About Kapangagi

Our Purpose

Kapangagi: Learn Kulintang Music for Southern Philippine Dance is a self-paced online course offering comprehensive video lessons, tutorials, and articles. Designed for performers, musicians, and cultural enthusiasts, it provides a deep dive into the rhythms and traditions of the Maguindanao, Maranao, and Sulu Archipelago peoples. At Kapangagi, we are dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich heritage of kulintang music and dance by building an engaged community of learners, providing exceptional online video learning resources, and promoting cultural events that celebrate and honor these traditions. Enroll now to embark on your journey into the vibrant world of Philippine kulintang music and dance.

Kapangagi means “to learn”

Kapangagi means “to learn” in the Maguindanao language. Learn more about the content covered in our series:

About the Peoples of the Southern Philippines

About the Instruments

About the Cultural Practitioners

Meet the Instructors

About the Music and Peoples of the Southern Philippines

The Philippines is inhabited by more than 182 ethnolinguistic groups. In this series, we’ll explore the music traditions of groups from the Mindanao Region, including: Maguindanao, Maranao, and the Sulu Archipelago.

Maguindanao

The word Maguindanao or Magindanaw means "people of the flood plains", from the word Magi'inged that means "people or citizen" and danaw that means "lake or marsh". They are one of the oldest sultanates of Mindanao. It is home to many kulintang virtuosos and experts at weaving the inaul malong designs.

What you'll learn in this course

Learn the complexities of Maguindanao kulintang music featuring the new style composition Binalig. Generations of musicians communicate through the gongs. Versions of each piece vary in every village. Processional music played by a small handheld gong and snare drum enliven the Sagayan warrior dance that brings forth good spirits. Featuring pieces from Cultural Practitioners such as: Danongan Sibay Kalanduyan.

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Maranao

The Maranao are a predominantly Muslim Filipino ethnic group known as "people of the lake" who inhabit the region around Lake Lanao in Mindanao, Philippines, and are known for their rich culture, including the Sarimanok bird motif, the Darangen epic, and intricate Okir art.

What you'll learn in this course

Professional female performing artists compose and transmit songs through the Maranao kolintang tradition. Kanditagaonan is the basic children’s piece for all students. Dance accompaniments align with the improvised choreographies for Kasingkil—a bamboo dance for women—and many traditional movements. Featuring pieces from Cultural Practitioners such as: Usopay Cadar.

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Sulu Archipelago

The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Sea. The archipelago is the home of the indigenous Tausug people; various group of Sama people including the semi-nomadic Bajau; the land-based Sama; the related Yakan people; and the Jama Mapun people.

What you'll learn in this course

Lively gong music known as tagunggu accompanies graceful movements from the Igal and Pangalay dance genres of the Sulu Archipelago. Tungkil is the dance accompaniment to study along with the musical overture Lisag panagnaan. Featuring pieces from Cultural Practitioners such as: Taalao Manandao.

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About the Instruments

What is a Kulintang?

The kulintang is the main melodic instrument that consists of 8 small knobbed gongs laid horizontally across a long wooden stand.

What instruments are in a Kulintang Ensemble?

The kulintang ensemble includes a variety of gong and drum instruments. Kulintang music is performed in various social contexts - for entertainment, celebration, community events, competition, courtship, weddings, as well as for healing rituals. Every region throughout the southern Philippines has their own distinct instrumentation for their gong-chime ensembles.

Instruments in the Ensemble

Kulintang

Kulintang is the main melodic instrument that consists of 8 small knobbed gongs laid horizontally across a long wooden stand.

Agong

Two larger and lower-pitched vertical hanging gongs called agong provide the rhythmic accompaniment.

Dabakan

A goblet-shaped or gourd shaped carved wooden drum called dabakan is played with long, thin rattan sticks.

Gandingan

Four hanging gongs used for sending messages primarily in the Maguindanao kulintang ensemble.

Babandil

Small hand-held gong used as the timekeeper to the ensemble.

Tambul

An Indigenized wooden snare drum.

Meet Our Cultural Practitioners

Proceeds of our sales will go back to help support Cultural Practitioners and their communities.

Danongan Sibay Kalanduyan

Born in the village of Datu Piang, Cotabato, the late Danny Kalanduyan is considered the father of kulintang music in the United States. As the first Maguindanao Filipino American to receive the National Heritage Award, Kalanduyan’s legacy of teaching Maguindanao and Maranao kulintang music continues through many of his students and direct descendants.

Usopay Cadar

As the first kolintang musician to arrive in the United States, Dr. Cadar has pioneered the dissemination of diasporic kolintang music. Teaching many of his students repertoire from the Maranao people of Taraka, Lanao Del Sur, Cadar has instilled valuable cultural nuances that highlight the uniqueness of Maranao cultural performing arts.

Taalao Manandao

Mastering the Sama performing arts from the Sulu Archipelago, the late Taalao Manandao was both an educator and cultural performer from Panglima Sugala, Tawitawi. His legacy has been integral in the preservation of culture and the arts.

Meet Our Instructors

Bernard Ellorin, PhD

is an adjunct faculty of music at Miramar College in San Diego County, California. Ellorin’s academic and community work spans over 31 years of educating Filipino American and non-Filipino American communities on Filipino diasporic performing arts. As the artistic director of the Pakaraguian (PAW-KAH-RAW-GYAN) kulintang ensemble Ellorin provides educational workshops rooted in honoring the cultural practitioners before him.

Eleanor Lipat-Chesler

is a co-founder of Ube Arte performing arts research and education organization and a founding member of Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble. She studied music and anthropology at Barnard College and ethnomusicology at UCLA, where she wrote her M.A. thesis on gender issues in transnational kulintang performance. In 2020 she co-edited Our Culture Resounds, Our Future Reveals: A Legacy of Filipino American Performing Arts in California with Mary Talusan.

Kim Kalanduyan

is the eldest grandchild of the late master artist Danongan Kalanduyan, Kim Kalanduyan is a kulintang musician, vocalist, and dancer with the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble (PKE) and Samahan Filipino American Performing Arts and Education Center. Kim continues the Kalanduyan family legacy through her work with PKE by maintaining the traditional values that are passed down through each family generation. She is also the founder and CEO of Native Filipinyana – an online retailer that bridges Maguindanao textile culture and contemporary fashion.

Marlo Campos

was born into a musical family and has been watching Pilipino Culture Nights since the 1990s. Marlo is also a member of Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble, and occasionally plays with other rondallas such as the Samahan Filipino American Performing Arts & Education Center based in San Diego and with members of the Rondalla Club of Los Angeles. Currently, he is the Musical Director of Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts in Los Angeles.

Peter de Guzman

is a dancer, choreographer and dance ethnologist and is currently the artistic director for Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts based in Los Angeles. A graduate of UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures/Dance, Peter sees all the world’s dance forms as equal and relevant. Peter has dedicated his research and practice on the Pangalay dance from the southern Philippines to represent the modern day Filipino American experience.

Michelle Camaya Julian

has been affiliated with Samahan Filipino American Performing Arts for over 3 decades, original member of Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble, is a Lecturer in Dance at UCSD (Filipino folk dance & Yoga for Dance), received a BA in Dance from UC Irvine, Assistant Director and Choreographer for RB Community Theater, a substitute teacher for 4 school districts and teaches Bikram & Inferno Hot Pilates at several yoga studios throughout San Diego. She has had an extensive career in musical theater.

Janet Asuncion

With a degree in architecture, Janet Asuncion joined PKE in 2016, and has mastered several kulintang pieces. As our social media content creator, she also makes agong, gandingan and dabakan beaters for our community of practice.

Mary Grace Nievera

Dancing since the age of 6, Mary Grace is a dance instructor and star performer with Samahan Performing Arts and the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble. Mary Grace studies several different dance genres from cultural dance practitioners based in both the Philippines and the US.

Anna Lisa de Guzman

is the Executive Director and co-founder of Malaya Filipino American Dance Arts based in Los Angeles. She is a Filipino-American artist and cultural ambassador who is dedicated to honoring the Filipino culture through dance and music. Her research background involves dance intensives with Ramon Obusan Folkloric Dance Troupe and Bayanihan, as well as work with different indigenous dance practitioners.

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