A visit to Davao Museum

A stopover at museums is one of the things I enjoy when visiting a place. It’s usually useful to look into the past to have a perspective of a place and its people. Davao City, a melting pot in Mindanao, is inhabited by various tribes and migrants from all over the Philippines, not to mention the large expat community. Ethnic tribes such as the Bagobo, Mandaya, Manobo, T'boli, B’laan and Mansaka contribute to the city's arts and cultural heritage. Tribal arts, local costumes and jewelry, handicrafts and other archeological artifacts of these tribes are preserved at the Davao Museum.

Davao Museum is located at Insular Village in Lanang, about 12 kilometers from the city, a walking distance from the Waterfront Insular Hotel.

Davao Museum
Zonta Bldg.
Insular Village Phase I
Lanang, Davao City
Open on Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5 pm

Beside the gate of Insular Village is a cafe, a great place to catch your breath and have a cold drink.

Warning: My travel companion/cousin is trigger-happy so you'll be seeing a lot of me on the following photos. Enjoy the background!:D

the lobby of Davao Museum

a T'boli weaver

T'nalak is an intricately-woven handloomed fabric made from abaca fiber. Abaca fibers are woven and tie-dyed by T'boli and Manobo women, designs are usually inspired by nature. Traditional T'nalak weaving is a fast-disappearing craft.

Franzia learning to play the kulintang

ancient weapons

a mother-of-pearl inlaid chest and a "kutyapi", a tribal musical instrument

The Maguindanao kutyapi is one of the most technically demanding and difficult to master among Filipino trational instruments. Of its two strings, one provides the rythmic drone, while the other has movable frets that allow melodies to be played in two sets of pentatonic scales, one containing semi-tones, the other containing none. (Source: National Commission for Culture and the Arts)

i'm the vocalist in this rock 'n roll band :D

a "kulintang" beside me; on the wall is a welded wrought iron decor by designer Ann Pamintuan

The Kulintang is a set of eight knobbed gongs in graduated sizes, layed-out horizontally on a wooden frame. Made from either brass, wood, bamboo, or metal plates, it is played with a pair of wooden sticks.

These were taken at the Waterfront Insular Hotel.