:: KADANGYAN Official Website ::

http://www.kadangyan.com.ph
KADANGYAN is an Ifugao term which means "Rich in Culture".

The group started from a group of visual and performing artists and decided to concentrate into music as an ethnic band way back October of 2000.

Now KADANGYAN specializes in tribal and ethno - cultural music and performances and as an ethnic band. The group is also capable of performing acoustic native rituals on stage, theatres and some private gatherings and occasions.

When the group front acted for the band “Slapshock” during their album launch in Dipolog, the audience was shocked when they saw the band step out on stage wearing tribal inspired outfits such as g-string, malong and sarong.

The audience immediately began to heckle and jeer the band, but once they started performing, the audience was stunned and some even began to start dancing. By the end of their set, the audience was screaming “I love you Kadangyan!” This is the kind of challenge that Kandangyan face whenever they perform their tribal inspired tunes.

People who encounter the group for the first time may think they are hearing something new and experimental, but the group feels they are only putting a new spin on something that has been passed down from generation to generation.

The group started when Bhava Mitra went to Cebu and first saw Govinda while he was playing the gongs during a school performance. At that time Mitra was invited by friends to perform at a book launch and needed someone to accompany him. So he invited Govinda, who then invited his classmate Rasaymaya as bassists and his brother Jerome as drummer.

After Jerome invited his friend Markey to do percussion, the band’s line up was complete. (Recently they have added a new guy, Bhakta, who is also deeply interested with ethnic music).

In 2002, the band released their first independent album. Included in the ten tracks CD is the song “Kaluluwa” which is a universal soul chant and a call for rain (which seems to work, since it always seems to rain every time they perform that song!) Another stand out song is “Umaga” or morning which they composed on the spot as they were performing during the Ms Earth 2002.

What happened was that they were running out of songs during the long gown competition, after a brief pose, they begun to improvise.
It sounded so good that they decided to include the song in their first album.

Aside from the Ms Earth competition, the group has performed in events such as “Sarap to sundown”, “Octoberfest 2004” in Mindanao and Fete dela Musique 2004 and 2005. They are currently working on their next album.