Panay Bukidnon renders tradition performances
Calinog, Iloilo - The Bukidnon communities of Central Panay will converge at Barangay Garangan, Calinog, Iloilo for the last phase of the Bina nog Dance and Oral Tradition performances on March 27-29, 2006.
The three-day affair is facilitated by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples VI (NCIP. The performances at Bgy. Garangan is a culmination of the two performances held in the heartland of Bukidnon communities of Barangays Nayawan and Tacayan, Tapaz, Capiz, last 2002 and 2003.
The performances will feature Binanog Dance, Pahid; indigenous songs such as Ambahan (extemporaneous song to welcome guests) Talda (Repartee), Dilot (Love Song), Ulawhay (long Chanted narrative); and the mastery of Sugidanon Epic (The Bukidnons story of their first, second and third generations heroes).
According to the NCIP, this cultural revival puts in place the role of the indigenous peoples in mainstream society. It will also showcase the artistry of the Bukidnon women in weaving their own dresses with ethnic design. Musical instruments and heirlooms of the Bukidnons are shown to the guests and visitors to prove their ethnicity, hence, the right to possession of the domain which they claim their own.
The town of Calinog is also putting in resources to support this gathering, it being the only town in the whole of Panay to have produced a national artist, in the person of Federico Caballero.
Caballero got the distinction as Gawad ng Manlilikha ng Bayan, given by the NCCA in the year 2000 for his mastery of the Sugidanon Epic, considered the longest epic in the Far East.
The NCIP is expecting cultural scholars and anthropology students to witness this cultural gatherings of the Bukidnons of Central Panay, with guests from Manila and other parts of the country.
(PIA 6/ESS)