KAPPA MALONG-MALONG - PHILIPPINE FOLK DANCE (MUSLIM SUITE)

Kappa Malong-malong, also called Sambi sa Malong, is a dance that originates from the Maranao tribes of Mindanao in the Philippines. The dance shows the many ways of wear-ing a ‘malong’, a simple tubular yet highly-functional piece of cloth. 

The malong is a traditional “tube skirt” made of hand-woven (and sometimes machine-made) multi-colored cotton cloth, bearing a variety of geometric or ‘okir’ designs – a term used for geometric and flowing de-signs. The malong is akin to the ‘sarong’ worn by peo-ples of Malaysia, Brunei Darrusalam and Indonesia. The malong is traditionally used as a garment by numerous other tribes in the Southern Philippines and the smaller Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines. 

The traditional women’s version shows this cloth of countless colorful designs; used mostly as a skirt, woven in many different ways, and depending on the purpose of the wearer. Other ways women wear the malong is as a shawl, a mantle, or a head-piece. 

The malong can function as a skirt for both men and women; as a dress, a blanket, a sun-shade, a bed sheet, a “dressing room”, a hammock, a prayer mat, and just about any other purpose depending on how creative its user is. For example, a newborn is wrapped in a malong, and, as the child grows older, this piece of cloth becomes a part of daily life. In death, the lifeless body is once again wrapped in a malong. 

Among traditional tribal peoples of Mindanao, the ma-long is used in everyday life. Even in areas where people wear Western-style clothing during the day, the malong is used for leisure time as also for sleepwear. The ma-long worn during very big festivals. They wear this to show respect. 

Hand-woven malongs are made by Maranao, Maguin-danao and T’boli weavers using a backstrap loom. The pattern or style of the malongs they produce indicate their tribal origin, such as the Maranao ‘malong landap’. Very rare malong designs and styles indicate the village in which the malong was made like the extremely intri-cate ‘malong rawatan’ made only by a handful of Mara-nao weavers in Lanao del Sur, a province in Mindanao. Handwoven malongs, which are more costly than those made by machines, are likely to be used only at social functions to display the social and economic status of the wearer.

Видео KAPPA MALONG-MALONG - PHILIPPINE FOLK DANCE (MUSLIM SUITE) канала Joel Conde