THE KONTRATA AS A CULTURAL GIFT: A GADDANG MARCHING BAND IN THE FUNERAL RITUALS OF SOLANO, NUEVA VIZCAYA

Abstract

An ethno-linguistic group widely known as the lowland Gaddangs, located in a commercial town in Nueva Vizcaya, has maintained a musical tradition passed down to them since the early 1960s. This study on the emergence of brass bands in Solano and the loss of knowledge and utilization of indigenous traditional instruments calls for another ethnomusicological perspective, especially since the ethnography shows how the Gaddangs transformed the marching band instruments into mechanical agencies of social cohesion. Guided by the Maussian concept of the gift, the research problem seeks to answer the economic implications, social contribution, and the moral exchange that Gaddang musical performances facilitate in the community. Immersion in daily rehearsals captured the zeal of the younger ones as they honed their theoretical knowledge and musical skills, seeking a sense of accomplishment and, mainly, economic sustainability. Their performance as fulfillment of their obligation to the kontrata (contracts) provides first-hand information about how, in their predominantly Western repertoire, the folk songs they play represent constructs of kinship, flora, and the land. The degree of giving in the Gaddangs of Solano is observed to be binallay - Gaddang word for equally divided - reciprocally fair in organizing people and fees, even in musical components that maintained the banda tradition. The continuance of this peripheral activity manifests the town’s moral need to satisfy its aesthetic hunger through musicians who will not stop, because, for the Gaddangs, to disband would be to stop giving.