Experimental
percussionist Susie Ibarra is as comfortable playing with downtown stalwarts
like John Zorn and Dave Douglas as she is with the indigenous Maguindanaon
musicians of Cotabato City in Mindanao. However, she plays the role of an Alan
Lomax field recorder, documenting the music of Danongan Kalanduyan and his
friends and family in Ibarra & Joel Quizon’s short documentary The Cotabato Sessions (trailer here), which screens
before a special concert collaboration between Ibarra and her subjects during
this year’s Asian American International Film Festival.
The
heart of the Maguindanaon music Ibarra records is the kulintang, a series of
eight tuned gongs, but it also incorporates the lute-like kutiyapi. It rather
follows that percussion is a critical component to this form of music,
predating Christianity and Islam in the Philippines, given Ibarra’s interest. Somewhat
surprisingly though, it has been integrated into Maguindanaon Islamic social
customs, despite its traditional association with women musicians.
Ibarra
and Quizon capture some passionate performances, but the pulse of
percussion-driven ensembles is always best experienced live. Still, it is quite
a cinematic presentation, particularly the performances filmed in the open courtyard
of a local mosque (but not technically inside, because that would be
forbidden).
