GINAW BILOG
GAMABA Virtual Museum
Poet | Hanunuo Mangyan
One of the first three (3) outstanding artists in music and poetry to receive GAMABA (or the National Living Treasures Award), when Bilog received his award in 1993, he was dressed in typical Mangyan garb of loincloth and a blue type of jacket, wearing as well an easy smile.
Ginaw Bilog was a prolific Mangyan poet of the ‘ambahan tradition of the Hanunoo Mangyan of Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, and is recognized for the preservation of his people’s tradition.
Poetry etched on Bamboo
It is a traditional form of poetry by the Hanunó'o Mangyan people of Mindoro, Philippines. This poetic literary form is composed of seven-syllable lines that is used to convey messages through metaphors and images, engraved on the skin of the bamboo, using a stylus or knives. It is usually sung or chanted with the accompaniment of guitars, fiddles, flutes, or jew’s harps and its messages can be of courtship, passing on advice, asking for a place to stay, saying goodbye to a dear friend, and so on.
School of Living Tradition
Bilog’s Training Center is located at Bait, Mansalay (the trip from Calapan to Mansalay involves at least 5 hours of travel). The Center is Bilog’s very own School of Living Traditions (SLT). An SLT is one where a living master/culture bearer or culture specialist, in this case, Bilog, imparts to a group of young people (from the same ethno-linguistic community) the skills and techniques of doing a traditional art or craft. NCCA Guidelines further state that ‘the mode of teaching is usually non-formal, oral and with practical demonstrations. The site maybe the house of the living master, a community social hall, or a center constructed for the purpose.’