mabal tabih art alive
Fu Yabing Masalon Dulo (Photo from the NCCA)
It’s a sad day for the Philippine culture and arts scene as we bid farewell to Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan laureate Fu (
lola)
Marian Pastor Roces through a Facebook post early in the morning of Jan. 26.
Born in a Blaan village in Landan, Polomok, South Cotabato, Fu Yabing started to learn the craft of Blaan traditional
mabal tabih art of ikat weaving the age of 14. To this day, her role in her community and the Philippines held a great value as she was among the two that kept the art alive. As a master weaver and dyer and bearer of an almost forgotten culture, she was honored with the National Living Treasures Award by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
SunStar National artist for ikat weaving dies at 106
DAVAO. Fu Yabing Masalon Dulo (August 8, 1914-January 26, 2021). (Photo courtesy of Arjho Turner)
DAVAO. Fu Yabing with her niece Arjho Carino Turner and arts and culture stalwarts, Emi Alexander Englis of the Philippine Women s College of Davao, and Leonardo Rey Carino of the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges of General Santos City. (Photo courtesy of Arjho Turner)
+ January 26, 2021 INDIGENOUS Peoples of Mindanao mourn the passing of a Blaan master in ikat weaving, Yabing Masalon Dulo, who died in her sleep around 12:30 a.m. of January 26, 2021.
Fu Yabing, a Manlilikha ng Bayan, the equivalent honor of national artist for indigenous arts and crafts, was 106 years, having been born on August 8, 1914.