected to their lives

as a whole.

Details on the creation of musical instruments and the arrangement as well as the

execution of the vocal and instrumental forms are usually created based from the social and

cultural orientation of people. These are either acquired from the musical presentations they

have seen or heard through time inside their own society or from outside influences. These are

either created or recreated based on how they perceive the elements of music and culture that

either penetrates their culture, or what they absorb from outside, or independently created

inside their society. These were studied in terms of meanings and symbolic representations,

which is again explained based on how the people involved give meanings to them.

The idea of “social rhythm” as postulated by Tatsumura (1980), in his study on the

music of the Kurds, and the rhythmological approach, which he defined as “the order of

various movements in society such as the organization of economy, society, politics, religion

and language”, plays a part in this study because it involves societal factors which could affect

the whole realm and culture of the Ibaloi society, and other aspects which connects to the

music as part of the death ritual ceremony. One of which is language, which is an essential part

of any communication, and is greatly linked with the aspect of music for it is one of the bases

in producing symbols and representations, as well as interpretation and understanding of

meanings attached to musical characteristic, sound, and the production or somewhat closely

35
related to “the sense of artistic rhythm”, also by Tatsumura, the sense which makes up an order

of music from mere sounds, or the sense which orders visual elements to create a work of art.

Like the elements of this theory, if one rhythm changes, then the whole music-culture

relationship changes too, this study also attempts to see this kind of relationship of the death

ritual music with the death ritual in itself, how it is affected by the music, and the Ibaloi culture

as a whole.

Symbolisms are to be studied and the role played by musical instruments and language

in order for us to look at the subject of music in its socio-cultural context. As Levi-Strauss

notes, “the underlying logical process that structure all human thought operate within different

cultural contexts. Consequently, cultural phenomena are not identical, but they are products of

underlying pattern of thought (McGee & Warms, 1996:310).” These symbolisms and creation

of meanings are patterned from the past experiences and the passed-on ideas of these people’s

ancestors. Also, if we look at the death ritual practices of this group, we can see differences

and its distinction from other indigenous groups like customs, beliefs, and myths, which are

either created or recreated originally in the community, or even acquired from outsiders or

from the outside influences.

Since culture is said to be dynamic, any aspect of it, including art, changes over time.

Manifestations of this dynamics are either seen through changing aspects, as well as

unchanging aspects of culture. Again, these are either affected by the outside influences that

penetrated the community or culture, or the intermingling of different cultures in a single

society. These could also be acquired by natives who experienced living outside their

community and felt different cultural characteristic and possibly applied it in the original

36
culture. It is in here that we could employ Weber’s theory of social change as experienced in

social structure in its totality.

“The different systems, structure, symbolisms and social force that play in each

community, the influence of…class and changing views of modern living are some of the

factors that have come up in the theoretical approaches and in recent anthropological studies

[in ethnomusicological studies] (Maceda, 1981: 11).” This could be studied by looking at the

changes of socio-cultural, as well as political aspects of the society, through the diffusion of

other ideas from other cultures, or it can be a result of neocolonialism, in some situations

maybe. These are based on the interpretation and analysis of the Ibaloi people represented by

the elders and musicians throughout this research.

37
III. Methodology

Research Design and Data Gathering Technique

This research used a qualitative approach as the main scheme of data gathering and

analysis. Participant observation was used as a form of research methodology and basis for the

descriptive analysis on the Ibaloi death ritual and musical performance, its composition and

production, and other aspects to be studied. In particular, this research used narrative to

precisely describe and present events, actions, histories, and lifeways of particular people and

actions involved in this study. These were done through interviews with different people

belonging to the Ibaloi group in Loakan who are key persons in maintaining the Ibaloi ritual

traditions and culture. Participant observation involved the actual attending, observing and

participating in death rituals conducted in the limited span of the research period. Despite

limited knowledge of the researcher on the Ibaloi language which is commonly used by people

in general, interviews were conducted in Ilokano and Filipino, and for general comprehension,

Ibaloi and Ilokano terms were translated in such a way that it would be easier to understand but

taking into consideration the risk of translation. In spite of this, one of the aims of the research

is to present the native Ibaloi terms to foster better understanding in the field of knowledge.

Selection of Informants

In choosing respondents, key informants were chosen based on their knowledge about

the subject. This included elders and other people who are knowledgeable about the Ibaloi

culture and the whole community. Musicians were also significant people involved in this

process. These people were interviewed about the culture, ritual and music as well as the

38
details and symbolisms of the ritual processes or performances, musical characteristics and

other details on the Ibaloi music and death ritual. These people were the key-informants of this

research. Information were gathered, studied, comprehended, and analyzed, including socio-

cultural aspects of the group as connected to their music and its characteristics, and the death

ritual ceremony. The musical instruments were studied in-depth also on the aspect of its socio-

cultural relevance, history, and the symbolic meanings given by the people. The idea of culture

transmission was also relevant and generated though interviews and observation of the

performances of ritual and music itself. Performances were recorded in audio and video with

permission and free prior informed consent from the elders, the family of the deceased and

other participants.

These participants were chosen based on the scope of this research, in Loakan, Baguio

City, where the Ibaloi group is known to predominantly reside, but intermarried with other

Cordilleran groups such as Kankana-ey, Ilokano, Kalanguya, and others. Initially, the plan was

to interview only three people including mambunongs and musicians, but as the research

continued, people such as participants from the three different rituals observed and participated

as well as people knowledgeable about this topic. Also, the families of the hosts and the

ancestral spirits were also included throughout the process of data gathering.

Secondary data were also considered in this research as source of information that are

of use in this study. The gathering of these secondary data were derived from other texts that

directly talk about Ibaloi death ritual music and performance, as well as the people who already

conducted studies related to this subject such as Moss’ (1920) “Nabaloi Law and Ritual”,

Cariño’s (1985) “Towards an Understanding of Ibaloi World-View in Ritual and Dance”, the

39
study on “Aesthetics and Symbolism as Reflected in the Material Culture of the Benguet

Ibaloi” and other related materials.

Data Analysis

After obtaining data needed from the key-informants and observations, content analysis

was used to find and organize themes and patterns, which includes cross referencing of data

taken with the theoretical and conceptual frameworks being used. After re-reading field notes,

recalling observations and experiences as well as viewing and listening to recordings,

modifications on the original objectives and other parts of this research were done to present

this research in a way that it could be comprehended based on the socio-cultural context of the

Ibaloi ritual and musical performance. Furthermore, transcription of the chants and

conversations were re-interpreted to become accessible and understandable to everyone with

expertise or not. This included the delivery of the context presented in interviews and

conversations done in native language. But due to the limited knowledge of the researcher on

Ibaloi language, literal transcription of the ba’diw and other conversations in Ibaloi language

were not completely attained, with which the researcher recommends for future researches on

Ibaloi culture.

As a ground of analysis, data gathered were analyzed based on the perspective of

symbolic anthropology as proposed by Geertz. In his idea of symbolism and meaning in

society, he stated that cultural symbols are considered as ‘models of and models for social

reality’, and they show specific cultural ideals and a single public reality. Based on the data

gathered, meanings and ideas about the Ibaloi culture, produced in a specific scope could be

seen as distinctly present only in the Ibaloi context. For example, a particular form or manner

40
of ceremony is observed in Ibaloi death rituals that are different from the death rituals

conducted by the Kalanguya or Kankana-ey. Another is the instruments used in producing

music and performance for the ritual, where different instruments are used for Ibaloi societies

and for other ethnolinguistic groups in the Cordillera. These information as interpreted in terms

of symbolic anthropology is a way to determine the distinction of Ibaloi society based on their

conduct of death rituals and the music executed during such ceremonies. By focusing on

people’s perceptions, thoughts, and ideas, the idea of culture is known to consist of symbols,

motivations, moods, and thoughts (Miller, 1999: 15).

Ethical Considerations

The main ethical issue considered in this research was seen in the manner of recording

songs and performance of the death ritual because the ceremonies are sacred, but then

consideration and assistance from authorities and elders reduced this problem. And aside from

that, there were no other ethical issues for the researcher secured free prior and informed

consent from the people involved in this study. As part of this consideration, privacy,

confidentiality, and anonymity were not considered big problem because information gathered

were not delicate in such a way that it could endanger the participants’ identity and dignity.

Perhaps this could be an additional academic source that shows Cordilleran culture as passed

through generations.

Furthermore, the researcher included acknowledgement of the people involved and the

actions presented herein. Since this research used video recordings during the performances,

the people involved in such asked the researcher to give them copies as a form of preservation

of the ritual that would last throughout generations.

41
IV. Data Presentation and Analysis*

The Ibaloi Experience

It all started from a bad condition felt by a man and caused by an unknown spirit. On

September 6, 2008, Forbes Banes, married and a resident of Loakan, Baguio City, was

diagnosed by a mansi’bok to have been met with an unknown spirit. A mansi’bok as

contextualized in the Ibaloi society is a person who is capable of diagnosing causes of people’s

condition as a result of metaphysical activities and spiritual manifestations beyond human

consciousness. This caused Forbes bad health condition during the past days and the mansi’bok

recommended that he should conduct a kedut or an offering such as foods and ceremony for the

spirit. This was done with the help of a mambunong or priestess. Specifically, they conducted a

shilus which also functions as a curing ceremony. This involved a butchering of one pig, along

with the ritual for thanking and asking for better life in the following days or sangbo.

Rituals and ceremonies like these are customarily held in the Ibaloi society in Loakan.

Almost every weekend, there are rituals being conducted with different functions here. From

curing of sickness, thanksgiving and asking for better life and help from the deities, weddings,

prestige feasts or peshit, death rituals, and others. Some of these rituals are performed in

similar processes, which include butchering of pigs, preparing of tapuy or rice wine, and

socialization of the people. The foods being served are also sometimes the same. But the

difference lies on the functions of these rituals and ceremonies which include the deities being

addressed and the number of pigs to be butchered, and sometimes the designation of chickens,

*
The data were taken in a period of one month (whole month of September); because of time constraints these were taken from
three Ibaloi rituals – shilus (curing ritual), debun (offering for the dead), and siling (burial) – in Loakan, Baguio City, where
Ibaloi are known to reside and perform cultural practices up to the present day. As the data presentation goes on, these will be
identified as ritual A, B, and C respectively. This classification is based on the chronological happening of the events at the
course of the research.

42
cows, or dogs as offerings. Quite similar to Geertz’s (1973) deep understanding on the

Balinese cockfight, these rituals (or death rituals in a sense) in the Ibaloi society are “not about

gaining or losing money but it is a simulation of social interactions between various

[individuals and] groups in the society.” Social interaction here involves the communication

between relatives as well as other people from the community. As I witnessed personally, this

interaction also goes beyond close relatives, for it also serves as a venue for people to

intermingle despite differences in orientation and ethnolinguistic variations. It could even

become a place for reuniting of long lost moments by people who once knew and grew up with

each other.

It was past nine in the morning when I and two co-researchers, Marie Lauren Nolasco

of UP Baguio who is studying the Ibaloi ritual foods and Mrs. Rosella Camte-Bahni who is an

Ibaloi by birth, studying the Ibaloi culture in Loakan and significantly one of my informants,

arrived at the residence of the Chiday family in #82 “Bubon” Proper, Loakan, Baguio City on

September 13, 2008. Upon stepping into the surroundings of the house located beside a creek,

we saw some large cooking pots or silyasi waiting for the ritual animals to be cooked; chopped

woods waiting for the fire to be lit; pigs eating grasses and roaming around, and people waiting

to substantiate their purpose on attending the gathering. Different actions of people were

visible as time gives last chance for the swine to give their goodbyes with each other. Men

standing outside the house are getting ready for their signal to start the preparation of the ritual

food, while women on the other side are busy preparing camote or duktu as they call it as part

of the ritual food given to the people.

43
 The use of the native language is one of the most noticeable actions being taken during

this gathering in this particular place. This made us feel as mere outsiders in the community

doing research for the purpose of research. The only link between our presence in their society

is the usage of Ilokano language as means of communication, since I am an Ilokano and this

language is said to be the ‘universal language of the Cordillera’; and the fascinating fact that

despite disparities in personal identities or socio-cultural orientations, our interest in Ibaloi

society and culture converge.

The Intermarriage of Indigenous Practices

It is inevitable to notice the presence of people wearing different indigenous and

modern clothing and accessories. The unavoidable act of wearing clothes which are inspired by

the western society is an obvious manifestation of colonialism and modernization fusing with

the indigenous material culture. What is interesting is the presence of people wearing skirts

originally woven from Cordilleran societies. If taken into full consideration and observation,

we can tell that these clothing came specifically from Ifugao or Mountain Province or another

Cordilleran group.

As soon as we enter the living room, we saw seven sets of clothing, which includes

shirts, pants, underwear, socks, hats, shoes, along with ashtrays and cigarettes, glasses, soft

drinks, gin, and rice wine or tapuy, lined up in such a way that it represents the people being

addressed in the ceremony, specifically called keshu or debun or the offering of new clothing,

food, and prayers to the deceased family relatives, who asked for these thru entering a family

member’s dreams. For them, it is an act of calling the spirits and giving them what they want

and what they need and ask them not to put the family in sickness and in danger. This

44
particular death ritual has no counterpart in Christian/Catholic religion. As we ask questions

about the ritual being arranged, we learned that the ritual is for seven people related to the host

of the ceremony which includes the mother, father, and guardian of the male host/sponsor

Romeo Chiday, the mother and aunt of his spouse, and the aunt of his son-in-law and his

unborn baby. (But this unborn baby is not really formally included in the ceremony). This led

us to an understanding that these people involved are of different ethnolinguistic groups in

Cordillera, namely Ibaloi (Father), Ifugao (Mother), and Bontoc (Son-in-Law). This explains

the usage of different indigenous clothing and language inside and outside the house.

The ceremony has not yet started because of the demand of the relatives from Mountain

Province to include their offerings for their kinsmen, wherein someone got something to offer

for the deceased somewhere. It is an evident manifestation of the symbolic world of the Ibaloi

culture which further been presented and explained throughout the research period and actual

observation and participation in the death rituals.

Around 11 A.M., the ceremony started with the pigs being tied along the offerings for

the deceased. The pig is one of the main offering in a form of food to be butchered and eaten

by everyone around. Since there are officially six people being prayed over, there are also six

pigs offered for each of them. Since the pigs are heavy and noisy, they were only tied at one

end and the ropes were attached into the offerings inside the house for a few minutes while the

mambunong prays over them. The ropes were used as symbolisms of the pigs and designated to

each of the set of offerings for the dead.

The offerings set in the living room were then prayed over by each group’s

priest/priestess. Based on the characteristics of the performance of prayer during this very

45
moment, we can already tell some distinctions from one another. The Bontoc priest says its

prayers loudly in such a way, as he contends, that the spirits and gods could hear what he is

trying to convey; while the Ibaloi and Ifugao prayers were more solemn and slowly delivered.

It presents its calmness while preserving its sincerity.

Communicating with the spirits doesn’t only mean conversing with them through

prayers, but also includes calling them upon, to join in drinking and eating the offered tapuy,

gin, and foods. After pronouncing their prayers, they drank along with the spirits and other

people around them who want to be a part of this ceremony.

The Role and Preparation of Pigs in the Ritual Performance

Since the host’s parents were among the dead relatives being presented in this ritual, the

two pigs being tied to them were also male and female to represent their characteristics of a

couple, and also the significance of balance even in the afterlife. Some other pigs were chosen

based on the gender of the entity being given, like the aunt wherein a female pig was given as a

representation of the female characteristic who once lived in their presence. After the pigs were

"blessed", and have been communicated with the spirits, they are then butchered and readied

for cooking; this is done by cutting a line in the shoulders then poking and thrusting in the area

of the jugular vein.

Pigs are essential part of these ceremonies for they represent the offering in a form of

food for the spirits. It is said that pigs are the ones that were domesticated by early Ibaloi

people and other indigenous groups in Cordillera. There are also other animals that can be used

in offering like chickens, cows, and dogs, which are used in different occasions, but the pig is

the most common and traditionally used for death rituals. The pigs are what the Ibaloi people

46
regard to be the animals taken cared of their ancestors. Besides the practical reason which does

not require exhaustive domestication, and the way they reproduce offsprings which doesn’t

take long time to happen, it is also a cultural identifier for the group and the whole Cordillera

rituals or cañao, like the cows of Hindu representing their cultural identity based on the

connection of the animal and the religion. Almost all parts of the pig are practically utilized to

be cooked and eaten during these occasions, not only the meat, but also the internal organs, the

liver, heart, skin, and even the blood.

Further understanding of these foods in terms of economic, socio-cultural, as well as

political aspects of food production and the foods themselves should be taken in a more

detailed study for future researches.

The process of butchering pig as a part of cultural activity, I think, is a valid exemption

to animal rights violation. One must see with their eyes every process of the ceremony, in order

to fully experience the nature of an indigenous way of treating animals in such occasions. They

are not only treated as a food for the people who attended the occasion but also an offering to

the spirits, and as a significant part of the death ritual, wherein the absence of such would mean

a discontinuity of the ceremony. As a way to connect the pigs into the family members, as we

witnessed, after killing the pig in the afay or the arranged small bamboo twigs with leaves or in

the bangkilay or the spontaneously made table for butchering and offering the pig, about four

feet high and three feet wide, the hosts of the ritual A drank tapuy placed in a coconut shell

cups; after drinking the rice wine, the wife gets a blood of the pig from the part where they

stabbed it and pour it in the dirty kitchen. This carries the action of asking for help from the

spirits in terms of blessings as represented by the pig and the act of offering itself.

47
 After the pigs are subjected into such process, they are placed in a large grill under a

direct fire to wash the hair and skin and slightly cook the outer portion. After this, the skilled

butchers delicately cut the parts of the pig for them to cook in a large wok, to roast in a direct

fire, and to be given to the mambunong. The portion given is the right front leg or the

shu’shuan which serves as her “payment” for presiding or service in this ritual.

The liver and the bile are examined by the mambunong to see if they are in good

condition, by looking at “the number of blood clumps that adhere to string drawn through the

belly of a slaughtered animal (Cariño, 1985)”, which therefore determines the outcome of the

ritual and reaction of the spirits before, during, and after the course of the ceremony. The five

leaf clover of the liver are then cut by the host with the assistance and direction of the

mambunong, and these leaf clovers will be kept in gabi or aba leaves. This prepared leaves

with the liver will then be hanged in the dirty kitchen with the same purpose as the blood in the

coconut shell. And every significant course of action is guided by the mambunong’s prayers

and communication to the gods and spirits. These processes are repeated for every pig

butchered.

One distinct characteristic of the Ibaloi keshu is the hanging of an uncooked pig cut

dorsally from the throat to rectum, on the window of the house. And this is done after the first

roll of the tayaw, wherein the pig is butchered simultaneously done with the praying over of

the hosts which are also part of the ritual process involving the pig, as described in other

sections. This is shown to the spirits that the ceremony has begun and invites them to join the

ritual in process. Aside from the half body of the pig being hung up beside the window, strips

of the pig’s skin and liver were also hung on it, which according to them completes the whole

process of hanging and symbolism of connecting with the deities. After few minutes or when

48
the praying over the hosts and the hung pig, along with the sahob ni mambunong, and the

sahob ni mahabali or the home owners, the pig is tied down and cut into smaller pieces and put

into the boiling water for cooking along with the other half of its body. Again, big chunks of

specific parts are given to the hosts and the mambunong as a property with which they are

allowed to cook that meat in different cuisines, or even sell it on the part of the mambunong, or

they can give it to somebody else. This assesses a social characteristic of the Ibaloi death ritual

through generosity and social solidarity. The sahob is a woven large bowl made of rattan

which is used as vessel for the offerings and separation of the food distribution among the

mambunong, hosts, and ancestral spirits.

Providing Food for the People and the Entities

The number of pigs and other materials to be used in death rituals and other ceremonies

are determined by the mambunong. He/she is considered as the point of authority during such

occasions, considering the knowledge passed on to them, and as an elder of the area being

respected and known for their dedication in preserving the group’s cultural qualities. It is

known that the selection and initiation of the mambunong take place on their dreams. Their

ancestors must also be a mambunong before they consider themselves as such. However, they

have a choice not to follow these dreams and pursue their own interests, but that could

definitely jeopardize a rich cultural tradition, because the mambunong is a very important

entity in Ibaloi death rituals and any other ceremonies, and the culture and society as a whole.

Aside from the fact that the mambunong determines the number of pigs to be offered, it

is also important to take into consideration the resources or wealth of he family. If they cannot

afford to prepare 8 or more pigs for a day (as in the case of Ritual B), they may opt to prepare

49
maybe 6 or 3 (the least) to continue the ritual. There could also be some sponsors for the

family, for example some high ranking officials close to the family or the deceased; or a

member of the family itself. Like in the case of ritual B, the host of the ritual was also the

sponsor of this event, who provided pigs and other foods as well as finances to conduct the

ceremony. Overall, the number of pigs butchered in ritual B is 11, 8 on the first day and 3 on

the second day. The expensive nature of such ceremonies is one of the main reasons why these

cultural traditions are slowly fading and being overpowered by modernity and practicality.

Initially, the children convene and divide the expenses to them to provide financial

necessities in pursuing such activities. There is still the need to consider the ability of the

people concerned to smoothly carry out these types of rituals because death rituals especially

the debun or keshu and other rituals like the peshit requires large quantity of food and other

things to accommodate the needs of the people attending the ritual and the spirits to appease

them with full and guaranteed satisfaction if they don’t want to repeat the process all over

again.

In other cases such as in the burial of a man named Andronico, 46 years old and a

resident of Loakan, Baguio City, in September 18, 2008, the pigs and other animals butchered

were the animals he has taken cared of before he died. And since he had only one child who

doesn’t have a job yet, and his wife also died years ago, there were no close family members to

sponsor for his ceremony, except for his relatives such as his cousins, aunts, brothers and

sisters, and others who gave their support. In effect, the ceremony was not too intricate on its

offerings, but if the wife is alive and they have more children then sponsorships could mean

more than enough.

50
 At about 2 PM, meals at ritual B were served by manner of social cohesion and

solidarity. This is a good representation of Ibaloi values not seen by many people outside the

Ibaloi context. Aside from the cultural preservation and hospitality of the people, the Filipino

bayanihan system is widely encouraged and executed here in Loakan Ibaloi community. This

also provides people not only short-term food alleviation but also some long-term effect on

such aspect. People get to eat even if they are not close to the host or the family, at the same

time they can take home the food they can not eat at that moment. By this time, through our

newly created bonds with some of the people, including the hosts, and our familiarity and

deeper understanding of the Ibaloi culture, we felt less alienated and the gap of estrangement

became lesser and lesser as we try to reach our hands, not only as researchers of their rich

culture but also as individuals having respect and empathy being able to feel and accept an

indigenous practice with aims of exploring and sharing it to the world. This the way they

embody what Geertz’s (1966: 9) classification of ritual obligations as “contemporaries’,

sharing with humans a community of symbolically formulated assumptions about each other’s

typical mode of behavior.” By defining culture as a “system of shared beliefs, values, customs,

behaviors, and artifacts that the member of society use to cope with their world and with one

another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning (Bates,

1990:7)”, we can say that the act and thought of sharing something with people whom they

know or not, is a reflection of culture in itself, like their customs, beliefs, tradition, and

behaviors; analogous to the expression of values and personality, not to change status built to

create and reinforce solidarity between individuals and groups (Geertz, 1973).

51
 To The Spirits We “Play”

Following the lunch was the preparation of musical instruments. It is the time for the

taidiw, which refers to the tayaw and sulibao performance, which at the same time aims to

generate communication by the Ibaloi people to the spirits or deities in the form of music and

dances.

Some parts of the ritual are simultaneously done, which caused a little difficulty in

documenting events and proceedings of the significant people and actions. Such was the case

of the simultaneous conduct of praying over the hosts by the mambunong while the first beat of

the sulibao and the striking of the gongs are starting to develop. Luckily, we have our separate

recorder for video for alternating ritual and music performance shots and audio primarily for

the sound related recordings.

During death rituals, the playing of the sulibao and tayaw are guided by prayers and

chants as to address the deities about the activity and the mambunong asks for supervision from

above. Playing their instruments signifies their calling for attention not only for the people’s

participation but also the spirits addressed for the ceremony.

The act of playing music with their instruments and vocalizations, are not denoted as a

form of disrespect and negligence of sincerity and silence, as contrast to the Catholic way of

treating their dead. According to the people we interviewed including Albert Shuntugan, 64;

William Guidangan, 52; Vicky Macay, 54; Janita Pagnas, 61; Kawani Batiyeg, 80+; and Jen

Lucio, 74, the mambunong, this way of performance of the music is a part of the death ritual

performance which is an act to thank the gods and spirits for giving them their needs and

asking them for guidance for future activities. This is their way of expressing gratitude to them

as a consequence of the deities’ blessings towards the Ibaloi people.

52
 The role of the each instrument in the whole ensemble is not regarded to be

individualist in nature for they are to complement each other and work as a group. As the two

drums go together, “the gongs bring an opposition of free resonant tones to a steady beat of

quiet dampened strokes” as Maceda (2001: 56) also observed, which does not only bring

ornaments and serve as embellishment to the whole sound structure but also plays the main

beat in a balanced musicality. The playing of the gong is done by striking the inner side of it

with sticks, measuring about 7 inches, by the right hand while the left hand dampens the other

side to produce a muted effect which adds to the texture of the gong sound. A player’s

improvisation is allowed to be added in executing the performance, but the playing of the gong

for the Ibalois is generally by striking the inner side of the instrument, which also distinguish

them from other Cordilleran group in terms of the musical characteristics.

The beat which is at regular pulse and pattern facilitates the dancing and the rhythm of

the flow of the circular dancing of the family members and the instrumentalists, which is

illustrated in a free manner without formal systems of rules to be followed during such

execution. After taking turns in wearing the ceremonial blankets put on by the family

members, these then can be worn by other people including participants that are not related to

the family or hosts. This goes on as long as the people stop to pass the ceremonial blankets to

be worn by anybody who wishes to do the tayaw; and the instrumentalists, especially the drum

players get tired.

As they prepare the sulibao (a conical shaped drum about 30 inches in length with a

head diameter of 7.5 inches, kimbal (same shape and design as the sulibao measuring about 27

inches long but similar in head diameter), kalsa (a bronze gong, circular in shape measuring 12

53
½ inches in diameter and 2 1/2 inches thick), pinsak (a smaller version of the kalsa with the

same thickness and a diameter of 14 inches), and tikitik (a pair of metal pieces about 9 inches

long, but usually substituted with any metal object which could sound distinctively with the

other instruments), other group of people prepares the pigs to be butchered again, which

accompanies the music making and offering.

Musical instruments used by Ibaloi people in Loakan for their rituals are communal in

its nature of possession. They are known to be heirlooms and passed by their ancestors from

generation to generation. The instruments are then kept and cared for not only in terms of its

physical condition but also the cultural characteristics it signify while they are being preserved

or used as an expression of culture through music. If someone lost an instrument in instances of

negligence, carelessness, theft, or other cases, it provides great reason for its ancestors to be

very angry in him. Since the instruments here are communal, then if you borrow and use it you

must take very good care of it as if it were your personal property to avoid rage by other

members of the community. It is also said that the loss of these instruments could lead to

further butchering and offering of pigs and ceremony. Due to its old ancestral origins, it is

difficult to trace the original owner of the instruments being used at present.

Unlike other indigenous groups in the Philippines, gender differences and symbolisms

of the instruments and playing are not raised as an issue in the Ibaloi context. Not like the

T’boli in Visayas region in the Philippines, their musical instruments such as the megel

instruments are to be played only by men for great physical strength is needed to perform the

musical piece in such instrument. Freudian symbolisms are also not attached to the instruments

which I think do not delineate the gender roles in music performance during death rituals. Men

and women alike can play any instruments they prefer as long as they “have the beat”. As long

54
as they can hold the rhythm and feel what they are playing then anybody can join the group in

performing not only in playing musical instruments but also in dancing for entertainment

purposes. With the beat being produced by the instruments, dancing becomes a significant part

of the ritual performance as a whole which functions as a way of appeasing the spirits, call

upon the deities for assistance, socialization and other purposes based on the occasion being

conducted. To add what Cariño (1985) quoted from Reynaldo Alejandro (1978), he noted that

dances show “…as many meanings and purposes to life as man has found, there are dances to

express them. Needing only the expressive medium of one’s own body and, for certain

purposes, requiring no particular talent, dance has involved whole segments of populations and

is therefore more clearly than most other cultural expressions a reflection of the history of the

people.” This signifies the history and way of life of the people, through dance, music, art, and

performance in general, it is evident that the expression of socio-cultural identity can be seen in

such expressions and cultural representations.

The family members, clothed with blanket blessed by the mambunong, danced by pairs

(man and woman or other pairings) together with the instrumentalists in a circular path. These

blankets - pinagpagan and the pindak shindig - are both exclusively used for ceremonies

involving the tayaw. The woman wraps the pinagpagan around her body covering the whole

torso tied from the shoulders to the ankles, while the man puts a pair of pindak shindig on his

shoulders which signify the start of the dance. During the older times, blankets as such were

designed with motifs such as man, mortar, shield, snake, etc., which represents and symbolizes

different socio-cultural aspects of the Igorot and Ibaloi way of life. For example, the man motif

symbolizes how the Igorot views himself as a prime element within the context of existence

and reality, but who is invariably subject to the whims and caprices of the unseen, the ancestral

55
spirits or amed, and the gods whom he has to conciliate and serve by offering and

communicating with them. Sometimes, blankets are also used as a distinction of social status

among the Ibaloi people.

The performers were arranged with the man as the starting body, then the woman,

followed by the instrumentalist - One gong pinsak which plays a repeating rhythmic phrase

while another gong, kalsa, which sometimes plays improvisatory beats (Maceda, 2001: 56),

and the pair if metal or steel iron popularly called as tikitik, producing a high pitched

continuous rhythm and sometimes improvisatory depending on the players starting rhythm;

while the drums, sulibao, and kimbal are set in a steady situation carried by the players in a

sitting position. The position and circular arrangement of the dancers and musicians are to be

followed throughout the ritual dance, and the disruption of it will result to a disarray of the

formal musical and ritual performance. At a certain point in time, the mambunong prays over

the man and communicate with the spirits offering them the dance and music while asking

them to guide the people involved in the rituals, which is followed by drinking of tapuy. This is

the same as Cariño (1985) observed on his research about the world-view systems illustrated in

Ibaloi ritual and dances, specifically the tayaw. He descriptively stated that

“the male dancer leads the dancing in a circle, followed by the woman, the gong
player/s, and the tikitik player, in that order. The solibao players position themselves…outside
of the circle…Both dancers hold their arms stretched outwards, palms facing outward and to the
side. However, it is common for the female dancer to position her arms close to the sides of the
body, arms bent at the elbows and raised upwards, with the palms held open to the front…After
going around the circle several times, other participants in the cañao shout the owag – which
Claerhoudt (1967) describes as a cheer of honor – twice:
O-o-way, O-o-way; ho-o-oy! ho-o-oy!
O-o-way, O-o-way; ho-o-oy! ho-o-oy!
In order to honor the male dancer…After the second owag is chanted, the dancers stop
the dancing and the woman quits the circle ahead of the man. The dancers may then offer the
blankets they had been wearing to another pair from among the guests, this gesture constituting
an invitation, not to be refused, to continue the dance.”

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 In this descriptive account of the tayaw, we can see the historical background of the

dance or ritual performance being practiced in Ibaloi communities, which could signify social

status and a form of socialization, in the form of invitation for dancing, in the community,

particularly on the blankets used in dancing which were originally regarded as a status symbol

and privilege, and the functions they perform. This was also seen in the performance being

described by this research thirteen years ago. Symbolisms and meanings were also drawn from

observations and researches of secondary sources such as the understanding by Cariño (1985)

and Alejandro (1978) of the Ibaloi dances which he stated as: “palms up means an attitude of

prayer and supplication, while in general, palms down means that the people are aware of their

closeness to the earth, the footwork in dances is basically the same, but even in dances where

arm movements are prescribed, a dancer is usually free to “interpret” the movements in his or

her own way, so that we may have one dancer bending or twisting more, while anther may

maintain a more erect carriage. Open palm signifies state of grace or blessing being wished

for.”

In another account illustrated by Moss (1920) on his study regarding Nabaloi Law and

Ritual, the owag is originally chanted as an old war cry performed during bindayan or the ritual

for head-taking ceremonies or celebration or war victory dance, that goes something like “o-ay,

o-ay; whu-i, whu-i, whu-i!”. This can also be observed in the conduct of circular dancing and

music playing, wherein the dancers pause in front of the mambunong and pray over the man,

the audience shout the owag and the process is the same as the olden times wherein after two

times of praying and shouting the owag, the woman then quits the ritual dance and pass the

blankets to other performers.

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 In any music playing, particularly on drums, the sound of a player becomes obviously

different when he is executing it in a tired and exhausted condition. It is in here that a beat

starts to lie back as it doesn’t go with the rhythm of the other parts of the ensemble. It is said

that in order for an individual to achieve a superb performance in the presentation during

rituals, he/she must possess a steady rhythm inside of him/her. Stamina is only a secondary

requirement for players since the playing during rituals as such require only maximum of five

minutes, as I have encountered during the process.

As a theoretical support to the musical phenomenon in Ibaloi death rituals, it is

important to show the rhythmological approach in studying culture and music which claims

that in every culture there exists three rhythms, considered as the ‘order of movements’ or

things in a society. The “natural rhythm” which is based on seasonal changes in natural

environment; the “social rhythm”, which is the order of various movements in society such as

the organization of economy, society, politics, religion, and language. Tatsumura (1980)

highlights language as an important element of a social rhythm because it is essentially

connected with the musical sense of rhythm. And lastly, “the sense of artistic rhythm”, the

sense which makes up an order of music from mere sounds, or the sense which orders visual

elements to create a work of art. This sense has developed on the basis of the natural and social

rhythms.

Relating these components to the Ibaloi death ritual practices and music, the natural

rhythm is represented by the environment and the changes that occur in it, which is shown

through close bonds of kinsmen, relatives, and community members. Also included here is the

change of the environment brought about by industrialization and modernization, which also

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tend to trigger intermarriages and other social, environmental, and natural changes in society.

Additionally, the production of musical and ritual performances and style, as well as the

musical instruments are determined by their physical and natural environment which illustrates

the interconnections between different Cordillera indigenous groups’ musical and ritual

performance as well as musical instruments. Social rhythm on the other hand is reflected in the

organization of the economy, kinship terms, language system, politics, religion, and society as

a whole. These elements have their own roles in shaping the culture and arts in a community,

and the change of one aspect could lead to a general change of the whole culture. Economic

aspect would include the acquisition of the pigs, food and other materials needed, or the

sponsorship granted by other people for the hosts; the kinship ties organized in the community;

language system includes the Ibaloi language itself as used in death ritual chants and prayers,

including metaphors and word playing in ba’diws; politics includes hierarchy and the

stratification of men and women roles, elders’ functions, and the class status; and religion

could refer to the Ibaloi indigenous beliefs which could be distinguished from Christianity,

though sometimes mixed with it such in the case of ritual C.

“This sense of artistic rhythm…is not merely a subordinate to the natural and the social

rhythms; but expression depends on a creative individual’s attitude towards his society, such as

the lifestyle, the manner in which he undertakes an artistic activity, or his way of thinking. It

should also be pointed out that the sense changes according to the changes in other rhythms.

Historical change or the lack of it in social rhythm is an important element in the formation of

the sense of artistic rhythm in a culture. But once a particular sense of artistic rhythm has been

attained by a society, it hardly ever changes regardless of change in the natural or social

rhythms (Tatsumura in Fujii,, 1980).”

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 Artistic rhythm in the Ibaloi sense is dependent on the two rhythms for they determine

the situation and disposition of the culture and arts of the group. Though it is a demonstration

of individual capability in terms of artistic expressions, it also is affected by the whole schema

of the approach or the two components of it, since the change in any of the elements leads to

the change of cultural and artistic whole. So if a ritual is not conducted anymore due to

circumstances relating to religious beliefs, economics, political conflicts, the artistic rhythms

falls and the whole culture suffers. This calls for action to understand and reassess the cultural

situation of the Ibaloi communities in the Cordillera using the arts and music as a base of

analysis and social change.

Performances in Comparison

In comparison to other music and dances of groups present during that particular

ceremony, which were intended for the purposes of addressing the deities and for

entertainment, the music and dance of the Ibaloi are less elaborate and ornamental than the

ones performed by the Bontoc and Ifugao. The Bontoc people execute their gong playing in a

more elaborate manner, striking the outer and inner side of the gong and perform an aesthetic

ornamentation of gestures by flipping or switching it from side to side while holding it tightly.

In terms of other instruments used, they brought with them their own rendition of sulibao with

metal body which produces higher percussive tones than the Ibaloi sulibao. They sometimes

also use the pair of metal sticks or the tikitik to enhance their sound and add more texture to the

performance. Their dance is also more stylish, having some sort of hops and long foot steps

and bended knees, unlike the Ibaloi performance which shows only a regular stepping and

walking along the circular path.

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 On the Ifugao side of performance, the musical instruments used were primarily gongs

which were played in different manners – striking with palms and fist to produce a damped

sound at the same time a resonating ones, striking with sticks while the gong is lying face up,

and striking the gong as it is hanged up. It is known that the Ifugao way of playing involves

only different kinds of gong varied on the pitches as an effect of the size variations. The

dancing of this group however is somewhat similar with the Bontoc performance, for it

involves long foot steps and graceful presentation, with more detailed hand gestures, body

movement, and expression as a whole.

The dancing of the rhythm executed during Ibaloi death rituals are the same as the ones

during any other occasions which requires the sulibao and the tayaw. Regular steps of the feet

forwarding one at a time and hands are spread leveled over the head. This requires no complex

techniques and elaboration, for it is the sincerity and connection to the music that is important

in aiming for a good tayaw. For them, it is like the music performance and production which is

executed to show the deities their joy and grace for giving them the guidance and good life, as

well as an accompaniment for the offerings the hosts present. Also, despite the simplicity and

shortness of elaboration of the performance, it is the sincerity and the ritualistic part of the

performance that took the Ibaloi culture on its higher performance level. By looking at these

characteristics that set comparative differences and similarities between groups or cultures, we

can see that music is highly structured as a cultural expression or indicative representation of a

particular [indigenous] group. As also argued by Guilbaut (2001:178), as quoted by Inglis and

Hughson (2005) “a particular musical genre reflects a ‘geographical space…consisting of

stable, bounded territories’, with musicians seen as expressing in sounds the ‘spirit’ of the

(ethnic) group which they are part.”

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 One effect of music in the society, as part of rituals, is that it binds society together the

same as culture and rituals in general do, thus drawing the people together. Offering each

others instruments and showing their own musical abilities and performances, the different

groups during the death ritual was another venue for inter-group relations and interaction. But

being a distinct form of cultural expression from the mainstream view and way of

performances, the indigenous art forms are sometimes ‘reduced to package exoticism for

[musical] tourists’, which in turn endangers the musical as well as cultural authenticity of the

whole ritual, musical, and ritual performances. The indigenous culture becomes a commodity

in catering the orientalist and neocolonial aesthetic craving of the people.

Generation All Tied Up

After the successive tayaw performances, another ritual that is considered distinctively

Ibaloi in nature is the batbat, or the establishment of interconnections between the ancestors

and the living and succeeding relatives and generations in the family. This includes the father,

mother, their children, in-laws, and grandchildren, holding to a rope tied to five jars of tapuy,

one set of clothes together with food and drinks, and a live pig outside the house. These

offerings are for the deceased relatives being addressed in this type of death ritual. Originally,

batbat is a ritual executed to conduct curing caused by unseen spirits. Throughout the whole

ceremonial activity for two days, the only taboo we encountered as part of the Ibaloi belief was

seen and materialized at this very part of the event: it is not allowed to cross the lined up jars

which are tied together; for them it is a form of disrespect and a sort voiding of the whole

process. And a way to redo it is to cross back from where you stepped at.

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 After the whole family was prayed over and communicated to the deities, the tied pig

was again butchered, blessed and offered to the spirits in the same ritualized manner as before,

and cooked as the taidiw proceeded until the food was served.

Funeral and Death Rituals

Due to some constraining circumstances, the whole process of the wake in ritual C were

not observed thoroughly, and no other primary death rituals were conducted during the course

of this research. Corollary to this, secondary data was used to illustrate the process of primary

death rituals and later compared to what was observed and based on the obtained information

from significant people present in such ritual as seen in secondary data collections and

participant observations.

During the old times, the average funeral would last for seven days, but during the

present time, as attended by the researcher, lasted only up to four days as seen in ritual C. And

“according to the account of Hans Meyer in his observations and participations in Tublay,

Benguet during the 80’s, as quoted by Jack Cariño (1985), the first thing that is done after an

Ibaloi has died is the bathing of his corpse by the members of the family. This is done a few

hours after his death and after the surviving relatives has expressed their grief by “wailing,

chanting and crying”. The bathing ritual consists of dipping the right hand fingers of the dead

man in a water-filled pek’kung or wooden trough and guiding the hand to splash water on the

corpse’s face. It is the belief that this will purify the dead and make its spirit acceptable to the

ancestral spirits who are already in the otherworld. But questions such as the using of the

deceased’s own hand to bathe itself and the right hand were not explained. At any rate, the

older children of the dead man, if he has any (if he is childless, the closest of kin will do) bathe

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the rest of the body while they pray to the spirits of their dead relatives. They must be very

careful, however, not to mention the name of any living person, for if they do, it is believed

that the dead man will surely take the life of the person who is mentioned. After the bathing,

the corpse is dressed in his best clothes and is made upright in a specially made death chair

called the aradan. The chair is usually set up by main stairway of the house, or in the middle of

the main room. The corpse is made to face west, in the direction of the setting sun. The setting

sun has always been associated with the passing away of life.

More than anything else, an Ibaloi funeral is a feast where scores of animals are

butchered each day to feed the scores of people whose main purpose, it would seem, is to

partake of the feast. Meyer stated that “…the quantities of meat and tafey consumed such

occasions taken together are so vast when the banquet goes on for weeks that the family of the

deceased is completely ruined by the expenses.” The banquet begins with the butchering of a

male pig. Simultaneously, the best rice wines are brought out and the non-stop pounding of rice

begins. Contributions or ufo in the form of tafey, rice, camote, gabi, and sometimes, even pigs,

are accepted from relatives and friends.

According to Cariño’s interview with Henry Albon (1984), after the slaughtering of the

male, the female pig follows. There is a belief that the slaughtering of animals during wakes

and funerals should proceed in pairs so that “say e’muh’bangbankking.” Literally means “so

that there will be balance” the spirits of the dead are supposed to derive contentment out of

such pains and efforts to preserve “balance” even in the slaughtering of sacrificial animals.

Before any eating commences, the mambunong offers up the food and wine

accompanied with a prayer to the dead. The names of all the dead ancestors of the bereaved

family are called out as if they were merely hovering around nearby. It is important not to fail

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to mention all the names of these spirits so that none of them will be offended and in retaliation

cause illness or even death to any of the living family members. The immediate family of the

deceased, especially the wife, is exempt from doing any work during the funeral. Her rightful

place is at the feet of her dead husband. It is also considered pe’djeon (taboo) for the wife to

partake of the food prepared for the people; if she does, she might prematurely join her dead

husband in the afterworld.

During the first day of the vigil, a ritual called sabosab is performed to prevent those

present from getting sick. This ritual consists in the slaughtering of the pig, with appropriate

prayers to accompany the act, after which it is boiled in a sillasi or large wok. Ginger is added

to the broth. For those who made the aradan and saw to seating the deceased on it, a sow is

butchered, again after appropriate prayers said by the mambunong.

Informants of Perez (1979) as discussed by Cariño (1985), relate how two strands of

fine rope sik’kut are made to hang over the deceased. Knots are made on one rope to keep

count of the number of days the vigil has lasted, while knots made on the other rope are used to

keep track of the number of those who have given ufo. All contributions are offered aloud to

the dead.

The Ibalois believe that the spirits of their dead await in the afterlife for anything sent

to them also called as paw’it by their living relatives through anyone who has just died. During

wakes, there is always a generous giving of ufo in order for the dead not to be offended.

The second (bangon), third (katdo) and fourth (ka’pat) days of the vigil are pretty much

the same. Procedures and activities done on the first day are followed, but more and more

animals are slaughtered since those who live far from the deceased’s household start arriving

during these days. The wife ends her fast on the third day, and for her, a pig other than those

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being prepared for the visitors’ meals, is slaughtered. On the fourth day, new clothes are put on

the deceased. This was also observed during the ritual C wherein the family members are not

allowed to eat the prepared food outside, which was directly taken from the butchered and

boiled pig.

He also stated that there used to be the practice of peeling off the skin and hair from the

deceased’s body and it was believed that the deceased’s spirit would not be accepted in the

otherworld if he still has the outer, worldly covering of the body. The peeling of skin was also

practiced in relation to mummification, but while mummification was abandoned towards the

end of the 19th century, the practice of peeling of the skin from a corpse was retained. It might

be conjectured that mummification was practiced to make the spirit of the dead symbolically

more accessible to the living, who needed the spirits’ help in countless situations, by

preserving the shell or form of the body. In relation, the conduct of mummification is based on

the will of the man affirmed before his death.

One funeral practice that was observed until the 1980’s was the nangis or the crying

over the corpse as an expression of grief which is done by older women, like widow, mother,

sister/s and other female relatives of the dead. They approach the remains, cover their faces

with a piece of cloth to prevent their tears from falling upon the corpse, and cry aloud in

ba’diw fashion. Nangis is allowed only up to the day before the funeral, since it is believed that

crying on the burial day will impede the soul’s progress into the afterlife; hearing his relatives’

laments, he might be reluctant to leave them.

The burial itself usually takes place in the afternoon, some time around the seventh day

of the vigil. The body is carried to the cave where the remains of his forefathers sleep. If due to

lack of space, it is impossible to inter him in the same cave with his dead relatives, a new cave

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is found for him. The procession to the burial cave is made up of relatives who, for the last

time, bid their departed relative a safe passage to the spirit world.

At present as observed by informants and the researcher in ritual C, the process are

almost the same wherein the expenses were distributed to the family, but in the case of ritual C

wherein the deceased was a widower and had only one child, other relatives sponsored his

funeral. Furthermore, pigs, chickens, and dogs were butchered during the four-day ceremony.

Another big difference on the funeral observed during the 1980’s lies on the process of

mummification and the peeling off of the dead’s skin, which are no longer practiced at present,

due to the entry of modernity and other opposing beliefs and customs, as well as the elaborate

and long process of mummification, other preservation techniques, and the peeling off of the

skin.

Wakes doesn’t involve performances of music and dances, but the ba’diw can be

performed as a way to communicate with the ancestral spirits and the deceased. There was also

no mambunong present in ritual C, but it was led by an elder who bridged the communication

between spirits of otherworld and the human consciousness. Despite differences and decline of

traditional practices, one interesting cultural practice performed during the ritual was the

covering of the body in a death blanket which is also called kolebao dja oles. This blanket is

exclusively used in burials which is used to wrap around the deceased and included in the

grave. This blanket is characterized by dark blue border lines and which is used by both the

poor and rich Ibaloi people.

Secondary rituals on the other hand, as affirmed by one of my informant Philip Canuto,

a mambunong, often involves the transferring of the dead’s body or the bones. This is done

when the family of the dead wants to bury the body in the person’s original residence; or when

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the spirit of the deceased is said to be unsatisfied with the ceremonies or offerings given to

him/her. The spirit enters ands shows its presence through the relative’s dreams, wherein

he/she will say that something is lacking in his coffin or the place where he is buried. Another

is when one member of the family suddenly becomes sick, and the ancestor’s spirit enters the

body. This will be the sign that the family should consider a secondary ritual. The mambunong

then prays and ask for the family to prepare animals, usually pigs, to be butchered and offered,

as well as tapuy. It is either, the spirit is dissatisfied with the offering in one of the ceremonies

executed before, or there could also be a mistake in the past rituals.

In one of his encounters, he told me that a member of someone’s family suddenly

became sick, and said to dream of his father asking for blanket because he is cold. When they

called the mambunong and checked on the deceased’s body, he doesn’t have a blanket with

him. The mambunong then prayed for the spirit to get away from the child’s body and cure its

sickness, and they wrapped the body in a blanket and buried him again.

The Ba’diw as a Cultural Form

Ba’diw, just like any other cultural art forms, is a way of manifestation of a society’s

sociocultural way of life. According to Jose Maceda (1987), “ba’diw is not to be defined as a

genre or form of vocal expression but must be regarded as an individual creation, only to be

understood according to the meaning of what is being expressed”, which he also defined as “a

sung poetry performed in leader-chorus style.” Just like his analysis on the difference between

what people conceptualize as music and the ba’diw, he contends that the distinction lies on the

communication aspect, wherein he stated that “music communicates to an audience, while the

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ba’diw serves as a channel of communication within a larger spatial environment, even

transcending the physical world of human sensitivity.”

As I witnessed the actual performance of the ba’diw during the ritual B, it is becoming

clearer to me what ba'diw really is and what it means to the Ibaloi culture in general. Equipped

with the knowledge as read on the books, researches, and earlier recordings of the Ibaloi

ba’diw and performance, I was immature in knowing what was happening in the living room

with elders sitting around and uttering their own system of language, expression, and

communication. Though I wasn’t able to follow the literal meaning and interpretation of the

ba’diw poetics, I was able to carefully listen and internalize the contextualization and social

significance of this act as a part of the Ibaloi culture. It is a way for the people, particularly the

elders, to communicate to the spirits and deities, as an alternative to sulibao and tayaw. The

performance of the ba’diw can be regarded as a ritual in itself involving processes, offerings,

communication, and socialization of individuals. It is in here that we see serious and sincere

relations and communication bound with aesthetic form of musicality and poeticism.

The idea of a ba’diw according to the Ibaloi people, asked in our interviews, is to talk to

the spirits about what the people involved in the performance or ritual feels and have to say

about the ceremony. Not anybody can participate in conducting the ba’diw for it requires

experience and familiarity with the society, hosts of the occasion, different ba’diw

performances, and adeptness with the ancestors and deities of the Ibaloi culture. This is done

by two divisions of action with the man-ba’diw on one side, uttering his own ba'diw which is

rooted within his mind and sung in a somewhat melodic manner, which is responded by the

asbayat through chorus type of singing. This marks the communicative aspect on the part of

the people involved namely the man-ba’diw and the asbayat; and the same time

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communicative aspect on the part of the whole group and the spirits or deities being addressed.

However, unlike Maceda’s (1987) observation of the execution of the ba’diw in the town of

Kabayan, Benguet, the ba’diw in the Loakan, Benguet has some differences like the concept of

man-ba’diw which, in his article, is solely men’s role and the asbayat as an exclusively female

role. The man-ba’diw as I encountered was done by both man and woman in a separate episode

of performance, with the asbayat role also done by women together with some men. Also, the

composition of the ba’diw during this ritual was said to be done through recollection of events

as well as spontaneous but formatted ideas throughout the ceremonial communicative singing.

If one listens to the musicality of the ba’diw, it is not hard to hear the repetition by the

asbayat, of the lines uttered by the man-ba’diw, although they are not simultaneously sung and

harmony of voices are seldom met; distinct versions of singing are evident by prolonging or

adding more resonation or dynamics of the voice. On cannot really hear and feel the solemnity

and seriousness of the ba’diw if it is mixed with the sulibao ensemble. An individual without

interest in music or even in culture may find the ba’diw another boring part of a ceremony, but

as a part of the Ibaloi death ritual, it is an essential part they can’t do without. Though the

concept and conduct of ba’diw also exists in different Cordilleran ethnolinguistic groups such

as the Kallahan as studied by Afable (1989), and de la Peña’s (2000) dissertation on the ba’diw

of the Kankana-ey, In Loakan area, the ba’diw is considered as part of the ritual and a ritual

itself, it is not part and parcel of the culture of the Ibaloi, nevertheless it is an Ibaloi culture in

itself.

With the help of the people who are knowledgeable on the Ibaloi language and the

ba’diw, this research was able to present an excerpt and a free translation of the ba’diw

performed during the ritual. Though the complete transcription and translation was not

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achieved because of the indistinct nature of the audio recording and its language play that

includes words and phrases that are not used in ordinary Nabaloi conversation, the whole

thought and context of the ‘sung poetry’ (Afable, 1989) was understood and presented as

follows:

Ibaloi Ba’diw Filipino translation English translation

Kwanko et mango I,
Pan-anus kayo to’va,
Ja mengajoan ni nga-nga,
Ya egjo et pan-nangis,
Ja enusan jo et to’va,
Ni ngarani piyan’na eshom,
Ja agnankulang ja obda,
Ja evatan ma ni nga-nga,
Tani anak tejo…
Ang sabi ko sana ay,
Magtiis sana kayo,
Na mag-alaga ng mga bata
At hindi niyo paiyakin,
Na intindihin niyo sana,
Kung ano ang gusto ng iba,
Na hindi nagkulang sa
proseso,
At maintindihan ng mga bata,
At ng ating mga anak…
What we want to say is,
For you to be patient,
In taking care of the children,
Never make them cry,
That you understand,
What others want,
Who never took for granted
the processes,
And for the children to
understand,
As well as our children…

Furthermore, as Erving Goffmann presents the thesis of his dramaturgical approach to

social practices and everyday life, he thought that individual actions are to be seen as

performances which can also be seen through non-verbal actions and interactions; by looking at

these ideas, the musical performance and the ba’diw can be considered as a performance

because they present a world of their own, representing a culture of its own existence.

Moreover, Nicanor Tiongson as cited by Cariño (1985: 11) stated in Filipino:

“Dula nang matatawag and mga ritwal, pagkat dito’y matatgpuan ang diwa ng

pananagisag…Ang mga ritwal na ito’y dili iba kundi and pagsasadula o pananagisag, sa higit

na mataas na antas na simbolikal sa ‘pakikiusap’ o paghingi ng pabor ng isang tao sa higit na

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‘malakas’ niyang kaibigan o panginoon, na karaniwan na niyang regaluhan…o pakainin o

painumin.”

In here, he illustrated that rituals are considered as drama for it is directed with

symbolisms and metaphors. “Ritual is drama because it contains the elements of metaphor or

representation. In ritual, one performs various metaphorical and symbolic gestures and tasks in

order to secure blessings or favor from the gods. The performance of ritual sets into motion a

people’s ‘system of meaning’ which is based on their experiences of the world and on the way

they have interpreted it (Ibid, 1985: 5).”

After the conduct of ba’diw for the first day of the 2 day celebration, people took their

way to get something to eat while the family members started to eat their own division of food

as designated by the ritual. After the dinner, people around the house packed up and went home

by groups, while others were busy spending their time beside the tapuy and gin, others were

prepared to sleep and wait for the next day of the ceremony to come as another busy day passed

again as part of the rich cultural tradition of the different groups. Tayaw and music making

among the people who were left continued until everybody was down due to exhaustion,

dizziness, and drunkenness.

The second day of the ritual somewhat gives us a review of what happened to the pigs

during the past 24 hours of their memorable existence. The process of butchering pigs were the

same, as the liver and bile were examined, as the different parts were distributed, cooked, and

blessed. Except for the presence of newly built structure such as the bangkilay and the afay laid

beside a solely standing wood/trunk, everything in the process is the same. The bangkilay is a

unique structure, table-like in appearance, about 3 feet in height and 2 ½ feet wide, built beside

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the house, which is used as a place to butcher the pig and a spot where the offerings such as the

cooked meat, jar of tapuy, and the singkalong are hung. The bangkilay is made out of thick

branches of tree as its foundation and bamboo slits on its surface; one corner of this table

structure, 8 twigs of thin bamboos with leaves together with 3 dried stems without leaves are

bundled. This signifies the days they need before they must conduct a ceremony again. The

singkalong, which also a part of the bangkilay is a small apparatus, that looks like a headphone

made out of bamboo, used for containing tapuy and hung along the twigs. They said that it

symbolizes the communication and a faster way of being in touch with the creator, since it is

shaped like a headphones and the creator can hear the people out upon using this implement

during rituals. On the other hand, the afay is a set of thin bamboo twigs with leaves, laid down

on the floor, where pigs are butchered during rituals. These two avenues of butchering pigs are

important in rituals such as death rituals and thanksgiving, among others, for they signify the

earth and sky, that includes the deities of both worlds, being part of the ritual they are

conducting.

These sorts of format during death rituals are followed in such a way that it looks like an

unwritten rule being set upon from long time ago. In a more elaborate sense, exact histories of

these practices and symbolisms are not known per se and difficult to trace these days. Despite

this difficulty, it is evident that these are patterns in which culture of the Ibaloi are seen as

evident part of their everyday living experience.

Spread of the Practice

Upon watching the whole ceremony from start to end, it is uplifting for me to witness

such beautiful traditions and practices. It is not the beauty itself that I am concerned of, but the

73
socio-cultural thought of the rich Ibaloi experience, including values, beliefs, art forms, etc,

still reside not only in the memory of my recording devices but deeply in the remembrance of

my existence being a part of the Ibaloi society even just for one month or so. By the time we got

home, we asked ourselves, what if these cultural traditions are wiped out of the consciousness

of the people? What if the whole Ibaloi consciousness becomes a postcolonial product of the

mind and bragged by modernity? These questions are just but some of the things we had in

mind after all those Ibaloi experience.

But taking a close look at the Ibaloi community in Loakan, the spread of traditional and

indigenous practices are still in place but are gradually replaced by more modern and outside

influences surrounding the society. Children in general are more inclined in technology and

other recreations that require modernization rather than indigenous practices to preserve the

culture of their own. But it is also sad on the part of the elders to just let these children forget

their roots and follow new order of things as given to them by their environment. In the three

rituals we observed, the good fact is that, we saw children who are interested in learning the

tayaw and moves with the rhythm of the sulibao, but some went there because their relatives

asked them to but they weren’t really interested in such occasions, which defies the purpose of

propagating the culture, rather jeopardizing it.

Not only does technology alter the traditional indigenous systems brought upon by the

ancestors, but also the introduction of new ideologies and post-modern practices, such as

religion, politics, and even economic relations have an effect in promoting the Ibaloi culture.

Such in the case of the Ritual C, where the merging of two different religious systems, the

Christianity and Ibaloi indigenous religious tradition emerged as an effect of globalization and

modernity. Although some activities like the butchering of the pig, serving of food from the

74
wok, burying on the backyard, wooden coffins, the element of Christianity becomes visible by

subscribing to the Christian faith and hiring a Christian priest to govern a Christian mass as a

manifestation of social change as part of a contextual social activity and social difference

among the indigenous systems. The performance and conduct of death rituals in pure Ibaloi

nature are rare now which nearly concludes its extinction around Cordillera through

transformation of beliefs and modernity.

Due to these changes in socio-cultural aspects of the Ibaloi life, different organizations

came out to restore and preserve the indigenous practices of different Cordilleran traditions,

particularly on Ibaloi culture are the CHIVA and ASPULAN. Both aim to restructure the Ibaloi

community, not only in Loakan or Baguio City but throughout the whole Cordillera region.

These efforts are to be seen as a way not only to preserve the indigenous culture of the Ibaloi, in

terms of knowledge based and application based approaches, but also to develop a life

meaningful to their own orientations and traditions.

During a group organization and discussion among other Ibaloi community officials of

the ASPULAN, there had been a debate on the transmission of practices from the elders to the

succeeding generations. It is said that children are not allowed to conduct rituals and the music

used or played because these are sacred actions and it is the role of the elders to execute such

ceremonies and performances. But then he argued that the transmission can be done provided

they give an offering and a prayer asking the spirits not to feel angry and make some nuance to

the children practicing the conduct of ritual and the music. To avoid the entering of spirit in

one’s body or what they call maluganan, the mambunong should offer a chicken and tapuy and

communicate to spirits:

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 †
Apu, han kayo kuma agung-unget ta aramiden mi detuy,

Kayat milang nga ipakita ti mayat ugali ken kostumbre tayu,

Kayat mi lang nga maisali kayu ti panagbiag mi,

Ramanan yu detuy manuk ken tapey,

Haan yu kuma luganan dagituy ubbing nga mayat makasuru ti aramid yu.

Please don’t be bothered to what we are going to do,

We just want to show our good characters and customs to others,

We just want to involve you in our living,

Taste these chicken and tapey that we prepared for you,

Please don’t enter the bodies of these children who want to learn what you’ve done.

To show a theoretical assumption applied in the context of the Ibaloi community, not

only in Loakan but as a whole socio-cultural entity, it is essential to look at Weber’s concept of

the social system which includes the interrelationship of culture as manifested in cultural values

and beliefs, patterns of social action as seen in the social structure, and the psychological states

which are manifested in psychological orientations of actions. According to him, one significant

change in these elements could greatly affect the whole social system. An example of such

change would be the change in psychological orientations such as in ideology or religion, the

social schema of the Ibaloi death ritual becomes reoriented and divested away from the

traditional indigenous beliefs and actions which also affects the way people behave, the values,

and their customs as such. This then leads to the disorientation of the pattern of social actions

such as the death ritual practices, and the underlying processes which includes the musical and

ba’diw performances.

†
This statement of prayer was conversed in Ilokano and translated for the researcher because of the limited knowledge of the researcher of the
native Ibaloi language.

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 As Maceda (1981: 11) stated, “The different systems, structure, symbolisms and social

force that play in each community, the influence of…class and changing views of modern living

are some of the factors that have come up in the theoretical approaches and in recent

anthropological studies” [in ethnomusicological studies]. This are studied by looking at the

changes of socio-cultural, as well as political aspects of the society, through the diffusion of

other ideas from other cultures, or it can be a result of modernity and neocolonialism, in some

situations maybe. These are based on the interpretations and analysis of the Ibaloi people

represented by the elders and other key informants throughout this research.

Ibaloi Culture, Symbolism and the Future of the Ibaloi Cultural Representation

After witnessing such rituals, I was able to understand and realize how rich the culture

of the Ibaloi is. With emphasis on the musical perspective together with the social

anthropological approaches, symbolisms are but some of the manifestations of the Ibaloi culture

than can be a basis of understanding and doing something about the culture of the survivors of

neocolonial and modernized societies in Cordillera. Using different approaches and variables, it

is evident that each element is related to others. Thus in looking at the culture of the Ibaloi

society, we can see that death ritual music spreads throughout the other elements of society

contained in the Ibaloi symbolic context.

Generally defined, culture is a “system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and

artifacts that the member of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and

that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning (Bates, 1990: 7).” Geertz’s

conceptions of cultures are “fundamentally, if not always coherently, interconnected through

ultimately logical, localized patterns of meanings and symbols’. According to him, ‘culture

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whether expressed through religion, ideology, common sense, or art, is a system, a term

deliberately repeatedly chosen, and one which connotes a particular image when placed in the

history of anthropology (Silverman, in Tilley, 1990: 149).” Thus, culture as contextualized in

Ibaloi society is the demonstration of shared beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, customs, traditions, as

expressed through symbols, meanings, arts, rituals, and performances in general.

As the idea of symbolic anthropology states that people give meanings to their world,

and these meanings are manifested thru cultural expressions, and this points “…that

interpretation of events and the things around individuals prompt culture to exist (McGee and

Warms, 1996:430).” Thus, to validate these contentions, it is important to reflect on the

insider’s views as the origin for observation and analysis in studying symbols as well as their

meanings.

Furthermore, Geertz explained that “…symbols are means of transmitting meaning”, and

he as well characterized cultural symbols as ‘models of and models for social reality’. Thus,

meaning, as well as the autonomous symbolic forms or texts in which meaning is fixed, shows

specific cultural ideals and a single public reality (Silverman, in Tilley, 1990: 126). In

particular, a symbol, for him, is: ‘any object, act, event, quality or relation which serves as a

vehicle for a conception – the conception is the symbol’s “meaning”… [symbols] are tangible

formulations of notions, abstractions from experience fixed in perceptible forms, concrete

embodiments of ideas, attitudes, judgments, longings, or beliefs…they are as public as marriage

and as observable as agriculture’ (Ibid: 125). He also showed that “symbols strengthen

convictions about how an individual should act, given the world as it is: symbols provide a

more abstract unity for conflicting factions in a highly diversified society (Hammel & Simmons,

1970: 324).

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 As the data were gathered and analyzed during the course of this research, it became

clear that symbols and meanings go hand in hand as they manifest the socio-cultural aspect of

the Ibaloi community in Loakan through performances of ritual and musical traditions.

Meanings as seen by the insiders’ point of view were contained in symbols which were

considered as ‘models of and for social reality created in the Ibaloi socio-cultural milieu. By

employing the idea of Geertz about symbols and meanings, we can say that death rituals and

musical performances are not only expressions and manifestations of socio-cultural practices of

the Ibaloi people but they can also be regarded as “concrete embodiments of ideas, attitudes,

judgments, longings, or beliefs… (Silverman, in Tilley, 1990: 125)”; and also serves as unifying

agent in a diversified society (Hammel & Simmons, 1970: 324). On the other hand, Victor

Turner sees these symbols as “operators in the social processes produce social transformation in

context (McGee & Warms, 1996: 430-431).”

Levi-Strauss’ structuralism on the other hand draws the articulation of system of

structure and patterns of thought as exemplified in symbols and meanings. The system of

structures are illustrated in terms of the ritual, music, and performance structures as well as

symbolisms and meanings given by people to the actions and the whole conduct of rituals and

performances in general, which shows the socio-cultural aspect presented in the whole research.

Social rhythm can be related to the formation of death rituals, music, and the

symbolisms. Initially, the conduct of death ritual in itself is a symbolic identity and evident

representation of the Ibaloi culture. With the music aspect, showing the distinct characteristics

of the dance, music, and ba’diw as well as different processes, it is becoming more enlightening

that the Ibaloi culture has a rich tradition that could be preserved and practiced though time,

79
with the assistance of elders and authorities responsible for spreading not only the words and

knowledge but also the practice and application in society in its entirety. It is a manifestation of

spiritual beliefs expressed in material and socio-cultural ways of life such as rituals, music, and

social interaction.

V. Conclusion

Directed with the objectives set for this research, the study centered in the Ibaloi culture

of Loakan, as reflected in the death rituals and music, as well as the performance of the whole

ceremony were connected and conceptualized not only as part of the society’s socio-cultural

way of life, but as a way of life in general and a culture in itself. The rich tradition seen in death

rituals, and other rituals as the case may be, gives us a glance on the true Ibaloi characters,

values, beliefs, actions, and other elements of culture. Through rituals, people get to interact

with other relatives, or community members, or even among other ethnolinguistic groups

outside of their society. This signifies the social function of rituals which eventually binds

people together as Durkheim said. Similarly, the spiritual context of the death rituals does not

only imply a material and social interaction of people within the community and the deceased

relatives’ spirits but also to ancestral spirits and deities whom they spiritually believe to guide

them in their everyday activities.

Symbolisms also are indications of socio-cultural existence of the Ibaloi community.

Through symbols, culture and other aspects of society, such as religion, politics, economics, etc.

are articulated and spread all over the community. They are like unwritten laws being read and

executed by the people and a form of communication which they choose to stay over

generations. These symbols as part of the culture signify their system and structure of living

80
along with the “social rhythm” and environmental as well as socio-cultural change. Specifically,

as Cariño (1985) quoted from Lua (1983) fulfillment of ritual and good life is considered as

ends while ritual are regarded as means. Cañaos are known to signify distribution of wealth and

sharing of blessings among the people, which also supports the maintenance of socioeconomic

order and serves as externalization of Ibaloi’s aspirations for better life and existence (Ibid,

1985).

By way of artistic and communicative performances, such as taidiw and ba’diw,

distinctions of the Ibaloi culture from other ethnolinguistic groups, as well as the differences of

their sound from the usual notion of “music”, were shown as a result of comparative analysis

along the lines of cultural and artistic premises. Also, instruments as a way of symbolizing the

Ibaloi culture was demonstrated through the usage and preferences of the players and the whole

group. Though it is difficult and doubtful to assume and verify historical backgrounds of the

instruments and other symbols, signs, gestures, and actions, the attachment of meanings by the

people involved in the death ritual ceremonies and music and socio-cultural performances were

deemed significant and reliable, for they were the one who gave the meanings through

interpretations and experiences. In this research, art is also considered as a exceptional human

expression manifesting itself and the cultural pattern influenced by its day to day activities, and

becomes as well a product of this produced culture.

“Ritual is drama because it contains the elements of metaphor or representation. In

ritual, one performs various metaphorical and symbolic gestures and tasks in order to secure

blessings or favor from the gods. The performance of ritual sets into motion a people’s ‘system

of meaning’ which is based on their experiences of the world and on the way they have

81
interpreted it (Cariño, 1985: 5).” We consider the fact that rituals and performances of the

ceremony and music are full of symbolic representations which define the Ibalois views of their

socio-cultural existence which is based on history, tradition and experiences as can be observed

in their death rituals and musical performances.

The occurrence of socio-cultural change as a dynamic phenomenon is inevitable in every

society thus endangering the disposition of its indigenous systems and traditions. The Ibaloi

group of people in Loakan gives their effort not to take for granted such affluent socio-cultural

tradition, but the difficult fact lies on the introduction of new and post-modern ideas, materials,

and ideologies, which put the practices at risk and tend to overthrow existing ones, which for

the elders can not be avoided because it all depends on their descendants. Thus, this research is

a call for people who sincerely want to understand and save the indigenous culture for the future

generation, not only for the sake of knowledge but also for the sake of praxis.

VI. Recommendations

As this research went beyond understanding the nature of Ibaloi society in Loakan, it

included in its aims the action to bring about concern to the people involved and academicians

to disseminate considerable information to the whole society since this research cannot do it all

in one blow. Therefore, this study recommends that further detailing, understanding, and

participation in rituals such as death, wakes, weddings, curing, and any other traditional

ceremonies should be encouraged among the people and children as to preserve the indigenous

knowledge systems and cultures.

82
 Also, the more elaborate discussion on musical structures, form, and dances could also

be studied further to see the distinctive characteristics of the Ibaloi music and performance with

other ethnolinguistic groups around the country. Though insiders’ views can be an important

way of analyzing a society’s culture and existence, historical studies should also be for a more

detailed research and understanding of the group.

And finally, as a support to this research on the death ritual, music, and performances of

the Ibaloi society in Loakan, studies on other Ibaloi societies in the Cordillera region should

also be conducted to raise more effort and understanding about the culture of this particular

group.

83
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86
Appendices
Musical Instruments of the Ibaloi

Pinsak Kalsa

The two gongs with the stick used to beat them

The two drums - solibao and kimbal Tikitik played by a woman

87
 The Ritual Blankets Used in Dancing

pinagpagan pindak shindig

The Ceremonial Tools

The bangkilay in ritual A The tools presented to the spirits in ritual A The singkalong

Ritual Sponsors

Mr. Banes of ritual A and the researcher Mr. and Mrs. Chiday of ritual B

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