The mermaids of Lake Sebu | SLICE | Full documentary

[Music] foreign [Music] when the world began animals were musicians living in harmony in the palace of the princess by henwa one day a god fell in love with the princess he quickly grew weary of life on earth and took by henois and her entire palace to his celestial paradise [Music] once up in the heavens the princess of tibolis realized that she had just deprived her people of its culture and so she ordered all the animal musicians to jump out the window and return to earth she gave the gong to the monkey so that he could communicate with her [Music] i live on lake cebu in the south of my country on the island of mindanao it's a region full of mountains and forests my ancestors were nomads the thick forests the waterfalls and the lakes were their domain today much of our land has been stolen and we've become sedentary the men are farmers craftsmen or fishermen i married moray when i was 16. we live on the lake in a floating house like most of the men here murray raises tilapia in the fish enclosures we women pick fruit gather shellfish and weave the hemp but more importantly we pass on the traditions and the history of our people in song here the women are the musicians [Music] i want to be a singer but i'm unable to free my voice it's like a prisoner deep inside of me [Music] [Music] is a long poem that is sung it talks about the origins of our people the tibolis who go back to the creation of the world i would love to sing it at the end of the harvest for our spring festival tomorrow i'm going to see men doom the best singer in the village she's been singing since she was a child she'll give me good advice [Music] [Music] is [Music] m [Music] is lives on a little island on the other side of the lake they say that when she was young duatta the most powerful of our gods looked at the child and revealed the existence of her singing voice to her it must radiate all around you you must also listen to the sounds around you like the wind the birds the river the sound of our instruments [Music] remember when i was young i too learned to sing by listening to the forest and its animals and then i dreamed i dreamed about my voice that it was the voice of a cricket it was so long ago you will dream too you will dream of an animal sleeping inside you [Music] foreign oh [Music] foreign [Music] we only see the droplets in our bottom it makes my body and my mind open up the sounds of our land rock me like a baby they talk to me about the creation of the world of my people everything i love lives here on this land that i cherish [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Music] this river was created by two streams one hot the other cold you have to go higher where the streams blend together and produce a soothing sound bye it's already [Music] she knows lots of secrets about nature like the magic produced by combining two plants wildflowers and moss instill in us the spirit of the river lima me the sound of the river seems different to me it's become a chant it was so close in the past but i never felt the need to listen to it harpist she makes her own instruments out of giant bamboo trees she cuts the bark to free the strings the strings are then tuned using small pieces of wood slid underneath morning our music doesn't have human names they are called things like wind in the trees woodpecker storm or even [Music] seduction [Music] oh [Music] in the beginning our world was all water the god duatta asked the hero tadbullu to create the valleys and mountains of our country tadbullu sent the bird batati out to look for land the bird came back with a small piece of earth in his beak tadbullu threw the small piece of earth up and when it came down he stepped on it and suddenly the earth began to grow larger the hero and the bird began to dance the more they danced the larger the land became their movements determined the shape of the land short jumps created hills big jumps mountains when they turned the planes appeared the areas where they didn't dance remained water that is how our land became a land of high peaks and peaceful valleys it's the end of the harvest it is also the time when we can hear the sound of the rice we crush peel and sift foreign is singing a very old legend a warrior came to kill all the villagers when he arrived at the village he heard women singing their songs were so sweet that he sat down to listen and then fell asleep in the morning the villagers found him there they killed him and the village was saved [Music] [Music] [Music] links the earth the sun and the moon it keeps evil spirits away and protects [Music] [Music] babies [Music] the sensuality of our dances accentuates our feminine spirit reveals our beauty and seduces men hmm [Music] the gong is an important instrument in our traditions it can be heard for several kilometers and is still used today to communicate between villages we consider the sound of the gong to be alive if we play it regularly it announces the important steps in life festivals births harvests and deaths the spring festival and all the events around it are getting closer the different agricultural phases follow a calendar based on the appearance of certain constellations the spring festival announces the end of the harvest a new stage in animal breeding and also the end of an annual cycle men doom told me that i was ready i have to sing during the ceremony and make my new voice heard i'm frightened though it's my first time [Music] the women wear their festival clothing embroidered with various colors and mother of pearls we tune our instruments and cover ourselves with jewelry these objects help to reveal our beauty but it's not just exterior beauty it's interior beauty too and creates an aura is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] thank you [Music] oh our songs talk about the gods and our mythological heroes but they also speak of our lives mandun tells my story the story of a young tibili who had forgotten the sound of the mountains the forests and the rivers [Music] um [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] a voice is asleep inside of me i dreamed about the bird the bird of the rice paddies my heart is here on lake cebu in the center of tiboli country i sing its history and its myths in the beginning only animals were [Music] musicians [Music] you

Channel: SLICE

Views: 1,135,993

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, shortdoc, shortdocs, slice, slicedocs, mermaids, sebu, lake sebu, lake, anita, philippines, island, mindanao, musician, singer, song, songs, mendung, voice, music

Id: r_lWRvuuZzI

Length: 25min 25sec (1525 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for your submission to r/FilipinoHistory.

Please remember to be civil and objective in the comments. We encourage healthy discussion and debate.

Please read the subreddit rules before posting. Remember to flair your post appropriately to avoid it being deleted.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Altruistic_Dinner_71]

I feel like this would make a really good concept for a Disney-esc animated movie

[u/Dyuweh]

thank you for sharing this

[u/JimothyCreme]

beautiful. what a time capsule