Usopay Cadar

Here’s something that all Maranaos can be proud of.

7.31.2007

Mr. Usopay Hamdag Cadar
Mindanao State University

Dear Mr. Cadar:

Greetings from the National Commission for Cultre and the Arts (NCCA)!

We are pleased to inform you that the Darangen Epic of the People of Lake Lanao has been proclaimed by the UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Related to this, the NCCA is planning to produce a multimedia packet to further promote the Darangen. The packet will contain a short video documentary on and a CD recording of the epic for distribution in libraries, schools, research centers, etc. To make it a really useful reference material, we plan to complement the recording with relevant information and at least portions of the epic.

In this light, we would like to seek your permission to reprint excerpts from your book "Context and Style in the Vocal Music of the Maranao in Mindanao, Philippines."

Blah, blah, blah, dah, dah, dah…

The following profile was taken from UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1999-2000. You can also google Usopay Cadar and read about his great achievements in promoting M’ranao culture internationally.

Usopay H. Cadar holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington, Seattle (1980). He is the Project Director and Master Performer of the Mindanao Kulintang Ensemble. He has taught on the music of Southeast Asia at the University of Washington, the University of Pittsburgh, Queen's University of Belfast, and Mindanao State University. Born in Taraka, Lanao del Sur, Philippines, Cadar is a talented performer who has pioneered the introduction of Fililpino traditional gong music to both the academic and the community environs of the West and has directed and performed the music in various concert settings. He has published many articles on Maranao music, including "Kolintang's Uniquely American Success" (forthcoming as part of a volume by the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan), "The Maranao Kolintang Music and Its Journey in America" (Asian Music 27 [2] 1996: 131-48), and "The Role of Kolintang Music in Maranao Society" (in Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology, Institute of Ethnomusicology, UCLA, 2 (2) 1975: 49-65.