Tboli
Encyclopedia
The Tboli are one of the indigenous peoples of South Cotabato in Southern Mindanao. From the body of ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao they are variously known as Tboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tiboli, Tibole, Tagabili, Tagabeli, and Tagabulu. They term themselves Tboli or T'boli. Their whereabouts and identity is to some extend confused in the literature; some publications present the Tboli and the Tagabili as distinct peoples; some locate the Tbolis to the vicinity of the Lake Buluan
Lake Buluan
Lake Buluan is a lake located in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. With an estimated surface area of 61.34 square kilometers, it is the third largest lake in Mindanao, after Lake Lanao and Lake Mainit. It has an average elevation of 4.5 meters....
in the Cotabato Basin
Mindanao River
The Mindanao River, also known as the Rio Grande de Mindanao, is the second largest river system in the Philippines, after the Cagayan River of Luzon. It is also the largest river on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao having a drainage area of 23,169 square kilometers, draining majority of...
or in Agusan del Norte
Agusan del Norte
Agusan del Norte is a province of the Philippines located in the Caraga, a region in Mindanao. Its capital is Cabadbaran City and it borders Surigao del Norte to the north, Surigao del Sur to the east, Agusan del Sur to the south, and Misamis Oriental to the west...
. The Tbolis, then, reside on the mountain slopes on either side of the upper Alah Valley
Alah Valley
Alah Valley is located at the coordinates in the province of South Cotabato on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.-Economy:right|thumb|Large [[fish cage]]s similar to these are constructed in [[Lake Sebu]]...
and the coastal area of Maitum
Maitum, Sarangani
Maitum is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sarangani, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 37,054 people in 7,640 households....
, Maasim
Maasim, Sarangani
Maasim is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Sarangani, Mindanao, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 49,274 people in 7,727 households....
and Kiamba
Kiamba, Sarangani
thumb|Sea Foods, the second biggest income earner.Kiamba is a 2nd class municipality established 1947, in the province of Sarangani, Philippines...
. In former times, the Tbolis also inhabited the upper Alah Valley floor. After World War Two, i.e., since the arrival of settlers originating from other parts of the Philippines, they have been gradually pushed onto the mountain slopes. As of now, they are almost expelled from the fertile valley floor.
Like their immediate tribal neighbors, the Úbûs, Blàan
Blaan
Blaan may refer to:*Saint Blane, Irish saint*B'laan, Philippine tribe...
, Blit, Tàú-Segél and, for those who have serious doubts in the hoax argumentation, the Tasaday, they have been variously termed hill tribes, pagans, animists, etc., as opposed to the indigenous Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
peoples or the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
settlers. In political contexts, however, the term Lumad
Lumad
The Lumad is a term being used to denote a group of indigenous peoples of the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous"...
groups (derived from the Cebuano
Cebuano language
Cebuano, referred to by most of its speakers as Bisaya , is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people mostly in the Central Visayas. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Bisayan subgroup and is closely related to other Filipino...
term for native people) has become popular as a generic term for the various indigenous peoples of Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
.
Musical Heritage
The Tboli have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles – ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongGong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
s which act as drone without any accompanying melodic instrument.
Other instruments include the hegelung
Hegelung
The hegelung is a wooden 2-stringed lute played by the Tboli, an animist ethnolinguistic group of southern Mindanao in the Philippines. The instrument is tall and slender, with nine frets. One string is used as a drone, and the other for melodic ornamentation....
.