TRADITIONAL ARTS

Katakata: And the Sama shall live on and on, happily ever after
by Mucha-Shim Quiling Arquiza
Lumah Ma Dilaut Center for Living Traditions

Across the skyline of Barangay Mariki in Zamboanga City, television antennas have been taking over the white, green and yellow flaglets that mark the spirit-houses, competing with kites of various shapes and sizes that come grazing the skies each summer. These are Tausug houses, for sure. For, as fast as the Tausugs have taken over the once-upon-a-time uninhabitable mangrove, a used-to-be dreary Sama Dilaut moorage, their television sets have come invading as well.

Jutting out from palm-thatched houses, cris-crossing at various angles, antennas looking upward searching for signal or vying for the open skies, the TV have claimed the 'life' in this once Sama-dominated community. A contrasting irony is the murky water below, where in the flurry of thin long poles and stilt- supports that prop up the typical Sama makeshift houses or lumah ma dilaut (houses-in-the-sea), snaking here and there are networks of black hoses and tubes carrying water to the Tausug's tap or connecting electric wires of sorts, a gruesome a mirror image of what all the tangles are above. This scene is repeated in other villages by the jetty such as in Barangay Lower Calarian and Baliwasan Seaside by the west coast of the city.

The Sinama-speaking ethnic groups, especially the Sama Dilaut are fond of entertainment, and the most loved of entertainments is story-telling or 'agkatakata. This would account for the popularity of the movies and, of recent, the boob-tube. The TV, in time, has become a much coveted piece of furniture that a Sama household would strive to acquire at first opportunity.

In the olden days when books, radios, the movies and televisions were yet unheard of, folks used to narrate tales and stories orally about the ancestors and their exciting adventures to lands unknown in suspenseful plots and awe-some settings, testing one's imagination beyond limits. Katakata or tales soothe the tired bones, paint rosy future for the newly weds, lull children to sleep, heal the sick and comfort the grieving. Agkatakata (story-telling) is always an all-time hit, fit and appropriate in every occasions. In other words, the "ultimate TV".

As leisurely home entertainment, folks tell stories mostly in the evening starting before bedtime and usually concluding at dawn-break. The katakata lengthens the night and keeps the folks awake while there is an ailing member or a dying elderly in the family. The katakata strays and tarries the malak'al maut (angel of death) until dawn comes that he completely forgets his mandate; it also drives away the shaytans (evil spirit) who cause people to be ill, so the belief goes. Tales of gnomes and the unseen, adventures into far- away lands and the heroic deeds of ancestors inspire as well as entertain the household, easing away tension while steaming-off a long labor and awaiting a woman to expel the baby from her loins. The wedding eve is let to pass by the dreamy-eyed bride and excited groom not through beauty rest but listening to mythical tales of fairies and mortals falling in love and princes and princesses running away to fulfill their hearts' desires. The katakata triggers the adrenalin and envigorates the women who are up all night preparing the feast for social occasions and religious festivities. Some would even swear that the katakata sweetens up the durul (sticky rice-and-coconut tart) and somehow tames the boiling oil to a temper that pops-up a perfectly serrated panyam (rice cake). Of course, the katakata has been an age-old medium for handing over knowledge and skills from generation to generation. For instance, the art of trapping (and catching) the elusive but highly prized kamun (sea-mantis) among Sama Bulih Kullul is an ilmuh (wisdom) so jealously guarded by the clans experts, taught only to the most worthy among young mulid (pupil) in a mystical chant called luguh kamun.

Today, daring to compete with the assault of Koreo-teledrama into the Moro living rooms, at the same time, trying to wean the young away from the negative influence of sensational and sexy stories in the movies and the slapstick comedies on TVs, the story-telling tradition continues at the Lumah Ma Dilaut Center for Living Traditions, a resource center cum folk-school that commits to preserve, protect and promote the indigenous knowledge, traditions and innovations of the Sinama-speaking ethnics in Sulu, Basilan and Tawitawi.

Now running on into its eighth month, after reviving the iskul-iskul ma reoh so'man Lumah (in situ learning in "school-under-the-house" that started in 1998) and re-organizing it into a more structured set-up with well-planned curriculum, the iskul-iskul has been popularizing katakata as one of its main pedagogical tools. The ondeh iskul or learners listen to stories told by elderly volunteers and in turn re-tell the stories to their peers. This way, the art of pagkatakata is acquired by the child even as she or he is encouraged to make innovations and come up with his or her own story to be told in the same format as the katakata. The stories are cast and re-cast in Sinama, the indigenous language of the Sama people, which in turn consciously preserves the language and popularizes its use especially among the young.

The art of katakata is multi-disciplinary. Internalizing the katakata is an important component in the leaning process where children reflect on the values embedded in the narratives and interpret the stories through visual and performing arts. The igal-igal (dancing) and lagu-lagu (chanting or singing) are other indigenous Sama art forms that are equally important elements in the storytelling.

Day after day, when school is done, after adhan has sounded from the nearby langgal calling the faithful to 'isha prayer, most children and youngsters troop to the neighborhood's television sets. For fifty cents or one peso each showing, they cry their hearts out in front of the idiot box as "TwinHearts", "Hanggang Kailan", "Te Amo" and host of other mushy shows take turns in the seemingly endless reel of "walang tulugan"(sleepless) TV. Meantime, a dozen or maybe less amongst those of their age, may instead choose to stay home tonight, to gather around the earthen stove and help feed the fire. They allow themselves to be tantalized by the soothing voice of mother, or an old aunt or a grandparent chanting and spinning stories of Abunnawas, Putlih Jawwal Manikam or the legend of Duwa Bul'lud. These children will be happily misty-eyed, as the katakata progresses, and are mesmerized by how swift but gently mother rolls out the grated panggi (cassava), delicately shaping them into tiny balls of fist-sized tinompeh and with bare hands she flips them over the crackling flame with not a flinch or kidjut nor nervous jitter or lenggang as is wont of an amateur dancer. Or, just as simply, she lets the sticky cassava flour slide across the back of her hand, graceful as kelle-kelle and limbay to conclude an igal, thus, she serves it stir-fried, hot and golden sinanglag in the common tray. By that time the katakata concludes, father is also done, hauling from the bed of charcoal the fish, roasted crisp on the outside and sweet and tender inside. The family then shares the simple feast.

And for as long as Lumah Ma Dilaut continues the tradition of katakata, nights such as this shall live on and on, happily ever after. / March 27, 2004

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