LITERATURE IN REGION X

(Northern Mindanao)
Designated as Region X of the
Philippines, Northern Mindanao
(Filipino:Hilagang Mindanao) is
composed of five provinces and
two cities classified as highlyurbanized, all occupying the northcentral part of Mindanao island,
and the island-province of
Camiguin. The regional center is
Cagayan De Oro City, where the
national government's regional
offices and other big
establishments are located.
Cultural groups
Majority of the region's inhabitants
are migrants from Cebu and Iloilo.
There are also inhabitants of
Waray, Tagalog and Maranao
descent.
Component cities
Bukidnon

Malaybalay City

Valencia City

Misamis Occidental

Oroquieta City

Ozamiz City

Tangub City

Misamis Oriental

Gingoog City

Literary piece

The Flood Story

Bukidnon (Mindanao)

A long time ago there was a very

big crab which crawled into the
sea. And when he went in he
crowded the water out so that it
ran all over the earth and covered
all the land.
Now about one moon before this
happened, a wise man had told the
people that they must build a large
raft. They did as he commanded
and cut many large trees, until
they had enough to make three
layers. These they bound tightly
together, and when it was done
they fastened the raft with a long
rattan cord to a big pole in the
earth.
Soon after this the floods came.
White water poured out of the hills,

and the sea rose and covered even

the highest mountains. The people
and animals on the raft were safe,
but all the others drowned.
When the waters went down and
the raft was again on the ground, it
was near their old home, for the
rattan cord had held.
But these were the only people left
on the whole earth.
Authors and their Works
Short stories

The Battle at Tagoloan

Dusk in Capillahan

The Cemetery Keeper

A Day in the Lives of Coal

Miners
Regino L Gonzales, Jr.

The guman of dumalinao

(suban-on)

Damiana L. Eugenio(misamis
occidental)

Manobo

Lydia Mary De Leon(camiguin)

Pagpagayuk Mahiwagang
Ibon Ng Katutubong
Bukidnon (The Magical Bird of
Bukidnon)
Piya Constantino

Batbat Hi Udan (The Story

of Udan)-Bukidnons 1st epic
Novel
Telesforo S. Sungkit, Jr
Other Authors
The guman of dumalinao
(suban-on)
Damiana L. Eugenio(misamis
occidental)
Vocal Music in General
The most important means of
musical expression of the
Bukidnon is vocal music. As a
rule, a male or female solo
singer performs without the
accompaniment of any
musical instrument. The only
exception is the collective
singing of women called
tabk during the kalig
ceremonies. The most
important types of vocal
music are the epic chants
collectively called ulagng

and the chants and prayers

connected with the kalig
ceremonies. Also widely used
are the improvised songs
limbay and the songspeeches dasang of the
Banwaon, Bukidnon and
Higaunen subgroups, the
improvised sal of the
Talaandig and, to a certain
extent, the ballads
idangdang. Other song types
are only of minor or of merely
regional importance.
At this point, it has to be
stressed that the names of
song types as given by the
Bukidnon actually refer to
categories of function based
on text content and less to
categories based on musical
characteristics. It might, for
example, happen that a
kalig or ulagng melody is
used for a sal performance.
But even these categories of
function are only vaguely
defined, and abstract or
general terms like music,
musical instrument,
song, etc., are lacking in
the Binukid language. The

word which comes closest in

meaning to the word
melody is lageng ([sound
of the] voice).
In most song performances,
the same pentatonic melody
is repeated over and over
again with some variations,
sometimes alternating with
one or two additional
melodies. The performances
often start with a typical
melismatic phrase sung on a
very high pitch and at
highest possible volume.
There are melodies in a
rubato style as well as strictly
metered ones. The melodic
patterns vary in length. Some
of them are clearly divided in
two distinct parts often
separated by a breathing
break.
All important singing
performances start with a
special introductory part
called pamad (pamar), in
which the singer invokes his
guiding spirits (collectively
called Tumanud or Dengan;
singers are usually guided by
Mulin-ulin) and also asks his

voice (lageng) for

cooperation and assistance.
In fact, to sing in traditional
Bukidnon style is a difficult
task because it requires the
use of an archaic form of the
Binukid language which
modern Binukid speakers
cannot understand and,
therefore, have to learn
before being able to sing. The
poetic form is composed of
verses, whereby the
statement of every line has
to be repeated with other
words, preferably with
synonyms, in a second line.
This poetic device is called
sambal (doubling lines,
verb form pasmbal), the
poetic form sangen-sangen.
The Epic Chants
The ulagng epic, which
recalls the adventures of the
main hero Agyu and his
brothers and sisters, is sung
at night time for at least
some hours, in some cases
up to several nights. In
performing the ulagng, the
Talaandig use three different

singing styles which are all

influenced by specific guiding
spirits: the aggressive,
syllabic ulagng or umanen
style, the more
contemplative, melismatic
nnangen style, and the
ilangiten style (from the word
langit, highest heaven)
with sustained, high-pitched
tones.
In the Talaandig area, a
second singer, sometimes
the epic singer himself or
herself, will intersperse the
ulagng with performances of
another song type called sal
which, in a contemplative
way, usually deals with
philosophic considerations.
Besides its connection with
the ulagng, the sal is an
important vocal genre in its
own right.
In the Talaandig area, a
second singer, sometimes
the epic singer himself or
herself, will intersperse the
ulagng with performances of
another song type called sal
which, in a contemplative
way, usually deals with

philosophic considerations.
Besides its connection with
the ulagng, the sal is an
important vocal genre in its
own right.