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What Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno offers is neither the purely land-based, face-to-face, personalized knowledge transmission from teacher to student from the same ethnic background, nor is it solely the book-based, mass-teaching mode of much of the public school system. It is a hybrid in that it takes place across geographical distance and is made possible by technological mediation, yet, remains based on listening, observation, and personal interaction between students and land-based Culture Bearers. Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno is additionally hybrid because teaching is done in collaboration with university-trained facilitators – most of them students of the Culture Bearers – who help shape the teaching modules and who mediate communication across languages, in ways, however, that uphold and assert the legitimacy and primacy of the holders of indigenous knowledges. Finally, Himig at Galaw ng Ninuno is hybrid in that although much of the focus is on the individual master teachers, larger communities also benefit from the process: the instrument-makers who now receive many orders after long periods of inactivity, and the elders and youth who are inspired to sing and play again. Himig at Galaw ng Ninuno began with one course in 2021: Guro Karatuan Kalanduyan’s Maguindanaoan Kutiyapi. As of 2025, the program offers eight courses taught by Culture Bearers from Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon who would like to share some of their time-honored knowledges to anyone interested to learn. While online learning is not a substitute to face-to-face learning and we may yet offer on-site learning opportunities for more advanced courses in the near future, the online platform may stay with us for much longer now. Not only have participants been proven to learn in this manner (pls. check out our student videos), it is also the more affordable and more environmentally viable option, reaching folks across the planet without spiking CO2 emissions through frequent flying.
We are grateful to our Culture Bearers for generously imparting some of their precious knowledges; to our facilitators and staff for their commitment and service to assist our Culture Bearers; and to all of you who have participated and will participate in these webinars for joining our growing global community guided by the values of mutual respect and caring.
Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno (HTGN) students learn basic and advanced traditional arts knowledges, the larger socio-historical contexts of these knowledges, and the students’ ethnical responsibility to the sources of knowledge. Ever since the program started in 2021, over a hundred students from Luzon, Visayas Mindanao, as well as from the U.S., Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand have attended the HTGN courses, many of them Filipino descendants in the diaspora wanting to rediscover the knowledges of the ancestors.
Some of the Student Feedback on Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno
(Himig Ninuno in 2021; Himig at Galaw ng Ninuno in 2022 and 2023; Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno since 2024):
My experience was very powerful. It is important for me to decolonize my mind through taking away parts of my Western musical training and thinking. It’s been wonderful to open the ears and the mind through learning kutyapi music. I hope to continue down this path to grow and reconnect with my ancestry. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, having expanded my knowledge on kutyapi performance beyond what I had known previously. Meeting and getting acquainted with Guro Kalanduyan, the Himig/Tao team, and my fellow classmates was an added benefit, in sharing our passion for the preservation of indigenous cultures. Excellent. This has been a dream, to learn from the authorities when it comes to Filipino music and culture. Most of the time I do self study, but this time I told myself I need to really hear and learn from the experts.
Katuparan ng isang pangarap na may dalawang dekada nang nakakubli. it was very empowering.
Ang saya! Biggest takeaway is that there are truly Filipino things, truly ours. There is a lot of content on Jazz and the scales of the western music world pero nakakaproud na mag-aral ng pinasa sa lupang sinilangan natin.
Thank you very much for the once in a lifetime experience. It is an honor to be a part of the class. Padayon!
Sobrang saya! Pangarap kong matuto kahit isang piyesa ng kutyapi, practice pa at makukuha ko na ang super basic version hehe.
Every lesson was very interesting. I loved the fact that we were given videos before the actual lessons take place, giving us more time to learn and not cram. Overall I feel very grateful.
It’s a connection to heritage, culture and homeland that was lost in our history and this “re-connection through the music of kutyapi is so precious portal to me to seek and learn more.
I’ve since learned from speaking with my other batchmates that I’m not the only one having their dreams realized. That being said, my dreams were realized. I’ve been playing Irish folk music (among other Anglo-centric styles of music) since I was 15 (I’m 32 now), and Philippine folk music was not on my radar until mga 2016. When I first heard about the kutyapi I was immediately transfixed by the sound. Not only because it sounded like the kind of folk music I was playing, but also because I had never thought to look into the music that came from my family’s country of origin. It stirs a lot of emotions within me to hear it, but the thing that affects me the most is seeing another brown-skinned person like me playing their native folk music. It’s a powerful feeling.
Everything was positive! I loved being taught by actual culture bearers and I loved the support materials. The videos were excellent and helped me put the music and dancing within their proper cultural perspectives, and the instructional videos with song/movement breakdowns were the best I have ever experienced for online teaching. The multiple camera perspectives and the close ups of hand movements and footwork were key in my being able to learn Sirong and Pansak within less than a week’s time. Thank you Guro Aga, Guro Del, Ma’am Neri, Ma’am Tusa, Ryan and Nathan for an amazing experience out here in the Filipino diaspora of San Francisco, California. A very very huge and heartfelt thank you to Dr. Grace Nono for all of her visions and great work throughout the years keeping our tribal cultures alive in the hearts and bodies of everyone in the world who loves and appreciates Philippine ancestral culture. Dr. Grace you have done it again with this lovely program. I look forward to staying connected to you and this program for as long as it will be offered. It is really great to be able to learn and communicate with cultural master of a craft and having access to a translator to facilitate the process. Also the small class size allowed for a very interactive experience.
I had a really fun time! It was an insightful experience, and I will be utilizing this knowledge within my community work. It was a privilege to learn this precious part of Hiligaynon culture and I am immensely grateful for that.
I truly enjoyed getting to be in community with other people and not feeling alone in the process of learning a new style of playing. It was amazing to see other students’ interpretations of the song as well as the expertise of guro.
For further information, message us on Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts FB page: https://www.facebook.com/TaoFoundationforCultureandArts,
or our new IG account @himigtulagalaw https://instagram.com/himigtulagalaw
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OUR TEAM
ADMIN
GRACE NONO is an ethnomusicologist and scholar of Philippine shamanism whose award-winning books at the intersections of Native religion, voice, gender, and ecology have been published in the Philippines and the United States. Grace is also a singer of sung oral traditions that were taught to her by Culture Bearers from different parts of the Philippines. She has been presented in concerts in over twenty countries in Asia, Europe and North America. Over thirty years ago Grace founded Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts that currently manages three Schools of Living Traditions in Agusan del Sur; co-establishes an Eco, Agri and Heritage Park on Grace’s backyard in northeastern Mindanao; and runs the Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno or Philippine Traditional Music, Poetry and Movement Webinar Series. For more information, pls. visit gracenono.com.
JIREH CALO, with paternal roots in Butuan, is a multi-awarded global musician with extensive performance and recording experience. Jireh finished her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Berklee College of Music and her master’s in Global Jazz Performance from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. In both her performances and teaching, Jireh is committed to deepening connections between music, visual art, and movement. She is a student of various dance styles including Capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art that is also dance, game, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Jireh first joined Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno in 2021 as a student in Guro Karatuan Kalanduyan’s Kutiyapi course.
MARIEL ANDREA “AYYI” VIROLA GARDIOLA is a community development practitioner, peacebuilder, ethnographer, cultural creative, and internationally-certified practitioner of several holistic healing modalities. Ayyi has worked with conflict and calamity-affected areas (Indigenous and Muslim communities) on culturally sensitive education; youth and women empowerment, peacebuilding, environment and reproductive health projects. She also co-organized emergent dialogical workshops aimed at strengthening civil society, towards shaping creative and sustainable community initiatives. Ayyi is currently one of the Fellows of Center for Arts, Design and Social Research (CAD+SR Institute-Boston, USA) After School II 2024-2025, focusing on “De-schooling Society” with residencies in Kenya and Turkey.
MYRFE JANINE SICAM is a seasoned multimedia artist based in Manila. A graduate of Bachelor of Multimedia Arts major in Video and Film Production from the CIIT College of Arts and Technology where she finished Magna Cum Laude, Janine’s love for the arts as well as her empathy for the unheard and oppressed were ignited early on in her life. Janine’s original works have often tackled sensitive issues like mental health, abuse, and oppression. Her film entitled Kalipung-awan was selected finalist in the Viddsee Juree Awards of 2020. Janine’s rapid rise as multimedia artist in the corporate field is testament to her technical skills and competence. She has designed Himig, Tula, Galaw ng Ninuno’s promotional materials since the program began in 2021.
KUTIYAPI TEAM
GURO KARATUAN KALANDUYAN comes from the illustrious musical family, the Kalanduyans of Sultan sa Barungis, Maguindanao. He is a master player of the Kutiyapi (2-string lute), the instruments of the Kulintang ensemble, the luntang (hanging wooden xylophone), and the tumpong (lip valley flute). He has toured extensively in the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, China, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States.
ERSKINE BASILIO, Kutivapi student of Guro Karatuan and co-creator of the Kutiyapi course has served as Facilitator from 2021 to 2024. An award-winning guitarist, Erskine was hailed the “Best Filipino Guitarist” during the 2011 Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition. He has a master’s degree in Music, major in Guitar performance, and is on the faculty of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music.
THERESA CAPOTURA, Kutiyapi student of Guro Karatuan, has been serving as Media Facilitator for the Kutiyapi course since 2022. An award-winning quitarist who has performed at prestigious venues in the United States and the Philippines, she is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division.
BO RAZON, Kutiyapi student of Guro Karatuan and Course Facilitator, is a global string and percussion multi-instrumentalist, composer, writer, teacher, and multimedia producer and director. Most notable in Bo’s musical journey is his immersion in Mindanao gong music under the tutelage of the late Maguindanaoan master artist Danongan Kalanduyan, Karatuan’s brother. Parallel to this has been Bo’s longstanding engagement with Afro-Caribbean music, specifically the music of Cuba, through studies at the National School for the Arts in Havana. As teacher, Bo was responsible for instituting the Afro-Latin Music program at the University of the Philippines College of Music where he taught for seven years.
NATHAN ABELLA, Kutiyapi student of Guro Karatuan and Media Facilitator, is an accomplished young musician who received his Bachelor’s degree in Music from the Philippine Women’s University School of Music.
NISSAN KALANDUYAN, Teacher’s Assistant, is Guro Karatuan’s daughter, an IT specialist and promising Kutiyapi player.
KULINTANG TEAM
GURO AGA MAYO BUTOCAN is an award-winning Maguindanao Kulintang master teacher who is originally from Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Central Mindanao. In the late 1960s when she was a student in Manila, she was invited by the eminent musicologist Dr. Jose Maceda to teach Kulintang at the University of the Philippines College of Music. She remained in the faculty of UP for the next over 40 years. She pioneered the formal teaching of the Kulintang in university settings, and has taught the instrument to hundreds of young Filipinos. In addition to teaching, Guro Aga has performed the Kulintang in national and international music festivals. She has also delivered lectures about the Instrument in various conferences In Japan. Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Taiwan, and the United States.
TUSA MONTES, a long-time student of Aga Mayo Butocan and part of the core group that developed Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno, Tusa is an accomplished Kulintang player and world percussionist. She has a master’s degree in Musicology and is on the faculty or the University or the Philippines College or Music where she teaches Philippine, Afro-Latin and World Music.
RYAN PERALTA, Media Facilitator, is a consummate drummer and founder of DrumStart, an organization that encourages people of all ages to develop musically through drumming.
ABDEL BUTOCAN, Teacher’s Assistant, is Guro Aga Mayo Butocan’s son. He is an IT specialist and a promising Kulintang player.
PANSAK TEAM
GURO ADELAIDA ILL AHADDAS, fondly called Dhel by her family and friends, was born in the province of Basilan to a family or hereditary Yakan dancers, musicians, and weavers. She is the niece of Uwang Ahaddas, Gawad g Manilikha ng Bayan/ National Living Treasure for Yakan traditional music, and Ambalang Ausalin Gawad g Manilikha ng Bayan/National Living Treasure for Yakan traditional weaving. Del bagan learning Pansak when she was nine years old. Atter years of training she went on the perform around the Philippines as well as in Malaysia and France together, for the most part, with her master musician father, Roxas llul Ahaddas.
DESIREE QUINTERO, Course Facilitator, is a scholar of Southeast Asian and Filipino Studies with a Ph.D. in Ethnochoreology from the University of Malaya. Her research focuses on the transmission and pedagogy of Sulu dance practices. She conducted research as an Asian Cultural Council Fellow and was a grant recipient from the Nusantara Performing Arts Research Center. Desiree is a member of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance Study Group on the Performing Arts of Southeast Asia, the Philippine Folk Dance Society, and the Asia Pacific Dance Festival in Hawaii. She co-founded ILI Dances, and is affiliated with the Manilatown Heritage Foundation in San Francisco. In 2022, Desiree participated in Guro Dhel’s Yakan Pansak course.
NERISA DEL CARMEN GUEVARA, Course Facilitator for the Yakan Pansak course from 2022 to 2023, is an associate professor at the University of Santo Tomas where she teaches creative writing and serves as a resident fellow at the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies. She is an award-winning poet whose works have been featured in various international and national publications and anthologies. Nerisa is also a student of the dance Pangalay and a performance artist who has been featured in festivals in Asia, Europe and the United States.
NATHAN ABELLA, Media Facilitator, is an accomplished young musician who received his Bachelor’s degree in Music from the Philippine Women’s University School of Music. He is a student of the Kutiyapi or Maguindanaoan 2-string lute.
LANGKA KUNTAW TEAM
GURO ARAFA BISTE, is a young Tausug Langka Kuntaw teacher who hails from a family of Kuntaw and Silat master practitioners in Bonggao, Tawi-tawi. His uncle Hji Aguil Abdurahman, whose father hailed from both Filipino and Indonesian ancestries, trained in Kuntaw and Silat in Indonesia for many years. He taught Arafa’s brother, Hassan Basiri H. Biste, who, in turn, mentored Arafa. Besides teaching Kuntaw, Silat, and Pangalay to several Philippine cultural dance groups such as the AlunAlun Dance Circle, Arafa – a graduate of Business Studies and Information Technology – Is also a photographer and a diving instructor.
JIREH CALO, with paternal roots in Butuan, is a multi-awarded global musician with extensive performance and recording experience. Jireh finished her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Berklee College of Music and her master’s in Global Jazz Performance from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. In both her performances and teaching, Jireh is committed to deepening connections between music, visual art, and movement. She is a student of various dance styles including Capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art that is also dance, game, acrobatics, music and spirituality. Jireh first joined Himig, Tula at Galaw ng Ninuno in 2021 as a student in Guro Karatuan Kalanduyan’s Kutiyapi course.
TAMBOL TEAM
MANSUETO PARLE, SR., fondly called “Tay Mansit” or “Si May Merly” (his pat-ama or mountain name), is a master Tambol (drum) musician from the Panay Bukidnon cultural community in Bato-Bato, Tapaz, province of Capiz, Western Visayas, Central Philippines. As a performer, he is recognized by his peers for his expert drumming skills and his mastery of several rhythmic modes such as the talda, dalunga, and turuba that accompany the binanog (hawk-eagle) dance. He is much sought after as an accompanist in various Panay Bukidnon functions as well as in other local festivities. In addition, he is a traditional instrument craftsman who makes Tambol drums and bamboo instruments like the Litgit (bowed instrument), Suganggang (buzzer), and Tikumbo (zither). Currently, he is striving to transmit his knowledge to the Panay Bukidnon youth in his community’s Balay Turun-an (School of Living Traditions)
RENNEL S. LAVILLA, Course Facilitator, is a Panay Bukidnon student at the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU). He is a well-versed chanter and musician who performs binanog-related instruments. He has further collaborated with scholars who have done research on Panay Bukidnon music including Tambol drumming. Currently, Rennel is on the staff of the Office of the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative in the Province of Capiz.
JOSE R. TATON JR., Co-Facilitator, is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao (UPV), and a candidate for Doctor of Philosophy in Music, major in Ethnomusicology at the Philippine Women’s University. He has done extensive research on Western Visayan music including the Tambol tradition.
SUBING TEAM
RENNEL S. LAVILLA, is an indigenous Panay Bukidnon from Calinog, Iloilo, Central Panay Island, Western Visayas. Adept in the construction of traditional Panay Bukidnon bamboo instruments that has earned for him his pat-ama (mountain name) “Tinggurob,”meaning “craftsman,” he is also a sought-after musical accompanist, and a skilled binanog (hawk-eagle) dancer. Rennel was also trained in panubok (embroidery) and is an artisan. In 2019, Rennel won in the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) Traditional Music Category, and was recognized by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples for his unwavering commitment to promote Panay Bukidnon culture and heritage. Rennel is currently pursuing his Bachelor in Education Studies from the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU).
ROLINDA A. GILBALIGA, Course Facilitator, is an indigenous Panay Bukidnon from Tapaz, Capiz, Western Visayas, Philippines. She is known by her pat-ama (mountain name) “Duruoan ” that means “creative.” Rolinda is an active chanter and binanog dancer who comes from a lineage or binukot (kept women). She has represented her community in various music and dance performances in the Philippines, Korea and Thailand. Like Rennel Rolinda won in the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) Traditional Music Category in 2019. Currently, she is making innovations in the panubok embroidery by merging fashion and tradition.
JOSE R. TATON, JR., Course Adviser, is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao (UPV), and a candidate for Doctor of Philosophy in Music, major in Ethnomusicology at the Philippine Women’s University. He has done extensive research on Western Visayan music including the Subing tradition.
KOMPOSO TEAM
VIRGILIO PETCHELLER, fondly called “Tay Pirot” by many, is considered “lloilo’s premier haranista” and one of the most famous folk musicians in the Visayas region. Self-taught as a teen in the art of harana (serenade), he began to apply stock poetic and melodic formulas that he heard from his maternal grandfather to serenade young women and to compete with other young men in the display of wit and the exchange of poetIc verses. He became adept and skillful at both music and the spontaneous creation of verses. At the age of twenty-two, Pirot debuted in the DYFM Bombo Radyo program. At twenty four, he signed his first recording contract and produced Hiligaynon hits. Other record companies contracted him to record in the Cebuano and Tagalog languages. Through the years, “Tay Pirot” has also run several popular local radio programs and has staged performances that drew large crowds. Known to compose about the values and struggles of Philippine provincial life inspired by challenges that he, himself, experienced, “Tay Pirot” is an icon of Philippine folk music (from Jose R. Taton Jr’s “Rendering the Popular as Tradition: The Music of Virgilio ‘Pirot’ Petcheller and the Panay Bukidnon Banda Music Practice in Panay Island, Philippines,” 2020).
JOSE R. TATON, JR., Course Facilitator, is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Miagao (UPV), and a candidate for Doctor of Philosophy in Music, major in Ethnomusicology at the Philippine Women’s University. He has written several ethnomusicological articles related to the music of Western Visavas including one about Virgilio “Tay Pirot” Petcheller.
BERSO TEAM
GURO ALFONSO GEORGE BACUD ANDAL, a younger generation Berso practitioner and advocate, is also an award-winning schoolteacher and writer. His ibanag drama Vulag | Vulan” won in the 2019 National Commission for Culture and the Arts Writer’s Competition, Drama Category. One of his several children’s books was a national finalist in a Children’s Storybook Competition. He represented the School Division Office of Tuguegarao during the 2019 Regional Search for Outstanding Master Teacher. A prolific researcher, his study “Social Constructions of Death and Dying: A study of Itawes Practices and its Associated Meanings” has been presented in national and international research conferences. During the International Research Conference on Local Knowledge and Indigenous Studies, and the 3rd Asian Virtual Multidisciplinary Research Conference at the University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao, George was awarded Best Presenter. George’s fascination with the Berso began when he was a child growing up in Cagayan Valley in the 1980s and 1990s. He observed Berso performances and saw how these impacted audiences who would laugh thunderously at the performers’ punchlines. This drove young George to start making his own Bersos and to perform these in front of his grandparents and neighbors. Encouraged by their responses, he would later construct and perform Bersos for school and other functions, garnering the same positive responses from his audiences. George dreams of keeping this precious Ibanag tradition alive for all time.
MARIEL ANDREA “AYYI” VIROLA GARDIOLA is a community development practitioner, peacebuilder, ethnographer, cultural creative, and internationally-certified practitioner of several holistic healing modalities. Ayyi has worked with conflict and calamity-affected areas (Indigenous and Muslim communities) on culturally sensitive education; youth and women empowerment, peacebuilding, environment and reproductive health projects. She also co-organized emergent dialogical workshops aimed at strengthening civil society, towards shaping creative and sustainable community initiatives. Ayyi is currently one of the Fellows of Center for Arts, Design and Social Research (CAD+SR Institute-Boston, USA) After School II 2024-2025, focusing on “De-schooling Society” with residencies in Kenya and Turkey.