Description

A language does not disappear all at once. It fades whenever an elder’s voice goes unrecorded, a metaphor is no longer understood, or a generation stops listening.

‘mBayuka Tanu! Volume 2 answers that silence.

Twice the size of the first volume, this considerably expanded collection gathers thirty-five bayuk from living tradition bearers, social media recordings, contests, and community performances. Through careful transcription, English translation, cultural annotation, and accessible links to the original recitations, Mansoor Limba preserves not only the words of bayuk but also the voices, settings, and worlds from which they emerged.

Across nine thematic parts, bayuk speaks as prayer and counsel, memory and testimony, courtship and longing, political critique and moral warning. It remembers Martial Law and evacuation, honors mothers and ancestors, reflects on faith, knowledge, leadership, sacrifice, betrayal, and the struggles of everyday life. At its heart stands Bapa Sumilalao Demaguil—the living bayuk legend—whose voice reveals that genuine mastery lies not merely in memorization, but in the power to compose, respond, and speak wisdom into the needs of the present.

More than an anthology, this book is an invitation to listen, correct, remember, and participate. Its “Action Items” and QR-linked video performances return bayuk to the community from which it came—not as a relic sealed in print, but as a living language of beauty, conscience, and Maguindanaon identity.

Let the elders be heard. Let the meanings endure. Let the bayuk continue. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Prologue

1 Bayuk from the Living Legend
1.1 Bayuk and Pababayuk
1.2 On the Current Sociopolitical Affairs

2 Bayuk of Faith and Reflection
2.1 Advice on Patience
2.2 Invest in Worship
2.3 Repentance

3 Bayuk of Advice and Wisdom
3.1 Mutual Kindness
3.2 Acquiring Good Manners
3.3 Recording of Knowledge
3.4 Learning Religious Knowledge While Young
3.5 Diligence in Learning
3.6 Reminder on Character-Building
3.7 Reminders to Us All

4 Bayuk of Memory and Experience
4.1 My Teacher Called ‘Time’
4.2 Remembering Those Who Made Sacrifices
4.3 Martial Law Experience
4.4 Evacuation Experience
4.5 The Reality of Life

5 Bayuk of Family Relations, Love, and Longing
5.1 Tribute to Mother
5.2 Listen, My Darling!
5.3 On Courtship
5.4 Old Lovers
5.5 For a Single Mother
5.6 Choosing a Spouse

6 Bayuk of Society and Leadership
6.1 Choosing a Leader
6.2 Admonition on Election
6.3 State of Affairs

7 Bayuk of Daily Life and Symbolism
7.1 Rice Sickle
7.2 Words of Endearment to Bolo
7.3 The Maiden’s Unhusked Rice

8 Bayuk of Moral Struggle and Regret
8.1 Being Betrayed
8.2 Sulked in Defiance
8.3 On Youthfulness

9 Bayuk as Cultural and Performative Heritage
9.1 Padayon Kalilintad Bayuk Contest
9.2 Bayuk Exchange Contest
9.3 BARMM Bayuk Contest

Epilogue: The River Does Not End Here

Glossary

References