Igorot music refers to the traditional musical practices of the Cordillera peoples of Northern Luzon in the Philippines, including the Ifugao, Kalinga, Bontoc, Kankanaey, Ibaloi, and related communities.
It is characterized by flat-gong (gangsa) ensembles, bamboo idiophones and aerophones (such as bungkaka/bungkaca bamboo buzzers, saggeypo panpipes, tongali/kalaleng nose flutes, and kolitong bamboo zithers), and antiphonal or responsorial vocal forms like salidummay and epic chant traditions such as the Ifugao hudhud and the Kalinga ullalim. Rhythms are cyclical, interlocking, and dance-centered, with gong ensembles used for rituals, community feasts (cañao/kanyaw), agricultural cycles, weddings, and peacemaking.
Melodically, Igorot songs often use pentatonic or anhemitonic scales, heterophonic textures, and non-tempered tunings aligned to local instrument acoustics rather than Western equal temperament. Music is inseparable from dance, ritual, and social life, functioning as a sonic emblem of identity and community cohesion.
Igorot music predates Spanish contact and was already a mature ritual and social system by the time of first documentation in the 16th century. Music accompanied virtually every major community occasion—agricultural rites, healing and peacemaking ceremonies, weddings, funerals, and prestige feasts. Gong ensembles (gangsa) provided cyclic rhythms for processional and circle dances, while epic chants (Ifugao hudhud; Kalinga ullalim) preserved history, values, and oral literature.
Flat metal gongs (gangsa) are the sonic core, performed in two broad styles: topayya (gongs held on the lap and played by hand) and pattong (gongs suspended and struck with sticks). Bamboo instruments—bungkaka (buzzers), tongatong (stamping tubes), saggeypo (panpipes), kolitong (bamboo zither), and nose flutes (tongali/kalaleng)—extend the sound world, together with Ibaloi drums like the solibao. Vocal traditions include responsorial salidummay and long-form epics, sung with flexible rhythm, heterophony, and non-tempered intervals.
Relative geographic isolation in the Cordillera allowed core practices to persist despite centuries of colonial rule. Missionization and schooling introduced Western hymnody and band instruments, but ritual gong-dance and chant traditions remained central to identity. Documentation intensified in the 20th century through ethnography, radio, and later, academic archives.
From the late 20th century onward, cultural troupes and community bearers revitalized performance in schools and festivals. UNESCO’s recognition of the Ifugao hudhud as Intangible Cultural Heritage raised visibility. Neo-ethnic and world-music groups from the Cordillera fused gangsa and bamboo timbres with modern arrangements, touring domestically and internationally and inspiring broader Filipino roots and worldbeat movements.
