The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its Advanced Science and Technology Institute has developed an online database of Philippine indigenous music known as the Philippine Indigenous Instrument Sounds Database Project approximated in Filipino as Kalipunan ng Katutubong Tunog ng Pilipinas, or Project Katunog. DOST – ASTI implemented Project Katunog in cooperation with the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (UP-EEEI) of the University of the Philippines and the UP Center for Ethnomusicology,
Project Katunog paved the way for the creation of a digital portal of recordings and sound files of local indigenous musical instruments and artists’ performances, together with their historical contexts. It also encourages other Filipinos to upload their own musical creations that can expand the content of the portal.
The Project inherently pays tribute to the fact that the Philippines has a rich musical culture arising from the diverse local ethnic tribes and indigenous people scattered in its 7,700 islands. It also recognizes the contribution of the local music industry to the national economy, pursuant to the current administration’s 10-Point Socioeconomic Agenda of enhancing the innovation and creative capacity of the local arts industry
In an exchange of email messages, Dr. Franz de Leon, DOST-ASTI Director and Project Leader of Project Katunog discussed with Soundstrip the details and inner workings of the worthy undertaking.
What is the status of Project Katunog now? Has it completed its original mission or is it an evolving project?
The project has been completed. It was implemented from September 2018 to September 2020. The online database currently contains recordings from 100 indigenous instruments from around the Philippines. The hosting of the database is maintained at ASTI’s facilities and the management of the website and its contents has been turned over the University of the Philippines Center for Ethnomusicology (UPCE).
We believe the database has the potential to grow, either by UPCE’s contributions, or by crowd sourcing where contributions need to be vetted for authenticity. Aside for the sounds database, the website contains related metadata for each instrument. The website’s desktop and mobile friendly, with simple and advanced search options.
Please describe the process of archiving indigenous music. How do you find the source?
To clarify, project Katunog is about archiving individual sounds of indigenous instruments, i.e. each instrument is played at different pitches or technique then recorded. The reason is that indigenous music requires tremendous amount of ethnographic work to document each song. There are also songs which are reserved for special occasions, or cannot readily be played in public. One of the objectives of Katunog is to promote the usage of the sounds by creative use. The public is free to download the sounds, and create/enhance their own compositions.
For in-situ recordings, we had to coordinate with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). With NCIP’s assistance, the project secure the indigenous peoples’ free and prior informed consent for data gathering. The project has limited resources, but it was able to gather data from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Do you archive samples or the entire ‘song’ as it were? Do you enhance the original material or you archive them as found?
The database contains studio recordings and in-situ recordings from indigenous communities. The studio recordings are clean since they were recorded in a controlled environment. For in-situ recordings, post-processing was done to minimize the ambient noise.
How was the project funded – regular DOST programming or grant? Is it purely for research and educational purposes or is there/will there be a commercial aspect to its dissemination?
The project was wholly funded by DOST Grant-in-Aid. The funds are purely for R&D. In terms of research, the recorded sounds were analyzed at the UP Digital Signal Processing Laboratory to study the different pitches and sounds texture. Furthermore, the database is open-source where the end-user is allowed to download and reuse the sounds for non-commercial purposes.
Is the music on the database freely available to musicians? What are terms of access and use of the sounds on the database?
Yes, users need only agree with the terms for non-commercial use and proper attribution.
How is DOST- ASTI promoting the music on the database?
We encourage creative reuse of the database by the public. For instance, the sounds in the database were featured in CCP’s Kanto Canta online band competition. https://www.facebook.com/kantokultura. Some videos that incorporate Katunog samples are in https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIyH5CA2x5XUlcUTrYRFLbQ/videos.