Maguindanaon
MAGUINDANAO, MEANING “PEOPLE OF THE FLOOD PLAINS,” OCCUPY THE BASIN OF THE PULANGI RIVER IN MINDANAO. THE WORD "MAGUINDANAO" MEANS "TO BE INUNDATED", AND IS DERIVED FROM THE FACT THAT THE PULANGI RIVER USED TO OVERFLOW ITS BANKS PERIODICALLY, FLOODING THE WHOLE VAST COUNTRYSIDE AND GIVING THE IMPRESSION THAT THE WHOLE REGION WAS ONE BIG LAKE OR "DANAO”. SHARIFF KABUNGSUAN, AN ARAB-MALAY PREACHER INTRODUCED ISLAMIC FAITH AND CUSTOMS, IN MAGUINDANAO WHICH HAS THREE SULTANATES: MAGUINDANAO, KABUNTALAN, AND RAJAH BUAYAN.
Mr. Faisal Monal is a graduate of two bachelors degree, Bachelor of Arts Major in Social Work (2000) and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education Major in Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health (MAPEH) (2011) from the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College Cotabato City, Philippines. He is currently the choreographer of the CCSPC Salamindanao Dance Company. An exceptional Moro master artist, he is a dancer, shaman, chanter, and a traditional musician (Maguindanoan Tribe). He plays various Maguindanaon traditional instruments like the kulintang, agong, debakan, babendil, and gandingan. As a traditional musician, he became a delegate to the national music competition for young artists (NAMCYA) in Laoag City, Philippines (2000) representing the Maguindanao Province of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
His kulintang group has been invited by Kularts (San Francisco, CA) as Philippine Master Artists in Residence and has performed several times in America in venues such as Asia Alive!, the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, CA), Towson University (Maryland), University of California Los Angeles, and University of California Berkley, Yerba Buena Gardens (San Francisco, CA), and Brava Theater (San Francisco, CA). Faisal's teachings and guidance in legends, songs, dances, and chants have helped Parangal present Maguindanaoan legend, Sayap, at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival (2013), Folkmoot International Festival (North Carolina, USA), Folkfaro International Festival (Portugal), Villablanca Festival (Spain), Estefania Festival (Colombia), Kyparissia International Folklore Festival (Greece) and at performances in New York including Carnegie Hall, The Philippine Center, Times Square and local performances at Philippine Culture Night - USF Kasamahan and St. Ignatius High School, Kapwa of Loyola University Chicago and workshops with Little Manila Dance Collective in Stockton and HATAW in Toronto, Canada.
Get to know more about our work with Faisal Monal and keeping traditions alive in diaspora from World Arts West Living Traditions
SAGAYAN
In 2021, a grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grant Program will support the filming of a documentary to preserve and increase access to information about the practice of Sagayan, a pre-Islamic dance of the Maguindanaon in Mindanao, southern Philippines.
Follow our Sagayan project journey here.
Read the details on our dance production of Sambuyoga Malna.
Bapa Danny Mokatil - Tambol Master
Bapa Kalikod Samad - Sagayan Master
Sayap image by Duwenavue
Asik Attire
Kadsanduayan at NBC’s Asian Pacific America with Robert Handa
Asik PC Arnel de Leon
Sayap, premiered at 35th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, is from Maguindanao, in Mindanao’s Pulangi River basin.The region is Islamic—Maguindanao has three Sultanates—and its rich heritage is seen in this performance of the legend of a Maguindanaoan princess:
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Once, the Sultan’s favorite daughter ran away to escape an arranged marriage. She fell in love with a man beneath her social class, and disguised herself in a sayap hat to meet with him. Some people say she turned to stone for disobedience, but others say she returned home, and her father forgave her. A royal banquet was held in her honor and there, among her suitors, she saw her true love was not a common man, but a prince after all! The prince still had to prove himself through brave dancing feats. But eventually the prince and princess rode happily away in a decorated boat on the Pulangi River.
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Eric Solano created this U.S. premiere presentation. His choreography follows the arc of this traditional story:
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The piece begins with Bayok, a sequence of storytelling chant. Then Kabpangengedung brings us inside the royal house, as the groom’s kin whisper their intentions to arrange a marriage. Next, Silong sa Ganding showcases the continuous flickering of wrists to a rhythm called silong. The rest of the dances are: Malong, the wearing of tubular cloth in preparation of the princess wedding; Sayap, the princess meeting her lover disguised in a sayap hat; Kuntaw Minaguindanao, the fight between the groom and his rival, featuring ancient martial arts brought to the Philippines by Indonesian, Malaysian,and Chinese immigrants; Mussah, with handkerchiefs of Maguindanao’s royal colors, and flowers to show the princess’s feelings; Pagana, the royal banquet held when the princess returns; Sagayan, a dance recalling the epic of prince Bantugan; Singkil, the well-known Philippine dance with bamboo poles, showing the love triangle; Kawing, the wedding; and Guinakit, where the boat with royal flags sails away.
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The company learned the legend and dances for Sayap from Faisal Monal, appointed as cultural bearer and master artist by Maguindanao Sultanates; also from Bryan Batu Ellorimo from the Philippines.
PC Maricris Macabeo
PC Maricris Macabeo
Kawayan Folk Arts in Maguindanaoan Palabuniyan | www.kawayanfolkarts.org
PC Maricris Macabeo
PC Maricris Macabeo
“In the premiere of “Sayap,” Eric Solano, director of Parangal Dance Company, offered an opulently appointed narrative from the Philippines’ Pulangi River basin. The tale is about courtship, strife and a wedding, but everything here - from the gorgeously constructed costumes and the sublime gamelan score to the exciting Filipino bamboo pole dances - bespoke artistry and commitment of the highest order. ”
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— Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Chronicle's Dance Correspondent
“Parangal Dance Company offered a show-stopping Philippines wedding celebration from Mindinao. Created by Eric Solano, in a series that included dances for women in silk robes, with sinuously curving wrists; a secret meeting between the engaged couple; an intense martial arts fight with knives and poles and kicks, including elements contributed by Indonesian, Malaysian, and Chinese immigrants to the Philippines, and an amazing performance of the traditional bamboo pole dance called Singkil, where dancers’ ankles dodge the slamming poles in the nick of time. Capping it was the bride’s arrival under wraps, in a sedan chair. She was revealed in a glory of white and gold brocade to her waiting prince and subjects beneath canopies of turquoise and fluttering flags, and everyone danced on to a happy ending.”
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— Janice Bergman, San Francisco Classical Voice