[Background inspired by a Maranao design]

The SAOT Project
(Sound Archive of Oral Traditions)

Saot (also saut or saet) is a war dance of the Binukid speaking people (Bukidnon / Banuwaen / Higaunen / Talaandig). It is usually performed by a man with a spear (bangkaw) and a shield (kalasag), occasionally accompanied by a fierceful dance rhythm on a gong (agung) and a drum (gimbê or tambul). The abbreviation “SAOT,” in the context of this paper, carries a symbolic meaning similar to “fighting for the preservation of cultural traditions” or “a danced fight is better than a real fight.”

(Photograph above by Hans Brandeis: a saet dancer in Guilang-Guilang, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, February 8, 1983.)

Ethnic Minorities in the Southern Philippines:
Purpose and Aims of the SAOT Project

The island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines is inhabited by numerous ethnic groups distinguished according to their systems of religious beliefs into two major groups: the Muslims and the animistic so-called “cultural minorities”. The Philippine Ministry of Public Information has counted 79 ethnic groups on Mindanao and the neighboring Sulu-Tawi-Tawi chain of islands in 1980.

        As a result of the improvement of the road and transportation system on Mindanao in the recent past, a great number of Christian Filipinos, most of them coming from the Visayan Islands, have immigrated to Mindanao. In many areas the tribal people are greatly outnumbered by their Christian neighbours. Those tribal people who retained their traditional way of life and have retreated to the remote mountainous areas of the island. But even in those remote areas where just ten years ago many people could still be seen wearing their traditional colorful costumes, hardly a single indigenous costume can be found today. It is only a question of time until the traditional tribal cultures will have dissolved as a result of the confrontation with a vast variety of different influences from all over the Philippines that are penetrating the island of Mindanao. It has to be accepted as a fact that ten years from now perhaps 50% of those traditional cultural traits that still can be observed today, will have survived, and twenty years from now – practically nothing.

        The national culture of the Philippines is strongly influenced by western civilization, and many modern Filipinos have grown up with the view of having no other cultural past than a colonial one. The situation of the ethnic minority groups is even more problematic. Considered “primitive” and “uncivilized” by many of their Christian neighbours, many members of these tribal groups, especially the young people, tend to give up their traditional culture very rapidly, willingly and to an alarming degree. On the other hand, because of prejudices they are hardly given the chance to become integrated into the national culture. As a result, many of them loose their cultural identity, and in the end they neither identify themselves with their traditional tribal culture nor with the westernized national culture.

        This situation must be encountered by an intensification of educational work for the cultural minorities on all levels of Philippine society. A precondition for this educational work is making available a comprehensive knowledge of the cultures of all the traditionalist ethnic groups in the Philippines. Knowledge about the similarities and differences between the indigenous cultural traditions can strengthen the pride of Filipinos in terms of cultural multiplicity of their country in past and present times, and help to reinforce the search for a national cultural identity. The importance of developing a national identity on the basis of old cultural traditions has been stressed by scholars and politicians in the Philippines for a long time, and especially in the present politically and socially tense situation in the Philippines it is of utmost importance for the solution of basic problems in the Filipino society. In this respect, the project of establishing a sound archive of oral traditions (SAOT) at Xavier University will be a major contribution of considerable political and cultural importance.

        The emphasis of the SAOT project lies on the most intensive and wide-ranging collection of materials, so that in the few years that are left as many oral traditions as possible can be saved from falling into permanent oblivion, thus counteracting the “invasion of transistor radios” into the areas of the tribal groups.

        To reach the goal of the project of gaining a better insight into the cultural traditions of Philippine cultural minorities, the SAOT archive should not restrict itself to gathering materials alone; it is planned to help visitors of the region – not only Philippine but also foreign ethnomusicologists – in their research on Philippine traditional music. They should be allowed to participate in the instructional courses held for the staff members of the SAOT project and for interested students, and they should be allowed to make use of equipment which is not in actual operation. In addition, an exchange of materials (especially of sound recordings) with other universities in the Philippines (University of the Philippines, Philippine Women’s University, Silliman University and others) is planned.

        In traditionalist tribal societies in the Philippines, vocal music is usually considered more important than instrumental music. Consequently, documentation of traditional music in this region means most of all documentation of vocal music, i. e. sung poetry as a medium for the oral transmission of unrecorded historical information and as an expression of cultural values. The documentation of vocal music therefore includes the major facet of oral traditions. Traditional instrumental music, on the other hand, is nowadays especially in danger of disappearing rapidly. In the extremely hot and humid climate of the Philippines, the material of which musical instruments are are made is subject to decay after a rather short period, and in many cases they are not replaced anymore by new instruments. Hence, the SAOT project will also include the documentation of the construction and of playing techniques of traditional musical instruments.

        Development of a national cultural identity in the Philippines means that the knowledge about the cultural traditions has to become part of a general awareness of the Philippine population. In this respect, publications (especially tape cassettes with samples of music as well as radio programs) are of primary importance. Nowadays, many members of the ethnic minorities own transistor radios and tape cassette recorders, and they become acquainted with a variety of printed materials in neighboring towns. For these tribal people, publications about their culture are an obvious, materialized proof that their culture has found acceptance by mainstream society. Only realization that their cultural traditions are of “value” for the “modern” and “educated” Filipinos in the cities will lead the members of the cultural minorities to recognize the value of preserving their own culture which, in the end, implies the only final chance that the preservation of cultural traditions as an internal activity of the tribal societies as well as a collective activity of Philippine society in general will still be possible.

        Publications of compact discs, record albums and/or tape cassettes with comprehensive commentary booklets are planned by the International Institute for Traditional Music (IITM) and the Museum for Ethnology in Berlin in cooperation with the Museo de Oro of Xavier University. The participation of German scholars and institutions in the SAOT project signifies the continuation of the German-Austrian commitment in the field of Philippine ethnography that intensively started in the years 1880-1900 with the research work of scholars like Ferdinand Blumentritt, Alexander Schadenberg, Adolf Bernhard Meyer, Rudolf Virchow and others, and which since that time – apart from sporadic contributions by German scholars and researchers – hardly made any progress but was neglected instead.

The Concept of the SAOT Project

The SAOT project (Sound Archive of Oral Traditions) was planned by the German ethnomusicologist Hans Brandeis in co-operation with the Museo de Oro of Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro. Unfortunately, it has not become a reality, thus far.

        Here is a brief summary of the project concept.

        The SAOT project pursues three main goals:
(1) to establish an archive for collected materials on the oral traditions of ethnic minority groups in the Philippines, especially in Mindanao
(2) to train Philippine researchers in the respective areas in methods and techniques of field research and archiving
(3) to distribute the acquired knowledge by means of publications (books, articles, record albums, tape cassettes, etc.) with scientific as well as with educational objectives.

        For a period of at least five years the island of Mindanao is to be investigated as systematically and wide-ranging as possible with the intention of making an ethnographic survey of all the traditional musical cultures of this island.

        There should be seven staff members: three field researchers, two translators, one archivist, and one typist/secretary. The field researchers as well as interested students would document musical activities, vocal and instrumental music, dances and the construction of musical instruments on sound and video recordings as well as photographs. In addition, a collection of musical instruments is to be built up. The collected materials should be catalogued in computer databases. The transcription and translation of the song texts, prayers, folk stories and other oral traditions from the original languages or dialects into English will then follow.

        The project is of scientific as well as political and cultural significance with reference to the development of a national culture in the Philippines. But there are just a few years left to conduct the project, for the traditionalistic tribal cultures in the Philippines are in a rapid process of being dissolved.

        In this respect, one aspect seems very important to me: the SAOT project is not only a project of Philippine national concern but, first of all, of regional concern. I think this view has to be stressed again and again to counteract the tendency of some foreign institutions to extend their support to institutions based in Manila.

        The SAOT project is planned as a bilateral project through the co-operation of one Philippine and two German institutions. The Museum for Ethnology as well as the International Institute for Traditional Music (IITM) in Berlin, Germany will provide materials required for the field work and will place their facilities at the disposal of the project. Publications of compact discs and/or tape cassettes by both institutions in cooperation with the “Museo de Oro” of Xavier University are planned. Just to make a start – I made two agreements to publish one double CD about Bukidnon music with the Museum and another CD about Matigsalug/Tigwa Manobo music with the IITM in a series of the Smithsonian Institution, prior to the inception of the project.

        All this might sound quite encouraging, but despite my continuous and decisive efforts through all these years, the SAOT project has not become reality since the time it was planned and applied for in 1987. Here is the story in brief:

        Xavier University, of course, can hardly finance a project as extensive as this one so that this important and urgent project of a sound archive of oral traditions will only be realized if financially supported more or less completely by some foreign, non-Philippine institution. The application for the support of the SAOT project was therefore submitted by Xavier University in 1987 to the German Embassy in Manila and shortly later incorporated into the “Protocol on Cultural Cooperation Between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.” In the beginning, the German side expressed willingness to support the project. But in the course of the unification of East and West Germany, the German foreign office ran out of money and withdrew its consent. Still in 1994, there was an effort undertaken by Xavier University to finally persuade the German government to finance the SAOT project. Part of these efforts were resolutions approved by the City Council of Cagayan de Oro City and by the Provincial Council of Misamis Oriental as well as letters of support by the Mayor of Cagayan de Oro City and by the Governor of Misamis Oriental. But all these efforts have been in vain.

Background Materials

Those poeple interested in additional background materials can download them here. There are two files available, both in Adobe Acrobat format (*.PDF). For viewing them, you might need ADOBE ACROBAT READER. You can download a free copy of  the program by clicking on the icon:

The first file contains the complete project concept submitted to the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990: SAOT: Sound Archive for Oral Traditions at Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Project Concept and Feasability Study. (File size: 80 kB / 29 pages)

The second file contains the facsimiles of documents testifying the support for the SAOT project. Because this file contains almost exclusively bitmap graphics, it is rather large (File size: 409 kB / 16 pages). The following documents are contained in the file:

[1] Protocol on Cultural Cooperation Between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. 11 February 1987. (Excerpts)

[2] Letter of the Philippine Ambassador in the Federal Republic of Germany, Alfredo A. Tan, Jr. to the German Ambassador in the Republic of the Philippines, Dr. Peter Scholz. 24 October 1991.

[3] Letter of the Governor of the Province of Misamis Oriental, Vicente Y. Emano, to the German Ambassador in the Republic of the Philippines, Dr. Peter Scholz. 16 February 1994.

[4] Republic of the Philippines, Province of Misamis Oriental, Cagayan de Oro, Office of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. Excerpts from the Minutes of the 7th Regular Session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Misamis Oriental, Held on February 21, 1994. Resolution No. 31-94.

[5] Letter of the Mayor of Cagayan de Oro City and Chairman, RDC Region 10, Pablo P. Magtajas, to the German Ambassador in the Republic of the Philippines, Dr. Peter Scholz. 16 February 1994.

[6] Letter of the Vice Mayor of Cagayan de Oro City, Antonio S. Soriano to the German Ambassador in the Republic of the Philippines, Dr. Peter Scholz. 22 February 1994.

[7] Republic of the Philippines, City of Cagayan de Oro, Office of the City Council (Sangguniang Panlalawigan). Resolution No. 2940-94. Resolution Strongly Supporting the Application of Xavier University for the Establishment of a Sound Archives of Oral Traditions Project (SAOT) at Said University. 21 February 1994.

[8] Letter of the First Secretary, Press and Culture, of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Manila, Helmut Wiesmann, to Father Francisco Demetrio, S.J., curator of the Xavier University Museum. 7 September 1994.

Request for Cooperation

My question to people reading this short report is simply if anyone of you has any idea how to finance this SAOT project, e.g. if there are any possible private sponsors or any institutions concerned with supporting this kind of work. Anyone who is interested to share his or her ideas with me, feel free to send me an

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