Ullalim/Sogsogna: Revisiting a Kalinga Music Tradition

Saliksik-Kordilyera

papers on indigenous practice,

ritual life and oral tradition

Edited by Delfin Tolentino, Jr.

CORDILLERA STUDIES CENTER

University of the Philippines Baguio

Baguio City, Philippines

2017

Published by

CORDILLERA STUDIES CENTER


2600 Baguio City, Philippines

telefax: (6374) 442 5794

e-mail: csc.upbaguio@up.edu.ph or cordillerastudies@gmail.com

website: www.cordillerastudies.upb.edu.ph

Copyright (c) 2017 by Cordillera Studies Center,


Contents

List of Illustrations vi

Sponsor’s Preface 1

Editor’s Preface 5

I Ifugao Songs of the Rich and Poor

Rosario Bona De Santos Del Rosario 13

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the

Publisher.

II

Coming Around to the Senga: An Autoethnographic

Essay on Cultural Persistence in Northern Sagada

Albert S. Bacdayan 57

Book and cover design by Jhoan Medrano

Front and back cover: Ina Ayun-naw (mandadawak) during the yabyab ritual,

June 15, 1988, Magsilay, Pasil, Kalinga. Photo by Tommy Hafalla

III

The Kalinga Mandadawak:

Her Notions of Illness and of Treatment

Esteban T. Magannon 101

The Shamans of Northwestern Kalinga

Photographs from the Jules De Raedt Collection 127

ISBN 978-621-95605-2-8

IV

V

Meaning and Politics in the Features

of Kankanaey Clan Reunions

Gaston P. Kibiten 135

Ullalim/Sogsogna:

Revisiting a Kalinga Music of Tradition

Scott Mágkachi Sabóy 171

Glossary of Cordillera Terms 213

About the Authors 217

Ullalim/Sogsogna: Revisiting

a Kalinga Music of Tradition

SCOTT MÁGKACHI SABÓY

Abstract

The ullalim is perhaps the best known representative of Kalinga

paper presents a different take on the ullalim by going beyond

its status as epic narrative and considering its non-epic form

(alternatively known as sogsogna

the usage of the term in both published texts and actual practice

ullalim

it further discusses the implications of the ullalim’s potential to

accommodate novel concepts and situations, and its refunctioning

172 | SALIKSIK-KORDILYERA

Ullalim/Sogsogna | 173

Introduction

The ullalim is arguably the best known representative of Kalinga

oral tradition, largely because it was made famous by Fathers

anthologies, the Kalinga Ullalim I II

and language documentation is bound to admire the work of these

scholarly study on the ullalim—their copious cultural notes in the

Over four decades have passed since these two books were

the Kalinga mind, just as the ullalim

student of Kalinga culture, I remain fascinated by the snapshots

keenly interested in knowing what happens when we the younger

generation reread them, what other relevant studies followed

these seminal researches, how the ullalim tradition is viewed

and practiced today, and how it might appear—or whether it will

our own voice in the music of our traditions, our own place in the

imagined geographies of our cultures, and our own pattern in the

ullalim stories, then explain what I think is the ullalim’s essential

feature, introduce its non-epic form, discuss the ullalim as a

today, and offer points to consider when discussing these acts of

Kalinga tale

most popular of all the ullalim

in Kalinga and in other public events, it is a tale of a star-crossed

mingor

out by a call to arms, as war erupted between Tinglayan and a

174

| SALIKSIK-KORDILYERA


causing it to erode until at her death, it eventually took the shape of

“Binsay” of Tongrayan (right) in a fierce and deadly duel with another

mingor (warrior), part of a dramatization of the “Legend of the Sleeping

Beauty” performed during the 2017 Kalinga Family Day at the Ibaloy

Heritage Garden, Baguio City. (Photo by the author)

Kalinga’s Sleeping Beauty. Taken from the village of Basao in Tinglayan,

Kalinga, this photograph of the mountain ridge shows the outline of a

woman lying in repose which inspired the creation of the etiological tale,

“The Legend of the Sleeping Beauty of Tinglayan, Kalinga.” (Photo by

Augustus U. Saboy, ca. 1983)

More Kalinga tales: The Billiet-Lambrecht texts

is told in

2

Lambrecht’s two Ullalim

In another scene from the dramatization of the “Legend of the Sleeping

Beauty,” Lagunnawa dies on Mt. Mating-oy after learning of Binsay’s

death. (Photo by the author)

176



Ullalim I

of Madukayong

Tanglag

of Taloktok

Ullalim II

woman of Taloktok

Gammod of Lubo

story of love and deceit, honor and revenge, exile and homecoming,

with fantastic elements like magical nuts and individual or mass

and slaughters the rest of the population, dispatches the giant

3 to whom she

death are no match to passion and prowess, and magic makes

ends up accomplishing every challenge, even those meant for

there are fantastic elements here like teleportations and hex-

have to turn back from a headhunting raid after the signs sound off a

178



5

father, is vexed that his daughter is married to a lowly iManila and

eventually takes a toll on his health, and Ginanayan his mother, not

knowing the real cause of his ailment, gives him gold and sends

wraps her baby in swaddling clothes, puts him in a box, places

to give Lagunnawa to either men, so both men decide to look for

Liddawa and cuts off his head while he was dead-drunk, and

suitors easily kill their targets, but Gassingga is swallowed by the

This is a captivating tale, made more so by a severed head that

turns into a python after being spilled with the blood of a magical

180



The shaded sections of the map cover Southern Kalinga or the “ullalim

lands,” so-called because these have nurtured the ullalim tradition. (Map

by Jeffrey Javier)

More Kalinga tales: other versions

ullalim

blind chanter named Gaanu Laudi who had earlier heard the story

huff, returns to kill a close relative of Lagunnawa, and goes home to

These are by no means the only versions of the ullalim

ullalim

sang for us a portion of the ullalim; this was the term he

Illalim, UnLaLim and Ullalim are dialectal

who calls the Ullalim

In these and perhaps other unrecorded ullalim stories from

all over Southern Kalinga, themes and plots and characters are or

ullalim usually consist of hundreds of

usually relate the exploits of culture heroes who often accomplish

182



and orally transmitted to chanters intra- or intergenerationally, and

deeds;

validating beliefs, customs, ideals, or life-values of the

ullalim

ullalim

wrote that the ullalim are songs of the Kalinga about

proclaiming the bravery of their people and their innate pride

of belonging to that ethnic stock whose valor overcomes

danger and fear, whose ambuscades display cleverness, and

They classify the ullalim as a ballad, as it is sung by bards; an

epic, as it is a tale of a fabled hero’s adventures; and a romance,

limited plasticity of the epic with the bards’ occasional insertion or

replacement of terms or expressions that suit new experiences or

Most certainly, that the ullalim bards feel free to introduce

changes in their stories, just because they know that, in the

mind of the Kalinga, the ullalim

mind, therefore, the ullalim are susceptible to improvement

and change, to developments that revivify the imaginary

past, provided that the main themes of Kalinga bravery

and headhunting achievements, which are proper to all

ullalim, be not obscured by the changes introduced.

ullalim

184



Sogsogna: non-epic form of the ullalim

In Ullalim

ullalim which are

talented minstrel either to welcome a distinguished Kalinga

visitor or to strengthen among the hearers the acceptance of

the new political and religious ideas of modern times, or simply

ullalim have nothing in

ullalim

is this “fake ullalim

I studied the ullalim through archival research and conversations

with fellow Kalingas, the more I became convinced that this

ullalim is problematic and that in

resolving this problem, the nature of this oral tradition needs to be

So let me now explain what that “fake ullalim” is, why I think

that term is problematic, and why it should make us reconsider the

nature of the ullalim

Etymology.

down the term ullalim into the base word ‘alim’ and the reduplicated

the word, though, because as far as I could determine, the supposed

ullalim

chanter I talked to could give the exact meaning of the term with an

they “are designated by names which means song, or chant, like the

Ifugao hudhud, the Manobo olagingor and the Subanon’s guman

dangdang-ay, dong-ilay, oggayam,

owwawi, salidummay, and sorwe-e

Usage in the ullalim texts.

ullalim refers to the melodious way

Stanza 2

Sa kaluluswaana

isaladna’n guminga

pasig iullalimna

lusan da ibuswayna

she began to utter language;

all ullalim chant

Stanza 10

Andi’n makabagbaga

kan Lubting lumangaga

da anna’n inbalwatna

si ginga’n manlin-awa with a voice sounding sweet,

ugud iniullalimna words she chanted in ullalim

186



that the way the ullalim are chanted today, was the way the

iullalimna

ullalim

namely that her chant was ullalimullalim melody in

its initial stage, a kind of musical matrix which later developed

into the real ullalim

conveyor for the ullalim

ullalim that we

now know of is anyone’s guess and beside the point I am making

ullalim

ullalim, then, is its peculiar

then that in the Pinagmulan

Ullalim among the Kalinga is not the

epic itself, but the medium for epic stories and ballad renditions,

It also makes perfect sense that Kalinga chanters

themselves use the term to refer to either the epic form or to the

extemporaneous speech form—as long as the story or message

is sung in the ullalim

Ullalim is a renown song style of the Kalinga,

traditionally sung to recount long, epic stories about

ullalim can

Is this supported in actual practice among Kalinga

Usage in actual practice or among ullalim chanters.

In all the occasions I have attended where ullalim was rendered,

when someone is asked or volunteers to man-ullalim (sing the

ullalim

ullalim

pangat

heroes, no mythic past, no epic—it was an extemporaneous speech

chanted in the ullalimullalim is what is sometimes called

the sogsogna/sugsugna—at least to the Tanudan and Majukayong

oggayam

of western Kalinga, it is an improvisatory entertainment song

widely used in every imaginable occasion, except during wakes

It is sung extemporaneously and each performance is

ullalim chanter

from Mangali, Tanudan, would often say, “Agasawa da ullalim ken

oggayamullalim and oggayam

188



Ullalim

si dekotni inandila our sticky rice which is like a tongue

we inkani igawa that we entered with

atta susunud nanangindawa

kadi ummoy anamma who are coming to decorate

ate bodong appiya the pact of peace

si boboloy Bayoya in the village of Licoutan

we kingwanda ummonunna that was made by the older ones

The text and the context within which it was sung clearly

show that this Southern Kalinga ullalim is a welcome song

meant to create an atmosphere of amity in a bodong

are used and allude to places mentioned in ullalim stories, this

particular ullalim is not of the epic form or a recounting of ancient

stories—despite Stallsmith’s inaccurate description of the song

monorhymic, and generally hepta-octosyllabic prosody and the

melody is similar to that of the ullalim

Ullalim I

where the reference to the “fake ullalim

ullalim in Lubo, Tanudan and in

fact helped him translate the ullalim

the sogsogna

the ullalimullalim performances I witnessed, he

time he sang the epic version, as far as I know, was when I was

portion of the Ullalim

sogsogna

up with his grandfather singing the ullalim epics, but says he

has always understood that the sogsogna is an ullalim as well

Atty. Francis Buliyat, the first Kalinga to become a judge, was 25 when

he accompanied Father Billiet in his fieldwork in Lubo, Tanudan for the

Ullalim I. He is shown here writing down an outline of his sogsogna which

he readily chanted for the author when he was interviewed in 2011.

(Photo by the author)

190



Frederick Umangil

Pangsiw, an ullalim

chanter from

Majukayong, is shown

here presiding over

a ritual during the

2017 inauguration of

UP Baguio’s College

of Science Research

Laboratory. (Photo by

Roland Rabang)

On the other hand, when I consulted three other respected

ullalim

ullalim refers to

a story although they would not say the sogsogna is a fake ullalim

In fact, they also allow people to call the sogsogna an ullalim

Finally, another man-uullalim

version of the ullalim—an album entitled

Kabuniyan Narpuan Biag (Ullalim

Ullalim is the melody with a style and

ullalim

sugsugna

and seven other chants which are actually Kalinga translations

procedural and narrative texts bound by their hortatory purpose

made more emphatic by the chanter supplying the conclusion

of each text with the ullalim ender Kanana Kanu

by the stereotypical ullalim starter, “Kanan kanu di sugsugna

eeeKanan kanu di ullalim eee

Kanan kanu di Ullalim we inlistan Juan ee Kanan kanu di

Kanan kanu di

the stereotypical ullalim ender, “Kanana Kanu

ullalim

192



gayong-ong

usual hepta-to octosyllabic meter, the poetic lines waver between

culture heroes, although the two prologues in the album mention

from familiar ullalim

ullalim chanters and non-chanters alike, who had listened to her

ullalim had no objection to her use of the term ullalim to refer to

Kalinga culture bearers especially those who now belong to the

actual usage of the term, we can conclude that while the ullalim

may be a relatively unchanging vocal genre, it cannot be boxed

poetry with which the ullalim

the contrary, we actually enrich it by acknowledging its complexity

and performance of each ullalim

neither is superior to the other, for both speak of the creativity of

the Kalinga mind, and each has its peculiarity worthy of academic

The Ullalim album of Sr. Beata Marina Balaso, SIHM.

exploration, just as each form serves a personal and communal

need brought about by dynamic political or social realities and

audience of today, the epic form narrating in an archaic and lofty

language the concerns and values of an older generation some of

which may still be relevant today, and the non-epic form giving a

pep talk in contemporary language about the concerns and values

194



The ullalim as a “music of tradition”

whose most remarkable feature is the continuity it nurtures

encapsulate the artistic phenomenon in which music is enriched

new terms and the renunciation of certain anachronistic practices

artists, musicians and cultural architects have even gone farther

ullalim

It can embody multiple meanings and levels of meaning

Or it can represent the synthesis of a host of seemingly

incongruous elements, from the most resolutely traditional

khoomei,

“less as a departure from his deep blues heritage than as a tribute

ullalim as a

form that incorporates new elements as it responds to changing

such, it can also inspire the creation of new or innovative modes

ullalim

situations and even new developments—from the use of foreign or

This screen grab from the film, Kanana Kanu, shows Kalinga warriors

taking a jar of wine to a peace pact negotiation. (Photo courtesy of

Jocelyn Banasan-Kapuno)

ullalim

story in Kanana Kanu

mother’s village, Magobya, and gets embedded in the “simple,

196



with fabulous ullalim stories, especially about the exploits of

understanding of his indigenous roots, and a hint of returning

concluding line of the ullalim

ullalim as an embodiment of Kalinga

Kudaman

The long chanted stories of the highlanders are

frescoes of mores, tableaus of nature and of institutional life,

testimonies to a cosmogony, an ethic, a lifestyle, a world view

John sees the ullalim

into the world of this oral tradition, he encounters the intricate

ullalim

epics are not just relics from a violent past but living repositories

The core message of the movie is the undying aspirations

of the community to break free from the shackles of divisions,

cultural prejudice and values degradations caused by petty

aspects of the ullalim

ullalim

line, “Kanan kanu din ullalim eee

the song in a salidummay or dangdang-ay

Kalinga leaders and elders for perpetuating a culture of violence

and misguiding the young with their repeated calls for revenge

pinning two important elements of the epic to the core of the issue

on local peace, the papangatbodong (lines

pouring out his homesickness, pining both for his hometown and

deplores the sporadic violence in his íli

even urges his lover to forsake Kalinga and live with him overseas,

he also intimates that he sorely misses Kalinga and its tajók ya

gansá faár

káin

for a better Kalinga which he hopes will occupy a lead position in

ullalim

in Kalinga calls attention to the anachronistic law of the jungle that

supposedly drives the behavior of some contemporary members of

198



of love for and pride in his ili and kultúra

ullalim

ullalim

tunes (salidummay

with modern life as long as it is shorn of its unpleasant parts, like

with , explained that “The Ullalim Festival

is envisioned to celebrate the history of the Kalinga’s pride of

The naming of the festival is intriguingly ironic for it reveals an

apparent incongruity in the elevation of a southern Kalinga epic

that extols the gamánsawít

primitive past and a presumably enlightened present, a conscious

attempt at reconstructing the image of a society struggling to cling

on to its indigenous roots (made alive by native costumes and

and sophisticated-looking pageant beauties, or newly developed

Taken during the 2011 Ullalim Festival, photo shows one of the

performances during the street dancing parade. (Photo by the author)

reconceived as hybrid, creative activity in a local present-

are implicated by an interconnected world cultural system

Ullalim

eventually sidelined in the festival, so that there arose among

200



some kailyan

the ullalim in the Ullalim Philippine Daily Inquirer

people adopted the Ullalim Festival as a sense of pride for

the province, but it has become, at least in the festival, an

all-encompassing term for the Kalinga way of life and the

Refunctioning

ullalim as a music of

takes hold not of a whole tradition but of some extractable

perpetuates a whole tradition, but only after it has been

Gross links the term, rather negatively, to the notions of

ullalim cease to be

ullalim is in its peculiar

melody, are we free to change its prosodic features like the usual

the non-epic form of the ullalim can be changed at will to suit the

context of its performance, are we free to retell a contemporary

Kalinga’s romantic story or heroic adventure in the ullalim

It is not easy, nor do I think is it advisable, to give pat answers

ullalim tradition has now

become a common heritage, much less for the next generations

these implicate thorny issues involving ethnic identity, especially

I can give a personal opinion, but it cannot be taken as

authoritative or representative of the opinions of my fellow

202



features of the ullalim to be retained even when a Kalinga retells

a narrative different from those in the documented ullalim

way of comparison, I am comfortable with what some Kalinga

chanters have done to another Kalinga vocal genre, the paliwat/

palpaliwat/paliwet

of crowing about his bravery in battle or about the heads he has

taken, the manpalpaliwat tells of his personal achievements from,

form of performance, the chanter changes the content but retains

do not know if other fellow Kalingas I have not talked to about this

On the issue of authenticity, I think it will help if we broadly

frame the discussion against the backdrop of the universal

and economic development… Indigenous peoples were aware

of differences between cultures, drew in alien elements of

culture and technology where appropriate and were rarely

There is, therefore, no particular moment at which any

culture somehow becomes inauthentic, in its incorporation

and notions of authenticity—in all spheres of life—were

constantly contested, and challenged by innovation and the

Gibson, strictly applies to material culture where authenticity is

music, it is impossible to measure authenticity against any given

one, wish that our more talented verbal artists and musicians

would continue to chant the ullalim

ullalim texts will continue to be read by my generation and the

the ullalim under the Firebird Foundation will be available to the

public soon so it could inspire the young Kalinga to take on the

mantle of the man-uullalim or mansaw-ay

sense as perhaps many others do that in the years to come, while

some of our traditions will remain substantially unchanged, some

others will have to be left behind, and most will take new, hybrid

One other frame of reference or a source of talking points

piece of land to another, the giver scoops up a handful of soil in that

what is given; or when a business establishment is passed on

204



to someone, the original owner hands over the key to the new

they represent are what they would call traditum (“the thing

tradere (“to

surrounding or the stories told in the passing on of the property

is traditio

assumption in all of these, according to Gross, is that what is being

handed over is precious, that the recipient is trustworthy, and

that the recipient is obligated to keep the gift in good condition

modifying, enriching, or jettisoning tradition it might be useful

and personal or community accounts are associated with the

Through all these, the Kalinga have moved this tradition

across time, effecting transformation in their own communities

from being participants in history, [these bards, musicians, and

Conclusion

I have proposed that a fuller appreciation of ullalim tradition

extemporaneously-composed form, as well as its contemporary

how an oral tradition born and nurtured in hamlets—where the

A Kalinga performer strikes a pose with his improvised peacock feathers

during the celebration of Kalinga Day in 2012 at Easter College, Baguio

City. (Photo by the author)

206



Ullalim

Festival (now renamed “Bodong was a stage where they

that fed the performative productions in the series of scenes and

the ullalim tradition—both in its epic and non-epic form—has

long been a medium for their loud, lovely, and multivocal ethnic

voice—whether, to complete the metaphor, as peacocks, peahens

of their traditions they pass on and the manner by which they

hand their traditions over to the next generations will add colors

Acknowledgment

This paper would not have been written without the support

Notes

ullalimullalim itself originated

very same text also establishes the essential feature of the

ullalim

ullalim

such as the names of their ladyloves, the identity and

location of their enemies, and the type of challenges they

3 Ullalim chanters often use names of places outside Kalinga

as though these are located within Kalingaland itself,

and may not therefore be exact geographical references

but as indications of great distance (from the chanter’s

an ullalim narrative, may refer to a village at the fringe

of the Kalinga territory whose population are either foes

or friends, rivals or relations of the chanter’s people (see

refer to an area in the lowlands whose people are deemed

inferior to the Kalinga in terms of, say, wealth and prowess

an ethnocentric view but also the extent of the chanter’s

chanter happened to know about Manila perhaps because

of a story he heard about an ancestor somehow reaching

…as regards the names of foreign localities applied to villages

of Kalingaland, such as Manila and Kagayan, the chanters who

208



introduced them in their ullalim must have done so, thinking that

the very mention of such village names may in some way, bring

back memories of early headhunting raids of which they were

proud and thus elicit comments, such as the following we have

was imprisoned in Manila, because he had joined the party that

lumawa,/ikapitna’d Manila

Ullalim’ and you get over 25,000 results with

no disrespect to nor do I mean to tarnish the names of

Miguel Sugguiyao was disrespecting them when he

marriage customs in the second ullalim

communities we owe much of what we know today about

understand it, the kind of scholarship we do is one that

seeks not to taint the integrity of these past scholars but

to build on their accomplishments and possibly expand

with the awareness that scholarship is not about perfect,

permanent understanding but about a persistent pursuit

of knowledge, not about cornering the truth but about

ullalim

ullalim, however, is

vocal genre in which the vocables salidummay and

dangdang-aydongdong-ay Dangdang-ay si

dong-ilay, insinalidumma-aysalidummay

Ullalim

Bodong

Bodong

Lonok or Inum di Bodong

peace pacts between the local government and the so-

Baguio Midland Courier, February

210



ullalim

is a southern Kalinga oral tradition while the bodong is a

pan-Kalinga socio-political institution (interview by the

pangat

disagrees with the change, saying that while the ullalim,

all Kalingas, the bodong has an objectionable connotation

among some groups in the province like the municipality

says, there are some Kalingas who have been calling for

the abolition of the bodong system as it is perceived as

References

Transformations.

The Kalinga Ullalim

II

Studies on Kalinga Ullalim and Ifugaw Orthography.

Verbal Arts in Philippine Indigenous

Identity, and Place

by Gaano Laudi, iDalupa, Pasil, Kalinga Philippines

Asian

Folklore Studies

of Modernity.

Nationalism as Cultural Performance.

Kudaman

Oral Tradition

Indigenous Ethnic Songs of the Cordillera.

Performing Arts in Oceania and Southeast Asia

212


The Kalinga Hilltribe of the Philippines.

National Geographic

Ullalim/Sogsogna: Revisiting a Kalinga Music Tradition

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?