Produced and distributed by the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan, these four films of around thirty minutes each can be grouped into two sets. Music in the Life of a Balbalasang Village, Northern Philippines and Sounds of Bliss, Echoes of Victory: A Kalinga Wedding in Northern Philippines feature the musical culture of the Kalinga, a diverse and large ethnolinguistic group from the Cordillera Central mountain range in northern Philippines. The second set, Kulintang Gong Music from Mindanao in the Southern Philippines and Maranao Culture at Home and in Diaspora highlights Muslim Mindanao’s music, particularly the kulintang gong music ensemble.

By documenting the everyday, “commonplace” sound and music of the Banao, one of at least twenty ethnolinguistic groups comprising the Kalinga cultural community, Music in the Life of a Balbalasang Village, Northern Philippines provides an overview of the life and music of a relatively remote community in Kalinga province. Characterised by the beautiful, terraced agricultural lands the region is known for, the film sets a clear picture of the Banaoan rural life. It shows viewers a plethora of domestic and musical artifacts as residents carry out their daily tasks while the film lingers in fascination on the “traditional” and the “old” (as opposed to the modern, technology-driven life prevalent in urban centres). The second half of the film leads to a demonstration of gangsa flat gongs played in the church sitting alongside the use of non-ritualistic musical instruments played in the village. A noteworthy contribution of this film is an informative presentation of instrument makers and players in Balbalasang. These are among the very few individuals who practise and carry the torch of a dwindling musical tradition. As such, they are precious living sources, particularly at a time when there is neither enough documentation available nor easily accessible sound and audiovisual archives for both academic and public use.

Sounds of Bliss, Echoes of Victory: A Kalinga Wedding in Northern Philippines further elaborates on the significance of gangsa playing in Kalinga music. The film also emphasises the ever-increasing economic migration trend across the country (particularly among young Filipinos). Featuring the wedding between a Filipina nurse working in the United States and a seafarer, the film demonstrates the desire of those overseas to go back the country to learn and experience their own traditional practices again (in this case, a combination of Kalinga and Catholic wedding ceremonies). Although mostly associated to ritual, the gangsa ensemble features widely even in modern weddings in the region. A recording of such performance featuring the torayan or the hawk-like dance that accompanies the gongs is a significant point of reference in understanding local variations and how tradition changes over time and, notably, how it is accommodated into the lives and modern sensibility of the younger generation.

Kulintang Gong Music from Mindanao in the Southern Philippines and Maranao Culture at Home and in Diaspora present a succinct survey of Maranao music and culture. The films offer a laudably comprehensive description of Maranao culture and document both traditional and modern performances of the kulintang, a set of eight stratified bossed gongs laid out in a row accompanied by a pair of large agongs and a smaller babandir. A goblet-shaped drum called dabakan completes the kulintang ensemble. Maranao music and culture is specifically covered in three cities in Lanao del Sur (Taraka, Tugaya, and Marawi, the capital city of the province). Additionally, the film follows kulintang music as it travels with the Muslim communities settling outside the region, specifically in Baguio City located in the northern Luzon highlands.

The insightful commentaries clearly indicate an authoritative and a keen local knowledge of the areas covered. For many years now, many parts of Mindanao are virtually inaccessible by non-local researchers due to the continuing armed conflict between radical Islamist groups and the military. In fact, at certain junctures, the film unwittingly includes a heavily armed man in military uniform who perhaps serves as a bodyguard for the documentary team. Security in this part of the country is indeed a major consideration in performing any kind of research.

As the film points out, musical knowledge of the area is naturally curtailed as villages have been radically reduced or abandoned and have literally turned into ghost towns. Thus, the importance of documenting these traditional musical practices cannot be stressed enough. This is particularly relevant in Marawi City, which recently suffered a catastrophic destruction of lives and properties due to a serious five-month insurgency by one of the long-established Muslim extremists in Mindanao––the Maute Group––which allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015. It should be noted that the films were recorded before the utter destruction of Marawi and this point in itself makes them valuable above and beyond their status as a record of musical practices.

In conclusion, this set of four short films is well written and the editing singles out crisp images of Filipino musical life. The result is more appealing and vivid than is the case in the more detached, sterile video ethnographies of yesteryear. The selection of footage follows a clear narrative underpinned by everyday life and exhibits a harmonious balance of visual and aural components. Well-presented films such as these extend life to age-old traditions on the brink of disappearance. Because of their diverse musical cultures, Cordillera and Mindanao are among the most important areas calling for just such a treatment. For this reason, these films make excellent supplementary teaching aids. As stand-alone materials for the lay audience, on the other and, they are somewhat less suitable in that the authors opted for taking background information for granted. Their archival value, finally, could have been more substantial if subjects were given the opportunity to narrate their own stories and expand on to the dialectics that underpin their role as torch-bearers of old traditions in a fast-changing environment.