IS THE IBALOI LANGUAGE ENDANGERED?

A UNESCO publication (Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing by Stephen A. Wurm) estimates that of the 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, at least half are endangered, seriously endangered or dying.

One situation in which a language becomes endangered and threatens to disappear is when a community comes into contact with carriers of a more aggressive culture, who speak another language. Another is when the habitat and livelihood of the speakers of local languages are destroyed by the actions of people of a dominant culture.

Both situations happened one hundred years ago in Kafagway and neighboring rancherias, home to the Ibaloi. The Americans saw the mountains, smelt the pinetrees, felt the cold winds and were overcome with homesickness. They then proceeded to declare the place the rest, recuperation, and recreation center for themselves, at the expense of the Ibaloi people who lived there since time immemorial. This dislocation led to the marginalization of the Ibaloi and made them strangers in their own lands.

Four generations later, we see the aftermath on the Ibaloi language in Baguio city. Within our clan, the Ibaloi language is hardly spoken, and not at all among the children and youth. This is one sign of endangered languages: a dwindling number of children who speak it.

However, on a more cheerful note, the Ibaloi language is spoken by the children in neighborhoods in the outskirts of Baguio city, in Ucab, Dalupirip, and other barrios of Itogon, and across the province of Benguet. And while there are still Ibalois who speak the language, there is still hope that it will regain vitality.

Calling all Ibalois in Baguio who did not have the opportunity to learn the language. Please join the Ibaloi weekly converstions, by Ibalois and their friends, on Ibaloi language and culture, which will start at 3pm on November 22, 2008. Kidlat Tahimik has graciously accepted to host our conversations at the Victor Oteyza Community Arts Space (VOCAS) at the top floor of the Azotea Building in Upper Session Road. And our aunties from Loakan are willing to guide us in our Ibaloi conversations.

Hopefully, these conversations will lead to our learning and refreshing of conversational Ibaloi, and also spark initiatives to bring Ibaloi heritage and culture in from the margins.

Please come.

Cordillera Green Architecture and Zero Waste Technology

For zero waste, pigs are essential. They will consume all your kitchen scraps and more: the entire gabi, camote, and banana plants, leftovers and surplus food from feasts, and everything else.

In Mountain Province, the design of the traditional pigpen (khungowan in Bontoc) has been perfected through time. It exemplifies the philosophy behind traditional knowledge. It is practical, simple, makes optimum use of resources, serves multiple functions, and gets a job done well.

Though I am no architect, I guess this design passes standards in planning the use of space, based on need and function. Stonewalls define the oval shape with an extension on one end. This extension is the private space for the family of pigs, where they sleep and reproduce. This space is kept private and cozy by a roof and wooden ceiling. The latter also serves as a sturdy floor for humans who visit this space for a certain daily ritual.

Next to the bedroom is the open dining and living area. On the wall are several protruding stepping-stones, for easy access of food servers. There is a feeding trough of carved wood or stone. The floor is made of stone, and is slightly sloped downwards, towards the pit at the other end. This pit serves the important function of collecting wastes. Once a year before planting season, this pit is emptied of its precious contents into baskets called gimata. The chosen one then positions a pair of baskets on either end of a pole, carries this on a shoulder then races to the ricefields with this offering of organic fertilizer.

Care for the pigs is a family affair and provides precious bonding moments and quality time together. Twice a day, the pigs' food has to be prepared and served. This makes a good and acceptable excuse for going home early.

This house design makes everybody happy: the pigs, the rice fields, the daily visitor, the family, and the community, which will occasionally partake of feasts of organic pork.

From Baswit to Tiyom to Cultural Master

When Baswit was in college in the eighties, he was active in the national minority youth and student movement in Baguio city. He so generously shared his knowledge and talent in Kalinga music with other youth who were searching for grounding in Cordillera indigenous culture. He told us stories of heirloom gongs, whose sounds invited neighboring villages to festivities, and which his father buried when his hometown was militarized because of their opposition to the Chico river dam project. He initiated us in the finer points of striking a gong, with a palm held flat or cupped, or with a stick, for various Kalinga rhythms. He taught us to distinguish the ullalim from the uggayam from the salidummay. He, along with Macoy, Rito, and Kennedy, patiently translated the protest songs, which originated from villages along the Chico river during their historic and heroic struggle to keep the river flowing.

When asked if he could teach us how to play the instruments, Baswit would start with scheduling a trip to the bamboo groves outside of Baguio city, and then identifying which type of bamboo is suitable for particular instruments. He told us of the right way to harvest bamboo, so they would last long. He taught us how to use our palms, elbows, and fingers to get the right measurements for a Kalinga flute. He introduced us to the ballingbing (zithers), tongatong (stomping tubes), paldong (mouth flute), kullitong (bamboo guitar),  kalaleng (nose flute), and the kulibao (jaws' harp). 

Nobody can play the kulibao like Baswit. His mastery of the kulibao certainly deserves recognition. Several times, I have witnessed people, upon hearing Baswit play the kulibao, look around for the hidden speakers, and laugh out loud in wonder, when they realize that the rhythmic sound they hear is produced with a tiny bamboo instrument.

Through the years, Baswit participated in recordings of the Salidummay, and is responsible for much of the instrumental music which you hear in the first to the sixth albums. It was also he who informed us that our gongs needed tuning, and then borrowed the set to perform the needed procedures.

Recently, we bumped into Baswit. He related how he survived a severe sickness which almost killed him. And he was given a new name, Tiyom, by his tribe in a ritual.

With a new lease on life, he presently conducts music lessons among the Kalinga youth based in Baguio city. He is passing on his knowledge and skill to others, ensuring that this musical heritage is kept alive.

If you wish to learn Kalinga music, try to find Baswit, also known as Tiyom, cultural master of Lin-awa Center for Culture and Arts, with office at Room C203 Lopez Building, Session Road, Baguio city. Ask him, too, to tell you stories of the Baguio market.