PSU's Pride: Pangkat Kawayan

PSU's Pride: Pangkat Kawayan

The Pangasinan State University’s Pangkat Kawayan has become Bayambang's pride.

Founded by music professor Rufino Menor in the early 1980s, Pangkat Kawayan regaled audiences with peculiar music from carefully handcrafted bamboo instruments, including the angklung (main bamboo tube instrument), bamboo xylophone, bamboo cymbals, and sibakong (bamboo base).

Mr. Menor explained that he borrowed the angklung concept from the Indonesians, but no one taught him how to make the instruments per se – he only caught the idea on TV and from then on, it was solo flight for him all the way. He said it took him a huge amount of time to make his instruments because the bamboo tubes had to go through a painstaking treatment and adjustment process to emit the right sound when struck. The bamboos had to be submerged in seawater for a certain time, and to make a wooden tube emit the right note, Mr. Menor had to slowly chip off a part of it bit by patient bit. Then he’d varnish the pieces one by one.

At first, only the elementary students played the bamboo instruments. Every time there was an important event on campus, Mr. Menor and his bamboo band were sure to be there, regaling the PSU community and guests with number after lively number. The bamboo band spurred high interest among all audiences because, when played in an ensemble, the instruments are a joy to behold and to listen to. Each and every note is assigned to a group of players who have to raise and shake the angklungs at exactly the right time when it is their turn. It takes a level of skill to play the instruments because a player needs to have a strong sense of being an indispensable part of a team. Gentle tinklings in unison and harmony are produced this way, and listeners are relaxed by the melodic tremolos because it is almost like listening to 'nature sound.'

The Pangkat Kawayan would initially perform folk songs such as “Bahay Kubo,” “Leron, Leron Sinta,” and “Malinac lay Labi,” then surprise the audience by performing the pop music hits of the day. The crowd would then roar and erupt in applause, apparently pleased by the disorienting effect of the sudden shift in song choice.

The bamboo instruments would bring PSU’s Pangkat Kawayan outside home, performing around Pangasinan and the Ilocos region. Then, in 1987, the “singing bamboos” abruptly turned silent.

According to Prof. Januario Cuchapin, Mr. Menor’s superior at the time, it’s because the latter devoted himself to producing the bamboo instruments for sale, which of course took up a lot of time and energy. Mr. Cuchapin reveals that Mr. Menor’s unprecedented passion for his bamboo instruments was a product of his own professional research, which he turned into reality, thanks to some amount of government funding.

Mr. Menor himself recalls how it took him eight long years of research. And that there were only three of them in the entire Philippines working on a Pangkat Kawayan. He was the only one in Pangasinan.

Mr. Cuchapin also recounts that Mr. Menor used to buy all the bamboo stems from his native Malasiqui, but when he entered into mass production for commercial purposes, he began putting up bamboo farms. He would travel all the way to a mountain in Mayantoc, Tarlac to procure bamboos of all kinds – cauayan bolo, bayug, kiling, etc.

The demise of the bamboo band would deprive several batches of students of getting to know something that is uniquely a part of PSU’s identity and history. But Mr. Menor found his new preoccupation quite lucrative, and even found a buyer from as far as Palawan.

It is thus gratifying to witness the bamboo band revived, thus keeping alive Mr. Menor’s legacy, by no less than his daughter Leah M. Bumatay, starting August 2017, to be exact, in time for the Linggo ng Wika celebration. His daughter is herself a singer, composer, and music teacher teaching at PSU’s MAPEH Department and High School Department, now renamed PSU Integrated School. Bumatay says she revived her father’s band after Prof. Felipe Moreno, Chairman of PSU’s MAPEH Department, suggested to have the Pangkat Kawayan presented again to the public.

As if by miracle, things fell into place, she said. New to the service and lacking in financial capacity, Bumatay encountered a lot of obstacles, but PSU's then Campus Executive Director Dr. Cesar Della helped her secure financial assistance from Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao through Levin Uy -- incidentally, both Mayor Quiambao and Uy are into bamboo farming. Then when Dr. Della was replaced by Dr. Rhodora Malicdem, Malicdem inspired Bumatay to carry on by assisting her each time she encountered a new problem. Soon, PSU Prof. Salome M. Montemayor became a consultant and wrote the bylaws of the Pangkat Kawayan. Along the way, other people gave help when needed.

Thanks to this chain of events, the Pangkat Kawayan is back. Luckily, her father had passed on the technology by this time to a group of workers. The band is now composed of not just MAPEH Department college students but also high schoolers, all keeping the old bamboo magic intact.

Bumatay reveals that the band needs a minimum of 30 players, but she is planning to add more instruments to the ensemble.

Mr. Menor -- who happens to be the composer of the PSU Hymn, the creator of the PSU Kitchenette Symphony Orchestra, Rhythm Band, Ukelele, Harmonica, Bottle Xylophone Ensemble, Elementary Rondalla, Children’s Choir, Elementary Drum & Bugle Corps, Drum & Lyre Corps, and the organizer of PSU Band -- has retired from all of his former preoccupations, but his passion for music remains aflame. He is now an active member of Bayambang Municipal Council for Culture and the Arts, sharing wisdom and experience gained from his field whenever he can.

 

Reference: Leah Menor Bumatay, Prof. Rufino Menor, Prof. Janurio Cuchapin