Mangali Fieldwork Files

The place we spent the most time researching in the Philippines was an area called Mangali. Technically, SIL calls the language area "Tanudan Kalinga" based on the name of the nearby river valley. It is fairly remote place that lacks direct road access. When we started visiting ten years ago we were able to fly in and out in a single engine aircraft.

It was a privilege to study the music and dance of the Mangali people. As an ethnomusicologist, I was able to publish some of what my friends there taught me about their cultural celebrations:

• In 2006 a colleague and I presented a paper at a linguistics conference that described music words in the local language.

• Later I wrote an MA thesis about the performances at a peace pact celebration. The Music of a Kalinga Peace-Pact Celebration: Making Place Through the Soundscape. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota.

• Based on that thesis, I published a chapter in a book called Austronesian Soundscapes, edited by Birgit Abels.

Currently SIL Philippines hosts some of the original research data on their website: https://philippines.sil.org/resources/audio_and_video/mangali_and_tanudan_valley_music. There are audio and video recordings of traditional music performances, including some rather long videos that demonstrate how to make the bamboo instruments. If you are curious, some of the vocal songs at the top of the page will download faster than the videos further down the page. The gong-based dancing at the bottom of the page is probably most interesting. Just be patient with the download time.