MOLBOG SUITE
The Molbog Suite is an ethnomusicologic research by John Pamintuan written in 2002 about the Molbog tribe of Balabac Island, Palawan, Philippines. This was presented by Jonathan Velasco in the 2005 World Symposium for Choral Music in Kyoto, Japan and has been performed by the Palawan Chamber Choir in Spain, Gaia Philharmonic Choir and the Ensemble Pleiade in Tokyo, the Lehigh University Glee Club at the Lincoln Center, the Philippine Madrigal Singers in Europe and the US, and the Cordana Indonesian Youth Choir in France, Canada and Germany, among others.
Live recordings by Bapa Amang and Babu Saynol, choral rehearsal recordings by the San Miguel Master Chorale (Jonathan Velasco, dir.)
1. Ummah Sallih (Birth)
field recording
choral recording
2. Buwa-buwa ni Utu (Lullaby)
field recording
choral recording
3. Tarimbaba Punjungan (Play)
field recording
choral recording
4. Mutaktak na Kau (Homecoming)
choral recording
5. Allah la Elaha (Death)
field recording
choral recording
The Molbogs, believed as among the migrants from North Borneo, are the inhabitants of Balabac Island, Palawan and in other islands of Palawan coast as far north as Panakan. The word Malubog means "murky or turbid water".
Referred as Molebugan or Molebuganori in the literature, Molbogs do a lot of farming, fishing, and occasional barter trading with the Sulu Bangsa Moro and nearby Sabah market centers as means of their subsistence.
Judging from their dialect and some socio-cultural practices, they seem to be related to the Orang Tidung or Tirum (Camucone in Spanish), an Islamized indigenous group native to the northeast coast of Sabah. However, some Sama words (of the Jama Mapun variant) and Tausug words are found in the Molbog dialect. This, plus a few characteristics of their socio-cultural lifestyle, distinguish them from the Orang Tidung.
Intermarriage occurred frequently between Tausug and the Molbog hastened the Islamization of the Molbog. The offsprings of these intermarriages are known as kolibugan or "half-breed". The Sulu sultanate political perphery was also formed from the unification of the Molbogs and Palawanon Muslims,since they were ruled by Sulu datus.
(from WikiPilipinas)
