Kulligóng: Ethnopop Artists in Kalinga at the Interstices and Margins of Tradition

Kulligóng ‘encircle’, under the vojóng ‘peace pact system’ of the Kalinga of northern Philippines, is a principle which deems the domicile of a tribal member located outside the vúgis ‘[original] tribal territory’ a part of the tribe’s jurisdiction. I propose to deploy kulligong metaphorically by applying the concept to the creative work of contemporary Kalinga ethnopop music artists. I seek to examine sample songs written in the vernacular composed and sung by four recording artists from southern and western Kalinga, and highlight the thematic and prosodical aspects of these songs. In so doing, I present these music artists as culture bearers and innovators whose works both affirm and challenge the borders of tradition by taking us to the interstitial and marginal spaces of our languages and cultures.