HOW DID THE PHILIPPINES HAILED MASINO INTARAY AS A GAMABA ARTIST?

Masino Intaray, according to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), was a master musician who was born near Makagwa Valley but lived in Brooke's Point town in Palawan province. He was the head of the Basalan Ensemble that performed the indigenous music, a virtue of the Cultural bearer of Palawan. He was skilled, proficient, and well-versed in basal (gong), aroding (mouth harp), babarak (ring flute), kulilal (songs), and bagit (vocal music). Because he had the endurance, memory, and creativity to chant epics, narratives, and myths into the night and for several nights in a row, he was branded as one of the best epic chanters. In 1993, he was made a consummate artist of Palawan because of his exemplary skills in the basal or gong music ensemble and his versatility as a musician, poet, epic chanter, and storyteller of the kulilal and bagit traditions.

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In 1993, through Executive Order No. 236, he was awarded the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan or National Living Treasures Award. The award was conferred to a Filipino citizen or citizens engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino. And whose distinctive skills have reached such a high level of technical and artistic excellence, have been passed on to and widely practiced by the present generations in his/her community with the same degree of technical and artistic competence.