SEEKING ETHNIC INSPIRATION

B'laan elders

It's been a while since I've posted a blog entryioI realize that even if I'm online from time to time, it becomes difficult  to upload and post articles to my blog because of the effects of bad weather on the information highway. Take it from me, the pace is dragging especially when one is uploading pictures.

Tabih cloth

In any case, I have been busy: with work... with life... and the many myriad, minutae that comes to my attention each day. Lately, I've been working on a school production slated for January 2016. Yes, it takes at least six months from concept to actual execution of costumes. Even then, when the cast gets on stage, one may have to tweak the designs a little bit if only to make the participants look good.

Tabih panel ready for the market

In previous posts on this blog, I wrote about Senator Loren Legarda's efforts at bringing our local fabrics to the fore through a special exhibit of Philippine hand made textiles. The exhibit was entitled HABI. Indigenous fabric is painstakingly difficult to produce because of the seemingly endless man-hours it takes to make one panel of fabric. I bring this up because my production uses some ethnic influence in manner of dress for both boys and girls. The music is mostly OPM (that's Original Pinoy Music, for the unitiated). So what do I do? I turn to our indigenous tribes for that unmistakable Filino touch.

Bonifacio Guerrero with B'laan school teacher  who teaches native dance to kids

I have an ally on this in the person of an apprentice of Ballet Philippines, dance major at the University of the Philippines and graduating student Bonifacio Guerrero, who is currently working on his thesis as a pre-requisite to earning his degree. 

Tabih specimen

The two of us were inspired by the B'laan: he for their dance movement, I for their clothing! B'laan actually springs from the root word "bla" meaning opposing or opponent and the suffix "an" denotes the people.

Tabih composite weave with border

The B'laan are a proud indigenous people of southern Mindanao. They are mostly situated around the picturesque Lake Seibu and are conveniently, neighbors to the T'boli. The B'laan used to occupy most of the area of General Santos City, formerly known as Koronadal. The name itself is taken from the native B'laan language. Koron means cogon grass and nadal means plains - which is actually a pictographic use of language to describe the area of their location. Eventually, the tribes were pushed back to the hinterlands when Gen. Santos City was established in 1939. The proud B'laan now occupy areas in Lake Seibu, South Cotabato, Sarangani, southeastern parts of Davao, and around Lake Buluan and North Cotabato.

B'laan weavers

Their manner of dress consists of a cloth woven on backstrap looms called tabih; akin to the T'nalak of the T'boli. Their blouses are heavily embroidered by utilizing hand embroidered geometric patterns. Women are also known to wear layers of glass beads on their  neck and waist bands made up of either colorful beads or thousands of links of hand forged brass with tassels of tiny bells. This is how you know they are arriving as they make tinkling sounds from far away.  The men wear vests and sawal (pants done in tabih weave) and sometimes a head scarf called tubaw. 

more complicated designs

The Tabih is different from t'nalak in the sense that the colors and patterns deviate strongly from the dream weavers of the T'boli. One sees more of the red dyes taken from local plants giving it a more vibrant hue. There are also no animated forms of lizards and humans that are sometimes included in t'nalak. Thanks to an exchange of ideas with Bonifacio Guerrero, I veered towards using that same kind of colorful influence for my production for an exclusive Catholic school in the south of Manila. 

Complicated antique patterns on a panel

*Pictures of antique B'lann tabih collection of RMMC by Michelle Lopez Solon through Bonnie Guerrero