CCP Collection of Traditional Asian Musical Instruments

The CCP Collection of Traditional Asian Musical Instruments, another important permanent exhibit at the Museo ng Kalinangan Pilipino, displays a collection of Philippine and Asian traditional musical (stringed, percussion, woodwind, etc.) instruments.  The Asian instruments were acquired by the CCP from 1969 to 1986 through donations by a number of Southeast Asian and East Asian countries.

Ta Pho-n

South Korea, the latest to donate, contributed  an ajaeng (a large bowed zither having 7 strings), a changgo (or janggu, an hourglass-shaped, waisted drum used in traditional music), a taegum (or daegeum, a transverse bamboo flute with a distinctive sound), a komun’go (or geomungo, a traditional stringed musical instrument of the family of zither instruments with both bridges and frets), a hyang-p’iri (a cylindrical, double reed oboe), a tanso (or danso, a notched, end blown vertical bamboo flute), a chi, a kayagun (or gayageum, a traditional zither-like stringed instrument), a hun (a globular flute), a sogum (or sogeum, a small bamboo transverse flute) and a tungso (a comparatively long notched bamboo flute).

South Korean Exhibit

From Japan came the shakuhachi (a Japanese end-blown flute) and a biwa (a Japanese short-necked fretted lute, often used in narrative storytelling) while India brought in a tabla (a 2-piece percussion instrument), flutes and a  tavil (or thavil, a Southern Indian drum).

Japanese Exhibit

The Philippine musical instruments were donated by the late Dr. Lucrecia R. Kasilag, a National Artist for Music and a musical instrument collector for over 50 years.  She is particularly known for incorporating indigenous Filipino instruments into orchestral productions.

Philippine Exhibit