A study of the musical instruments of Ifugao in the Cordillera Region,Northern Philippines

Abstract

The Ifugao is one of the well-studied indigenous peoples in the Philippines

from the Cordillera Region in the northern Philippines. They have a characteristic

music that has historically been differentiated from the majority of the population

in the country who perform and listen to Western music. There are substantial

ethnographic monographs about their society and their chants, but organological

studies of their musical instruments have not been undertaken in any detail. This

thesis examines a collection of Ifugao musical instruments archived between the

early 20th century and the present to help understand changes and

transformations of the group’s musical culture.

The musical instruments were examined in various institutions in the

Philippines and United States, and a typological analysis was conducted.

Fieldwork was also conducted in the summer of 2010 to further investigate the

presence or absence of these traditional musical instruments in current Ifugao

culture. The materials were systematically measured and assessed based on the

von Hornbostel and Sachs classification scheme with full recognition of its later

revisions.

Most of the musical instruments are no longer in use. The loss of skill in

playing and making instruments has gone along with the marked decline of

agriculture in the area and the rapid shift towards tourism and urbanization

during the middle of the 20th century. Diversity, variations, and ingenuity in their

creation declined considerably during this period and the remaining few musical

instruments have been transformed into objects primarily designed for public

performance or sale to tourists. Attempts to revive cultural heritage have had the

paradoxical consequence of introducing non-traditional instruments, in

coexistence with an altered image of the past.