As part of the larger gong-chime culture of Southeast Asia, kulintang music ensembles have been playing for many centuries in regions of the Southern Philippines, Eastern Malaysia, Eastern Indonesia, Brunei and Timor,[15] Kulintang evolved from a simple native signaling tradition, and developed into its present form with the incorporation of knobbed gongs from Sundanese people in Java Island, Indonesia.

[5] Its importance stems from its association with the indigenous cultures that inhabited these islands prior to the influences of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity or the West, making kulintang the most developed tradition of Southeast Asian archaic gong-chime ensembles.

Due to its use across a wide variety groups and languages, the kulintang is also called kolintang by the people of Maranao and Sulawesi, kulintango by Mongondow,[17] totobuang by those in central Maluku, kulintangan and gulintangan by those in Brunei, Sabah, North Kalimantan and the Sulu Archipelago.

Kulintang-like instruments are played by the Maguindanaon; the Maranao, Iranun, Kalagan, Kalibugan, Tboli, Blaan, Subanon, and other Lumad tribes of Mindanao, the Tausug, Sama-Bajau, Yakan and the Sangir/Sangil of the Sulu archipelago; the Ambon, Banda, Seram, Ternate, Tidore, and Kei of Maluku; and the Bajau, Suluk, Murut,[24] Kadazan-Dusun, Kadayah and Paitanic Peoples of Sabah, the Malays of Brunei, the Bidayuh and Iban/Sea Dayak of Sarawak, the Bolaang Mongondow and Kailinese/Toli-Toli of Sulawesi and other groups in Banjarmasin and Tanjung[25] in Kalimantan and Timor.

One theory suggest that the bronze gong had an ancient history in Southeast Asia, arriving in the Indonesian archipelago two or even three thousand years ago, making its way to the Philippines from China in the third century AD.

With the expansion of Bruneian empire which at some point encompassed the island of Borneo and souther Philippine, the tradition of kulintang was adopted by the inland Dayak tribes.

The frame can be crude, made from simple bamboo/wooden poles, or it can be highly decorated and rich with traditional okil/okir motifs or arabesque designs.

The layers are then left to dry under the sun, after which the entire mold is heated in a furnace to melt away the wax and hardening the coal/mud mixture, leaving behind a hollowed shell.

[35] The kulintang is traditionally considered a women's instrument by many groups: the Maguindanao, Maranao, Tausūg/Suluk, Samal, Badjao/Sama, Iranun, Kadazan, Murut, Bidayuh and Iban.

[41] Traditionally, the playing of the kulintang was associated with graceful, slow, frail and relaxed movements that showed elegance and decorum common among females.

During formal performances adherents follow a traditional set of rules that would govern playing and it usually involved people from outside the home.

[18] It is also prohibited during the mourning period of the death of an important person, during funerals, and during the peak times of the planting and harvest season.

[16] Kulintang music was also crucial in relation to courtships[45] due to the very nature of Islamic custom, which did not allow for unmarried men and women to intermingle.

[15] A rhythmic mode (or designation or genre or pattern) is defined as a musical unit that binds together the entire five instrument ensemble.

She determines the length of each rendition and could change the rhythm at any time, speeding up or slowing down, accord to her personal taste and the composition she plays.

[47] Listeners in the audience expected players to surprise and astound them by playing in their own unique style, and by incorporating improvisation to make newer versions of the piece.

[48] This also explains why set performance pieces for musical productions are different in some respect—young men/women would be practicing before an event, therefore rarely relying on improvisations.

[35] These general genres could be further grouped among each other into styles/subcategories/stylistic modifiers,[16] which are differentiated from one another based on instrumentation, playing techniques, function and the average age and gender of the musicians as well.

[48] During the playing of these pieces, a ritual specialist would dance in rhythm with the music calling on the help of ancestral spirits (tunong).

Though these melodies vary even within groups like the Maguindanao and Maranao, one theme which characterizes the Sulu-type is the exchange of short melodic phrases between the kulintangan and the Agungs, where both instruments imitate and duplicate each other's rhythms very quickly.

This is clearly seen in the Tausug Sinug and Yakan Tini-id and Kuriri compositions where this sort of jousting becomes a game of skill and virtuoso playing.

[42] An example of this could be found among the Maguindanao where the word binalig is used by contemporary musicians as a name for one of the rhythmic modes associated with kangungudan but it has also been used as a term designating a “new” style.

[4] It was these similarities that lead theorists to conclude that the kulintang was originally imported to the Philippines during the migration of the kolenang through the Malay Archipelago.

Sets of five bronze gong-chimes and a gong making up the totobuang ensembles of Buru island in Central Maluku have also come to disuse.

[15] The extent of past kulintang tradition in the Philippines, particularly in the Northern and Central islands of Luzon and the Visayas, will never be fully known due to the harsh realities of three hundred years of Spanish colonization.

The latter devised a notation system and wrote Palabunibunyan, a collection of kulintang music pieces from Maguindanao—which made its study more accessible.

[50] Younger generations would rather listen to American music, or bike in the streets with other children than spend time practicing and imitating on the traditional instruments of their parents.

[16] Philippine kulintang music has had a revival of sorts due to the work of Philippine-born, U.S.-educated musicians/ethnomusicologists Master Danongan "Danny" Kalanduyan and Usopay Cadar, as well as their predecessor Professor José Maceda.

[33] Both Kalanduyan and Cadar have been impressed that so many people lacking Maguindanaon or Maranao background, and some who are not even Filipino, have become dedicated students and supporters of their cultural heritage.

The knowledge of outsiders playing traditional kulintang has encouraged the younger generation of musicians in the Philippines, both in Mindanao and in Taguig, Metro Manila.