WHENEVER I hear the beating of gongs, it reminds me of several things that truly make me feel proud of my culture. I remember that as a child growing up in Baguio, we made noise out of banging tin cans and casserole covers to welcome and usher another year every midnight of the last day of December.

In the past two days, I witnessed children beating their gongs in a truly impressive manner. I was in Banaue, recently for the Imbayah festival that has become a yearly activity to celebrate an Ifugao tradition and the first thing we heard as we approach the place was the sound of gongs.

Just like in most Cordillera festivals and tribal gatherings, gongs are beaten by mostly men to provide the rhythm and music for the dances performed. Every province in the upland region of Northern Philippines has a distinct tempo, beat or musical rendition as the gongs also comes in various sizes and metal components. The beating also depends on the very purpose why the gongs are brought out and played.

In Bontoc, Mountain Province for example, a different tone or rhythm of beating is performed by menfolks or “Mannerwaps” in what locals refer to as the rain dance which purpose is to usher in heavy clouds so that it produces rains to water their crops and rice fields. Festivals like the “Imbayah”, “Gotad” and “Tongoh” of Ifugao, the “Bendiyan” and “Adivay” of Benguet , the “Ullalim” of Kalinga, and the “Lang-ay” of Mountain Province commonly celebrates a season of planting and harvest with a feast that includes ritualistic prayers, butchering of animals and drinking of rice wine.

To the hosting community, village or clan, the beating of gongs in a feast also signifies nobility and thanksgiving for important gatherings such as weddings, family reunions, healing of the sick or even during the final rites of a burial or recognition of an important person in the village.

The most recent event with gong playing that I attended is the book launching of “A Victory Postponed” by the Regional Development Council that has a theatrical rendition of the historic Mt. Data Sipat where children role played the peace dialogues of then President Corazon Aquino with the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army. The children dramatized the historic exchange of tokens between the tribal leaders of the Cordillera and the leaders of the land in a dramatic rendition.

At the Background of the program shows the RDC and regional seal with the logo that I designed carrying the unifying slogan “One Cordillera - Yes to Autonomy”. When I was tasked to help the RDC as an artist few years back, I submitted three design concepts and my preferred one was adopted.

I explained that the round metal gong of the Cordillera known locally as "gangsa" is a symbol of the upland people's culture that has been passed on from generations to another.

The profile of a person blowing a “tangguyob” (carabao horn) represents a community being called for an important matter or action. The lines that shape the mountains, the rice terraces, clouds and rivers symbolize the connectivity and flow of human interaction in a geographic area such as the Cordillera. All the symbols combined represent unity and harmony of its people with culture and environment in beating the gong for self determination.

I have danced and performed with gongs in many cultural presentations and celebrations in the Cordillera and even abroad. Sometime in 1989 after the forty days when the legendary mummy of “Apo Anno” was brought back to its original resting place in Nabalikong, Buguias from the national museum, we were required by the ritual priest or “Mambunong” to go back to the place for the “Daw-es” or cleansing ritual. That was the most authentic ritual where I took part because it also signifies the end of the mourning period. After three rounds in the dancing ground with a female counterpart, we were offered rice wine by the “Mambunong.”

I attended the 1st Igorot International Consultation in West Covina, California in 1995 upon the invitation of the late iconic weaver Narda Capuyan and it was in the US where I represented my Bago tribe which almost no one from the delegates knew about.

Since my ancestry and culture is closely associated with that of the upland Igorots to which we do not dissociate from, I did not hesitate to heed the organizer’s call for me to be part of the Igorot Global Organization.

I have worn my “wanes” or G-string in several occasions including my artist-in-residency program at the East-West Center in Hawaii and beat gongs during Cordillera Trade Fair promotional activities of my office. As one who was involved in mass media and knew some origins of communications, I believe that the use of gongs dates back from ancient times not only for marry-making purposes but also as devices to warn and alert village folks of the coming of enemies and the presence of possible risks.