Kulintangan
/kuːˈlɪn.təŋ.ən/noun
A set or ensemble of small, tuned bossed gongs, especially in the musical traditions of Borneo and the southern Philippines.
Did you know?Kulintangan music has traditionally accompanied ritual, healing, weddings, royal ceremonies, and communal dances, making the gong ensemble a social and sometimes sacred technology rather than merely an instrument.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Austronesian languages
*kulintaŋ
“A reconstructed or proposed ancestral form associated with a set of tuned gongs; the deeper origin is not completely certain.”
Early historical period
Philippine languages
kulintang
“A row or set of small, melodically tuned gongs used in southern Philippine musical traditions.”
20th Century
Malay
kulintangan
“A gong ensemble or set of small gongs, especially in Borneo; the ending -an forms a noun referring to an object or collection.”
20th Century
English
kulintang
“An English ethnomusicological loanword for the Philippine gong-chime tradition and its instruments.”
Modern English
English
kulintangan
“A regional or scholarly English term for a kulintang-type gong ensemble, particularly in Borneo and neighboring cultural areas.”