the song of SONGS

"When I sing, the birds come and sing with me," says ROSIE SULA, Manlilikha ng Bayan awardee for Tboli chanting.

- AUDREY CARPIO

The chanting, as all Tboli chants do, begin with a powerful and startling “HEDEEE EHE EEEE.” It is a call that summons the singer’s spirit guide, the helper who will lead her into song. The spirit guide is the song, and without it the singer would be at a loss for words, unable to find a tune. The spirit guide’s music must be followed.

For Rosie Godwino Sula, the Tboli artist from Lake Sebu, South Cotabato who was in December 2023 named a National Living Treasure for chanting, it is the Holy Spirit who heeds her call. “The Holy Spirit dictates to my mind, my mouth, and my heart so the perfect words come out,” she says.

You may have already heard her singing—hers is the voice that introduces the Mindanao chapter of Catriona Gray’s “This is the Philippines” series on YouTube. In the video, Catriona plucks a pink water lily from the water as she is rowed around the lake in a dugout canoe. The notes of Sula’s chant glides along with the ripples of the lake. According to Sula, her song was a prayer for her to win the Miss Universe 2018 competition.