darangan
Darangan
Dr. Frank Laubach discovered the wealth of Maranao epic tradition in February 1930 while on a trip to Lanao by boat after attending the Manila carnival. He spent two days in the company of 35 leading Maranaos, during which two men-sang darangan (epics) all day and part of the night. He was told that the songs were stories of "ancient Moro heroes, particularly Bantugan, the. fabled ancestor of them all." Upon his return to Lanao, Dr. Laubach began looking up people who knew the story of Bantugan, recording what they recited phonetically on the typewriter. His best informant, "the champion `Homer' of them all," was pang--gaga Mohammad, "who knew more Maranao songs than any other living man," and who typed stories of Bantugan for him (he had typed 200 pages, single-spaced, as of 1930). The darangan are pre-Islamic, as evidenced by the many archaic words (poetic diction) in them and by many references to very primitive weapons. Regarding the epic reproduced here, Dr. Laubach gives the following account:
I.How the Darangan Was Discovered
Of all the darangan the epic of Bantugan and Princess Datimba, which we here offer in English verse, is the most popular. A tiny girl of two and her brother of four from the nearest Moro house came to see me every few days and sat on the floor and sang this epic- One hears it every night as one passes Moro homes. Women weep at the more pathetic passages. Everybody applauds at the triumph of the heroes. At times the entire household joins in the singing. At large weddings and at various festivals good singers are given as high as one hundred pesos to entertain the assembled guests. And they earn it. They begin singing at six o'clock in the evening and sing until five the next morning. The longest darangan requires eight days to sing, at 11 hours a day-or rather we should say night.
The darangan, which we are now publishing in
Dr. Frank Laubach discovered the wealth of Maranao epic tradition in February 1930 while on a trip to Lanao by boat after attending the Manila carnival. He spent two days in the company of 35 leading Maranaos, during which two men-sang darangan (epics) all day and part of the night. He was told that the songs were stories of "ancient Moro heroes, particularly Bantugan, the. fabled ancestor of them all." Upon his return to Lanao, Dr. Laubach began looking up people who knew the story of Bantugan, recording what they recited phonetically on the typewriter. His best informant, "the champion `Homer' of them all," was pang--gaga Mohammad, "who knew more Maranao songs than any other living man," and who typed stories of Bantugan for him (he had typed 200 pages, single-spaced, as of 1930). The darangan are pre-Islamic, as evidenced by the many archaic words (poetic diction) in them and by many references to very primitive weapons. Regarding the epic reproduced here, Dr. Laubach gives the following account:
I.How the Darangan Was Discovered
Of all the darangan the epic of Bantugan and Princess Datimba, which we here offer in English verse, is the most popular. A tiny girl of two and her brother of four from the nearest Moro house came to see me every few days and sat on the floor and sang this epic- One hears it every night as one passes Moro homes. Women weep at the more pathetic passages. Everybody applauds at the triumph of the heroes. At times the entire household joins in the singing. At large weddings and at various festivals good singers are given as high as one hundred pesos to entertain the assembled guests. And they earn it. They begin singing at six o'clock in the evening and sing until five the next morning. The longest darangan requires eight days to sing, at 11 hours a day-or rather we should say night.
The darangan, which we are now publishing in