Rogelle Zamora is a musician and educator based in Southern California. As a second-generation Filipino American, he is passionate about providing opportunities for community members to learn about the musical cultures and practices of the diverse peoples of the Philippine Islands.
Rogelle’s journey into Philippine music began in 2018 when he met Bernard Ellorin, Ph.D., a leading Southern California expert in Philippine music and musical director of the Samahan Filipino American Performing Arts & Education Center in San Diego. Building upon his experience playing violin with Mariachi Los Broncos, the premiere mariachi ensemble of Cal Poly Pomona, Rogelle developed a strong desire to learn about the musical practices of his own cultural heritage. After graduating with his B.A. in music education from Cal Poly, he moved to San Diego to study with Dr. Ellorin and pursue this interest.
In 2021, he received the Apprenticeship Program Award from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in support of his study with Dr. Ellorin of Tagunggu’ gong ensemble music, unique to the cultures of the Sulu Archipelago. With this funding, he was also able to supplement his studies with Dr. Ellorin through participation in the 2023 edition of Tribu Tur, a cultural immersion trip in the Philippines organized by KULARTS, San Francisco.
Today, Rogelle performs regularly with the rondalla (string ensemble) of Samahan and the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble. When opportunities arise, he also teaches private lessons and performs for weddings, anniversaries, and other special events. He most recently joined the Palomar Symphony Orchestra, maintaining connections with his Western classical upbringing as a violist. As an educator, he teaches students of all ages, serving as an instructional staff member with various school music programs and independent organizations across Southern California such as the Filipino Cultural School, Rancho Bernardo High School Royal Regiment, and Pulse Percussion Inc.
Rogelle is excited to further the CWM’s mission to foster intercultural awareness as a teaching artist for World Music in the Schools.
A Maguindanaoan kulintang ensemble is a gong-chime collection of instruments important to the musical culture of the Maguindanao people in the Southern Philippines. Kulintang music is used for celebratory occasions such as festivals, weddings, engagement parties, and baptisms, as well as in musical competitions. Certain musical families in the province of Maguindanao specialize in this art form, passing down the tradition from generation to generation, and everyone interested in learning is welcome. Children typically learn through osmosis by observing their elders play at festive occasions. Each kulintang song is family-specific and region-specific, and well-versed musicians can distinguish between regional and family styles of playing.
Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble | Photograph by Ernie Pena
The entire ensemble consists of five percussion instruments played by five musicians at a time.
Kulintang | Photo by Kingsley Ramos
The main melodic instrument, called the kulintang, consists of eight knobbed bronze gongs that are graduated in pitch. It sits on a wooden stand called an antangan. Each gong is supported by thin cords attached to the antangan, to allow the sound to resonate.
Dabakan | Photo by Kingsley Ramos
The second instrument of the ensemble is the dabakan, a gourd-shaped drum that provides the rhythm to the ensemble. It is typically made from the stump of a palm tree, and the drum head is traditionally fashioned from monitor lizard skin (or sometimes snakeskin). Due to the endangered status of monitor lizards in the Philippines, goatskin is now widely used.
Babandil | Photo by Philip Dominguez Mercurio
The third instrument is the babandil (also commonly spelled as babandir), the ensemble's timekeeper. It is a medium-sized knobbed gong. The rim of the babandil is tapped with a striker to create the sound.
Gandingan | Photography by Kingsley Ramos
The fourth instrument of the ensemble is the gandingan, composed of four hanging gongs also known as the “talking gongs.” Musicians often used the gandingan to send messages, typically romantic, to other players in the ensemble or across distances.
Agung | Photo by Kingsley Ramos
The last instrument of the ensemble is the agung (or agong). These are two very large gongs that provide the bass register to the ensemble.
It is a misconception that kulintang music is Islamic. Islam became the primary religion of the island of Mindanao and the province of Maguindanao in the 14th century, primarily as a result of trade between Muslim Indians, Malaysia, and Mindanao. However, before this time the Maguindanao used kulintang music in healing ceremonies and other pre-Islamic animist rituals.
There are other Filipino ethnolinguistic groups in the Southern Philippines that have their own distinct kulintang traditions. These include the Maranao, Blaan, Tboli, Manobo, Bogobo, Sama, and Tausug. The Indonesian and Malaysian gamelan are related to the kulintang ensemble.
This article is one in a series of reports on the fascinating variety of musical instruments that audience members encounter through Center for World Music programs.
Unique to the Maguindanao is the use of kulintang music for courtship and in contests between individual musicians or village ensembles. On the gandingan, suitors send their love interests sweet messages through apad, tones that mimic human speech in the poetic language of Maguindanao. Messages may also be sent on the kulintang and agong. This method allows courting without public displays of affection, which is frowned upon in Muslim society.
Gong instrument competition is a modern concept popular with younger musicians. Held during weddings and festivals, such contests occur between individual musicians and/or ensembles, representing different villages. The kulintang, gandingan, and agong are all used in these competitions as musicians attempt to show their virtuosity and skills on each instrument. The winners are determined by who receives the loudest applause from the audience.
This project is made possible with support from the California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.
https://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Kulintang_Gong.jpg6751200Kimberly Kalanduyanhttps://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/logo_w_red_type_52.pngKimberly Kalanduyan2021-09-01 13:24:142023-08-28 15:46:47The Maguindanaoan Kulintang of the Southern Philippines
Bernard Ellorin, Ph.D., Center for World Music teaching artist and board member, is much loved and highly respected as a cultural treasure and leader within the Southern California Filipino community and beyond.
Dr. Ellorin is the leading expert on maritime Southeast Asian gong-chime music in Southern California. He is also a master of the Filipino banduria (a version of the Spanish bandurria, a plucked string instrument similar to the mandolin) and the associated rondalla music. He is versed in the percussion music of the Cordillera Mountains of Northern Luzon, as well as being one of the few Philippine kulintang instructors in the United States. Kulintang is an ancient instrumental form of music played on a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums. Dr. Ellorin has served the San Diego and Los Angeles communities as a performing artist and educator since 1992, and is the musical director of the Samahan Filipino-American Performing Arts and Education Center.
Bernard Ellorin leads his kulintang ensemble. Photo Jonathan Parker
He began his studies in the music of the Philippines at the age of ten, as a young banduria musician with Samahan Performing Arts. At age twelve he commenced kulintang studies with native Maguindanao master artist Danongan Kalanduyan. More recently, he has studied under a number of other master artists from the Philippines, with whom he maintains ongoing professional relationships, thereby keeping up-to-date in contemporary cultural developments.
Photo courtesy of Kingsley Ramos
Ellorin received a BA degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles and earned his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. In 2003, along with a few of his friends and colleagues in San Diego, he founded the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble (PKE), which he now directs. Through PKE, he presents educational workshops for San Diego schools and youth groups. His knowledge and dedication to the proliferation of Maguindanao and Maranao music also enables him to act as a valued resource for many university Filipino cultural organizations. He continues to teach in the San Diego area as a lecturer and faculty member at Miramar and MiraCosta Colleges.
In 2012, Ellorin was awarded a research fellowship under the Fulbright Research and Study Abroad program, during which time he conducted a comparative study on the musical culture of the Sama-Bajau in Semporna District in the Malaysian state of Sabah, and in Batangas City, Philippines. He has subsequently written several scholarly papers on Sama-Bajau performing arts, and also serves as a consultant to Filipino-American diaspora performing arts groups throughout the US. He is now a three-time grant recipient with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) through their Apprenticeship and Living Cultures program.
Ellorin has been a teaching artist with the Center for World Music since 2016, and became a member of the Center’s Board of Directors in 2020.
— Contributor Kim Kalanduyan is Dr. Ellorin’s former apprentice under the ACTA apprenticeship program, and is the granddaughter of Maguindanao master artist Danongan Kalanduyan.
For more reading about Bernard Ellorin and his teaching, performance, and research:
https://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/bernard-3-cr.jpg7671224Kim Kalanduyanhttps://centerforworldmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/logo_w_red_type_52.pngKim Kalanduyan2021-04-16 16:53:442021-04-19 16:55:11Bernard Ellorin: Scholar and Teacher of the Music of the Philippines
Today, Rogelle performs regularly with the rondalla (string ensemble) of Samahan and the Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble. When opportunities arise, he also teaches private lessons and performs for weddings, anniversaries, and other special events. He most recently joined the Palomar Symphony Orchestra, maintaining connections with his Western classical upbringing as a violist. As an educator, he teaches students of all ages, serving as an instructional staff member with various school music programs and independent organizations across Southern California such as the Filipino Cultural School, Rancho Bernardo High School Royal Regiment, and Pulse Percussion Inc.
